Hanna is all about honesty when it comes to the trial – whilst the other women lie, she simply affirms or denies. He questions her as a person, questions the decisions she makes. She had decided against a promotion at Siemens, and had fallen into a job as a guard.’) Schlink, through Michael, then, doesn’t just question Hanna’s involvement in the war, he questions her choices away from it. (‘No, Hanna had not decided in favour of crime. He doesn’t believe she’s innocent – she’s not – but he looks at her in light of her choices, the reasons for them. Because the personality and personal history of Hanna is so intrinsic to who she is at the trial, and because of the affair, it could be inferred that Michael is biased towards her somewhat. Of course whether or not it’s truly objective, so to speak, is down to the reader. You get to see the views of the everyday people of their history and the characters run the gambit – people want justice, children dislike their parents even if the parents didn’t play a role (they dislike them for not fighting against the Nazis), and then you’ve Michael who doesn’t defend the war in any sense but looks at those who participated (via Hanna) in an objective light. Let’s start with the history the novel is based on: Schlink introduces the reader to the way war crimes of Germans were dealt with by the German courts. It’s compelling, informative, and quite moving, too. A few years later, whilst studying law, Michael sits in on the trial of several women who were guards in the SS. Hanna entices him but he notes the distance she keeps between them, the way she avoids discussing her past. Original title: Der Vorleser (The Reader)Īt the age of fifteen, Michael has an affair with an older woman.
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