The Perpetual Guilt of the Holocaust Displayed by Hanna Schmitz and Michael Berg in The Reader by Bernhard Schlink The theme of guilt is portrayed by both Michael Berg and Hanna Schmitz in The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. Hanna has a lot of guilt for her role in the Holocaust. She also has guilt for what she does to Michael and because she is illiterate. Michael’s guilt stems from what he knows about Hanna’s past and also what Hanna blames him for and pushes onto him during their relationship. The Holocaust created a web of guilt for those living in Germany. Many Germans who participated in the war felt a lot of regret and sorrow for what they had done, but it didn't end there. The children of these people would have to face a lot of guilt …show more content…
This makes Hanna seem cold and shows her lack of compassion, along with her response to the judge's questions about her actions when there was a fire in the church. Hanna states, “There would have been chaos, and we would have no way to handle that. And if they tried to escape…” (127).This again shows that she wasn’t a good person and cared little about those who suffered and died because of her inaction. Does Hanna feel guilty about what she’s done in life? The reader finally sees Hanna’s guilt when she asks the judge, “What would you have done?” (128). She knew what she had done was wrong, but there was no other option than for her to try to defend herself and ignore the guilt. A lot of Hanna’s other guilt stems from her illiteracy; not being able to read led her to make a lot of questionable decisions in life, it led her to accept the position as a guard in the first place. In a less dramatic fashion it also caused her to be rude to Michael when he left early one morning leaving a note behind for Hanna so she wouldn't have to wonder about him. She wasn't able to read what it said. Michael describes the events that occur when he gets back home after Hanna not knowing where he was, “She was holding the narrow leather belt she wore around her dress; she took a step back and hit me across the face with it. My lip split and it …show more content…
Hanna takes the blame for other crimes to hide her illiteracy and Michael later says he wishes he had spoken out about it to the judge to help her, but he didn't. When Hannah is in prison she commits suicide after educating herself about the legitimate horrors of the war. Her suicide acknowledges her understanding of what she had done. After Hanna commits suicide Michael asks “In the first few years after Hanna’s death, I was tormented by the old questions of whether I denied and betrayed her, whether I owed her something, whether I was guilty for having loved her. Sometimes I asked myself if I was responsible for her death.”CITE Even after he no longer had to deal with the guilt he felt because of his past romances with Hanna, after he knew everything she did in the war, after she confessed completely and was sent to prison Michael thought he could be the reason she had ended her life. Michael is the type of person to let people take advantage of his emotions and his kind personality, usually leaving him feeling guilty and sad. This develops the allegory of Michael as a symbol of the younger generation of children in Germany after the war. They faced a lot of guilt trying to cope with what the generation before them had done, they needed to move past it and still love their older relatives but it was often hard, as it was hard for Michael to handle knowing Hanna's true
The quote,“Guilt is to the spirit, what pain is to the body” said by Elder David A. Bednar, really proves that guilt can be very painful and it is especially painful for Amir because he dealt with the guilt of choosing to not help Hassan his whole life. As soon as Amir decided to run away instead of trying to help Hassan and stop him from being sexually assaulted by Assef, he immediately felt guilty and that stuck with him for the rest of his life. The author really shows Amir’s guilt throughout the novel through different negative events that always seem to happen to Amir, he uses the idea of “full circle” throughout the novel to express Amir’s guilt. In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini shows the motif guilt by adding important details throughout the novel: these include how Amir continues to feel guilty for the way that he treated Hassan throughout their childhood, he never stood up for Hassan when he needed him the most, and even when Amir tried to get rid of his guilt by bringing Sohrab back to America, he still felt guilt for everything he had done to Hassan.
“Why do I want to live? I shouldn’t want to but I do.” (Zusak 487) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is encircled with the idea of trying to find freedom from one’s guilt. Several characters’ in this novel such as Hans Hubermann, Max Vandenburg, as well as Ilsa Hermann all experience guilt throughout the story which slowly eats away at their lives and it’s up to them as to how they will deal with their guilt. Guilt came in to Hans Hubermann’s life when he escapes death in World War I. Hans friend Erik, saves Hans life and now, Hans carries the guilt of Erik’s death and promises to help Erik’s family. Little did Hans know, that in the near future he would save Erik’s son, Max Vandenburg from death. Previously, Max Vandenburg left his family
The Holocaust was a disaster affecting many people's lives, mainly targeting Jewish people. They were also against Poles, Gypsies, Russians, The Disabled, Jehovah's Witnesses and Homosexuals. During the Holocaust six million Jews were murdered and many others were treated inhuman and killed. People who were affected by the Holocaust were discriminated, segregated and hated. This people were mistreated and their freedom was taking away, just by having different beliefs and have a different looks.
Guilt is a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense; real or imagined, and affects normal people everyday at various stages of life. When loved ones and those that are close pass away, it is not uncommon for those left behind to experience feelings of accountability known as survivor’s guilt. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, survivor’s guilt can be identified in three main characters: Liesel, Max, and Hans, and creates profound emotional and behavioral effects on these characters throughout the novel. The debut of survivor’s guilt appears after the death of Liesel Meminger’s little brother, Werner.
The Holocaust was the result of the cumulation of years of racism and pure hatred. The Holocaust’s legacy has to be preserved if there is any chance to eliminate racial genocide. Learning about terrible events like the Holocaust helps to promote a sense of responsibility and a fight for human rights. Knowing that blind hatred can lead to genocide will help to eliminate genocide because knowing that something horrible is preventable forces a sense of responsibility for those who can to stop it. Remembering the Holocaust is a way to ensure that anything like it is never repeated because if something so terrible is preventable, everyone should help to prevent
The Holocaust was a bad event from our history that leaves scars all over on humanity due to the results of so much loss. The Holocaust should be acknowledged so we can learn from our mistakes and analyze what we can do differently to prevent this from happening again. One thing we can teach kids today is to collect more knowledge by getting opinions of others, and trying to get different perspectives on things before acting on just your opinion. One great example that we need to take a look at is the people. The people of Germany. Well, was he right? Did they think he was right? A lot of people did for they let him reign over them and let him move forward with the plans. The people that followed him had a biased opinion about the topic of the Jews because of Hitler. People can be wrong sometimes. Even if you think they are right about everything, they aren’t. But the people
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, shows the theme statement of surviver's guilt can be dealt with through kindness and friendship, and is proven in how characters manage the guilt by assisting the living. To start, Hans' life is
The Holocaust victimize many Jewish people. These people had to suffer for so long, in harsh conditions with little food and water, before they were liberated, and many did not even make it to liberation
Guilt is like a disease that plagues your thoughts, until it gets to much too handle. Why did I do that? Why had I not done something? Why him, not me? Guilt is a theme in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, from important characters, like Liesl's guilt for not telling her foster mother Ilsa Hubermann, that she loved her, to minor characters, like Michael Holtzapfel hanging himself over the fact that he survived Stalingrad, but his brother didn’t. Guilt directly affects the characters, changed how the story goes, and the tone of the story and the mood reader.
History is like a huge puzzle. People can keep find missing pieces to the story as they learn more about it. The Holocaust was one of those moments in history that has lead our minds to curiosity about why such a thing would occur at some point in time. For example, concentration camps. Concentration camps are one of those moments in history that make people’s jaws drop because of how flabbergasted they are to even hear of such a thing. Once you hear about one fact about the Holocaust and concentration camps you want to know every little detail about it to try and analyze what was happening and how it happened. Concentration camps in the Holocaust were a turning point in history because it lead to the deaths of millions of people.
The Holocaust was one of the first giant acts of genocide. It brought light to the horrific acts of racism that the world still faces today. The Nazi’s were not only trying to destroy Jewish people, they were trying to kill all of the Polish and Roman people as well (HARFF 6). They believed that these types of people were evil and did not deserve to live on the same earth with them. Acts of hate have steamed from the Holocaust and still continue to be an issue today. The Holocaust is often compared to civil rights movements, terrorism, and other acts of hate against a certain group of people or a race of people.
The Holocaust was one of the most tragic events in history which ended many innocent Jewish lives. Six million Jews plus many more were completely wiped out due to the effects of the Holocaust. It is still unforgivable for the things the Nazi party did and is still a very questionable subject on how they were able to accomplish such devastation. To be able to organize the removal of an entire population of people based on their religion not only takes high intelligence, but most of all takes a very twisted and demented outlook on life. Learning about the holocaust and the people involved is very important, as well as how it has affected our world today. There are many very fascinating things about the holocaust but three
The Holocaust was a tragic piece of the worlds history. It happened from 1933 to 1945, and it was a mass killing and discrimination against people of certain races. They started with the Nuremberg Laws when Hitler became the most powerful. Hitler was a strange man who blamed Jews for the fall of Germany. There are several reasons as to why we study the Holocaust, the most important is so we never face something like this again.
Schlink purposefully crafted the text so that the reader is not aware that Hanna is unable to read and write until Part Two of the novel “Hanna could neither read or write.” (Schlink, 1997, page 131) Hanna’s illiteracy has a major impact on the way she lives her life, a point that is emphasized by both Michael and the reader’s sudden comprehension of her illiteracy. It is only then that it can be understood why Hanna is so harsh and where her vulnerabilities lie. Hanna’s shame in being illiterate pushes her to hide her secret. The reader understands this is the reasoning behind her decision to work for the SS and her false confession to being the leader of the prison guards, decisions which ultimately prove disastrous and life-altering for her. We interpret her illiteracy as a representation of the morally uneducated German generation whose decisions also lead them to detrimental destruction during World War II. Hanna’s future relationships were affected by her illiteracy, particularly seen in the power dynamic between her and Michael. Hanna dominated Michael as a compensation for her own shortcomings [QUOTE]. This power imbalance ultimately resulted in Michael being alienated from his own family when he says of them that he “felt as if [he] was saying goodbye.” (Schlink, 1997, page 29). Hanna’s frustrations with her own short-comings are exemplified when she exclaims to Michael “Your work
Hanna Schmitz, former SS guard at Auschwitz and Michael’s adult lover, represents old Germany and the guilt of Germany as a whole. Hanna is an authoritative, cold, efficient, and ignorant woman that constantly struggles due to her illiteracy. In the beginning of the story, Hanna helps Michael home when he is ill, even though she does not know him. Michael later returns to Hanna’s apartment to thank her for saving him and Hanna seduces him. Hanna and Michael begin to have an affair that persists for several months. Throughout these months, Hanna insists on Michael reading to her before they have sex. Then one day, Hanna disappears without a trace. Later in the story, when Michael is attending a court case, it is revealed that Hanna