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Simile
Explanation and Analysis—Entering Venice :
In a passage suffused with vivid imagery, the narrator uses a simile that compares entering Venice by train to "entering a palace through the back door." As the ship grows closer to Venice and the view of the city becomes clearer to Aschenbach, the narrator states:
And so he saw it again, that most amazing landing place, that dazzling composition of fantastic architecture which the Republic presented to the reverent gaze of approaching seafarers: the weightless splendor of the Palace, the Bridge of Sighs, the columns with lion and saint on the bank, the ostentatiously projecting side of the fairy-tale temple, the view through to the gateway and the giant clock; and, as he gazed, he reflected that to arrive by land, at the Venice railroad station, was like entering a palace through a back door [...]
Here, Mann employs vivid imagery, noting the "dazzling composition of fantastic architecture" characteristic of Venice, including "the weightless splendor of the [Doge's] Palace, the Bridge of Sighs" and the "columns with lion and saint in the back," found in the famed Piazza San Marco. Gazing at the city with the enthusiasm of a tourist, Aschenbach sees "the ostentatiously projecting side of the fairy-tale temple, the view through to the gateway and the giant clock" and he feels that "to arrive by land, at the Venice railroad station, was like entering a palace through the back door." This simile suggests that, for Aschenbach, Venice is best viewed from the sea, rather than by land. The imagery and simile employed in this passage underscore Aschenbach's growing excitement as the ship approaches the city that he regards as an exotic escape from his life in Munich.
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