preview

Theme Of Guilt In The Reader

Decent Essays

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

Get Access