Subjects:
In Bernard Schlink’s novel The Reader, his central male protagonist Michael can be described as a winner and his female protagonist Hanna can be described as a loser. Michael Berg is a winner in many aspects – he is smart, idealistic, a lady’s man who leads a wealthy and happy life and seems to have all in front of him. Hanna is the loser in the story. She cannot read or write and struggles through life without an education, cannot hold down a job and is forced to confess to a crime that she did not commit in order to hide her personal shame of being illiterate.
Michael is the central male character in The Reader and is the winner in the story. Michael finds comfort with Hanna as a fifteen-year-old boy and his sexual experiences with her helped him to become accustomed to the sexual arts at a young age. As a result, these sexual experiences helped him to feel comfortable around women and as a result, women around him felt that they could confide in him thus providing Michael with a strong basis for future relationships. On the other hand, Hanna is the opposite and the loser. She has the sexual relationship with M
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Hanna also loses out while she is imprisoned for the war crimes that she was involved in. Schlink uses this sexual relationship as a literary device to put a human face on the Nazi SS monsters, and the sole use for this relationship is for the feeling of power.
Hanna also loses with her illiteracy. ” Once again, Michael is created as the winner in the story and Hanna as the loser in the story. ichael to fulfill her desire for power. On the other hand, Michael is the complete opposite.
Hanna also loses out in her image, created by Schlink. “Hanna could neither read nor write,” and this caused major problems in her life. ” She became a Nazi prison camp officer as the job did not require her to read or write, thus beginning her affiliation with the Nazi’s. Hanna is always the one trying to make up for the atrocities of her past, and seems to be always dwelling on the past unlike Michael who seems to look forward to the future. This is one example of Michael winning and Hanna losing. When she hits Michael for leaving her in the motel and when she kicks Michael out of the bed for skipping lessons, its gives us a picture of a cruel and submissive lady in uniform and makes the reader feel anger towards her.
Michael seems to be the winner in all aspects of The Reader. She carries guilt for being involved in the deaths of women and children, however Michael only carries guilt for betraying Hanna. Not only was she in jail for an extensive period because she could not bear to let the world know that she was illiterate, she was also missing out on life on the outside.
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