1.
What is significant
about the outrage of the man in bowler hat towards the narrator’s daughter
running naked on the beach, and what does it say about the attitudes of the
locals towards outsiders? (303)
2.
What complaints does
the narrator offer concerning both "foreigners" and the local Italian
population? How do these complaints shape the narrator's reaction to Cipolla's
performance?
3.
What is the
significance of Cipolla's physical deformity and drinking habit? Why are these
elements important to his characterization?
4.
As
a general observation, is Mann correct when he speaks of the “curious, self-satisfied air so characteristic
of the deformed,” which he states to be possessed by Cipolla (308)?
5.
The show begins when
the giovanotto calls out “buona sera,” and proceeds with repartee between
him and Cipolla. Cipolla also says to
him “people like you are just in my line. I can use them.” Do these exchanges demonstrate
that Cipolla’s show is improvisational in nature? (309)
6. What is Cippolla's goal that he wants to acheive as a performer?
7.
Why does Cipolla state
that the giovanotto is unwell (“anyone can see that you are not feeling too
well”) (314)
8.
Why does the narrator
compare the family not leaving until intermission to them not leaving Torre earlier
(“For things had been in Torre in general – queer, uncomfortable, troublesome,
tense, oppressive – so precisely they were here in this hall tonight’)? (p. 321)
9.
Cipolla is a much more
effective hypnotist than magician. Why do you think Mann makes this
distinction?
10.
Why does Mann give us
a foreshadowing of Cippola’s demise when he writes “Yet I see no reason at all
to cast doubt, on rational grounds, upon powers that, before our very eyes, became
fatal to their possessor?” (p. 320)
11.
Why on page 330 does Cipolla
say to Mario, pointing to his cheek, “Kiss me, trust me, I love thee, kiss me
here.”
12.
Cipolla is killed by
one of his own victims. What is the significance of Cipolla's death at the
hands of Mario?
13.
Much of the audience
is horrified to witness Cipolla's assassination, yet the narrator views it as a
liberation and leaves calmly with his family. Why do you believe his reaction
is so different from that of the rest of the audience?
14.
Is Mario justified in
killing Cipolla?
15.
What do you make of
the narrator's attitudes towards "Southern" and "Northern"
Europeans? What differences does the narrator note between the two groups
2 comments:
It is always risky to assume that the author of a literary work is the narrator, or that his biography is necessarily relevant to interpretation. However, in trying to answer the question of why the narrator views Cippola’s murder as a “liberation”, it’s hard not to see the creator in his creation. Although Mann was married with 6 children, his private diary reveals a lifelong attraction to young men - including his own son, Klaus - about which he was severely conflicted. In “Mario and the Magician”, the theme of homosexuality is subtly introduced in the final scene, when Cippola hypnotizes Mario into believing that he is Mario’s beloved Silvestra and convinces Mario to kiss him. The text seems to support the possibility that Cippola might actually harbor a genuine sexual interest in Mario, though it is uncertain; what is beyond doubt is the humiliation that Mario feels, and the need to permanently remove its source. This scenario of attraction and revulsion might explain why, in contrast to the rest of the audience, the narrator felt liberated by Cippola’s death. The character of Cippola was intended by Mann as an allegorical figure for fascism, yet I think he can also function as a symbol for what Mann might have regarded as a fascistic hold on his own sexuality. When Mario shoots Cippola, the narrator/Mann notes that the act has achieved a liberation, a respite from the conflicted desires that had been tormenting him his entire life. Though Mann was trying to represent his inner conflict within the social context of the time, the unfortunate trope he helped to create, that of the gay man who needs to be erased, would endure in literature and film for years to come. Had he the conviction of his son Klaus, who lived openly as a gay man, the pathology of his characters might not have been as necessary.
It’s always risky to assume that the narrator of a literary work is the author, or that his biography is necessarily relevant. However, in trying to answer the question of why the narrator views Cippola’s murder as a “liberation”, it’s hard not to see the creator in his creation. Although Mann was married with 6 children, his private diary reveals that throughout his life, he was attracted to young men - including his own son, Klaus - about which he was severely conflicted. The theme of homosexuality is subtly introduced in the final scene of “Mario and the Magician”, when Cippola convinces Mario that he is Mario’s beloved Silvestra and gets the young man to kiss him. The text supports the idea that Cippola might have harbored a genuine sexual interest in the young boy, but it is not certain; what is beyond doubt is the humiliation that Mario feels and the need to permanently remove its source. This scenario of attraction and revulsion, which ends in death, might have been liberating to the narrator/Mann because of the resolution it seemed to promise. The character of Cippola was intended by Mann as an allegorical figure for fascism; as such, he also might serve as a symbol for what Mann might have regarded as a fascistic hold that homosexuality had on his life. In having Mario shoot Cippola, Mann symbolically resolves the inner conflict that had been tormenting him. In doing so, however, he helped to create the unfortunate trope of the gay man as victim, as someone whose presence needs to be erased. This is an image that he used again in “Death in Venice” and that, regrettably, would be copied by many other authors, and that would persist in literature and in film for decades to come. Had Mann the conviction of his own son, Klaus, who lived openly as a gay man, the pathology of his characters might not have seemed so necessary.
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