Fated Travel Companions

Venetian Love Boats The second and third discussion questions deal with Aschenbach’s purpose in traveling to Venice. I think what draws this artist to the Italian vacation spot is just that. He wants a vacation. Like Port and the characters in “On the Road”, Aschenbach is just another writer confined by his surroundings. In Munich, he feels stifled and has the itching to move and just leave, temporarily. I see him in the beginning to be a recreational traveler, for he all he admittedly wants is a getaway, someplace new and fresh. Its interesting however, that fate has a lot to do with the travel in this piece of fiction. For, Aschenbach’s destiny was sealed when his luggage went instead to Como, making his decision to stay in Venice decided for him. This decision ultimately gives him more time to fall more deeply in love with Tadzio. Soon, Venice becomes a new home for Aschenbach, I would argue, for it inspires him to change. Venice is just the bystander associated with this change, however, for I would say that Tadzio is the obvious catalyst. Just because Venice happens to be the place where Aschenbach is able to be near Tadzio, it therefore becomes his new home by default. But I would go so far to suggest that Tadzio himself becomes Aschenbach’s new ‘centre’, in Cohen’s words, for he sets out to change his appearance and his perspectives just to please him. Thus, Venice was just a stage for his artistic and intrinsic romance. He never even really liked Venice, for its weather was unpleasant to his health, and its streets were confining and tourist ridden. The installment of the plague did not help situations. Through Tadzio, however, Aschenbach disregarded all of these troubles, and instead, enjoyed everyday fresh and new, delighting in his routine of new clothing and observation on the beach. And it was all because of Tadzio. After all, when the Polish family was about to leave, Aschenbach even remarked that the beach lacked its previous glow and attraction, and it instead looked “autumnal” and dead. This shows the effect people can have on a trip and the traveler. In conclusion, we discuss the traveler in light of the inner, personal changes that the trip stimulates, but I think the interaction with others and even with fate bears just as much importance. As Aschenbach’s relation to Tadzio and thus Venice show, it is sometimes the company you keep on a journey that can shape the environment and also your experience of it.