ession. Mann uses symbols and myth to underscore this. At the beginning of the story when Achenbach is still in Munich, he is filled with a longing to travel and to experience relaxation, both of which are new feelings for him. This longing is initiated by his recent problems sleeping and by a vision he has. He takes a walk hoping the air will refresh and relax him, but instead experiences a passionate desire for faraway scenes, and settles upon a journey to Venice, although he previously had not felt any desire to travel.
What he felt was no more than a longing to travel; yet coming upon him with such suddenness and passion as to resemble a seizure, almost a hallucination. Desire projected itself visually: his fancyàimaged the marvels and terrors of the manifold earth (441).
This sudden strong feeling is accompanied by a vision of a jungle with crouching tigers, and near the end of the story he learns that the Asiatic cholera that sweeps through Venice comes from the jungle of the Ganges delta where tigers really do crouch. Mann's use of foreshadowing effectively lets the reader know that Aschenbach's trip to Venice will be dangerous. His yearning for new and distant scenes and a new craving for freedom and release also foreshadows Aschenbach's reckless behavior in Venice. Venice affords Aschenbach the opportunity for release into a sensual world he had previously repressed, and marks his loss of dignity and descent to dissolution and death.
In the dining room of the Hotel Excels
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