An Exploration of Michael and Hanna(TM)s Journeys to Self-Acceptance using the Motif of Books and Reading

Schlink’s choices in the books that Michael reads to Hanna illustrate her journey to literacy and the subsequent comments on the generation difference between Nazi Germany and post-war Germany. During Michael’s insomniac bout after his divorce, he ‘[reads] to Hanna on tape’. (183) The first book he chooses to read aloud is The Odyssey which is a story of a thwarted homecoming after a long passage. The significance is uncanny as both Hanna and Michael are on an individual journey. Hanna’s journey evolves, but in terms of listening to The Odyssey, the obstacle is her illiteracy, which she has to overcome to truly reach self-acceptance. Other works Michael read were Schnitzler and Chekhov, both of which have an underlying theme that approaches reality and observes the conscious as opposed to the unconscious. These books illustrate the war to be the reality and underline the relationship between the Nazi generation and post-war generation, where the latter is the unconscious. Basically, due to the lack of context regarding the war within the post-war generation, they are ‘unconscious’ of the realities of war and thus, can neither identify, nor come to terms with this open wound on their history. Additionally, due to Michael’s middle-class upbringing, the books he chooses to read are bourgeois literature and never considers reading experimental literature, where he does not ‘recognize the story or like any of the characters’ (185). Since Michael’s character represents the post-war generation, his reluctance to experiment shows his generation’s intolerance towards the Nazi generation, where they rebuffed their reasons for their actions. Schlink’s use of specific bourgeois books that Michael reads to Hanna describes the generational gap between Nazi and post-war Germany.

Schlink shows Hanna’s eventual overcoming of the obstacle of illiteracy in her journey in the development of her handwriting. When Hanna sends Michael the first note, Michael analyzed the effort that was involved in her writing as her ‘hand didn’t want to go anywhere and had to be forced’ (188) unlike a child’s. However, Hanna’s evolving handwriting from forced letters to ‘lighter and more confident’ (190) is a metaphor for her evolution, in terms of triumph over her illiteracy. This evolution is her initial path in her journey that takes personal exertion from Hanna as the reader can see from the constant need for the tape player ‘having to be repaired’ (206). While this is a time-consuming endeavor, to learn to read and write so late in her life, Hanna accomplished it where her handwriting even became ‘a thing of severe beauty’ (190).

Schlink uses the literary device of the motif of books to illustrate Hanna’s journey that consists of not only overcoming the obstacle of illiteracy but also the acceptance and responsibility of her past actions. One of Hanna’s final paths to acceptance after redefining herself to ‘retreat even further into a lonely cell safe’ (208) is her request for a ‘general concentration camp bibliography’ (205) from the warden. She reads experimental literature in an attempt to learn everything she can about the Nazi era, mainly from the victim’s narrative. Hanna’s report on Eichmann in Jerusalem is very significant because it helps her understands the motives behind her action. Adolf Eichmann, sometimes referred to as the ‘architect of the Holocaust’, organized the logistics of the movement of the mass deportation of the Jews and after many psychology reports, was diagnosed to be entirely normal and it was hypothesized that the motivations for his actions were his career and power. While Hanna cannot be compared to Eichmann, she can identify as she was not a psychopath and her actions were out of misjudgment and insecurities regarding her exposure of being an illiterate. Her helplessness in the courtroom when she tried to explain to the judge that she had no alternative and ‘that was the point, that [they] had to guard them’ (128), emphasizes that her actions were only out of her struggle to maintain control. By reading experimental literature, she finds peace in a way that Michael never does, because she explores literature in its complete form while Michael remains steadfast to a single genre. The exploration of literature is a metaphor for the examination of the past, which Hanna does, thus, redefining herself to acknowledge the past, to break out of her cocoon of routine in terms of her excessive cleansing.

Hanna’s journey is initially to overcome her insecurity of her illiteracy by teaching herself to read and write and secondly, to accept accountability for her Nazi crimes. Bernard Schlink’s The Reader, conveys Hanna’s odyssey through the motif of books and reading, towards acceptance of her Nazi crimes and overcoming the obstacle of illiteracy by teaching herself to read and write. Initially, her dependence on the young girls and Michael to read aloud to her makes her insecure about her illiteracy and after the trial, this insecurity changes into determination when she teaches herself to read and write using Michael’s tapes. The evolution of her handwriting is a metaphor for the progression of her literacy as she became more fluid in her writing. In fact, the choices of their books exhibit the factors of their generation, as Michael, brought up in a bourgeois household reads classics and doesn’t believe in experimental literature, and for all intents and purposes, snubbing the Nazi generation for their actions or their inactions. However, Hanna’s character, who reads experimental literature to understand her past shows that the Nazi generation can accept responsibility for their actions by facing up their past.

References

Schlink, Bernard. The Reader. Trans. Carol B. Janeway. New York: Random House Inc., 1997.