The Reader Flashcards
Summary of the plot
Michael berg got hepatitis at 15 years old, and was ‘rescued’ by Hanna. He then gets into a sexual affair with her, which drives him away from his family. Time goes on and Hanna has been shown to be abusive to him, however whenever there is a conflict, Michael admits to things he shouldn’t; things he didn’t do. Eventually he begins to (in his words) ‘betray’ her by doing stuff like not being dependant on her, and not telling others about her. Eventually she leaves one day without saying a word.
Years later michael is in Law school and is a part of a group that goes to trials. He is emotionally disconnected and hurt. He sleeps with his old crush from high school and hurts her when she realized he doesn’t want anything more. He recognizes Hanna to be one of the defendants, and becomes obsessed, being one of the only ones to go to every single trial. He always blamed himself for her leaving, but now that this comes out he goes back and forth between condemning himself for vetraying her, and for loving her. Hanna admits fault for being the one to write the report of what happened, however Michael knows that this is not possible, since she is illiterate. He fights with whether or not to confess to the judge, and goes to talk with him. However he does not tell naybody, he goes to his father to ask for advice, but that does not help either. Eventually he lets Hanna keep her secret.
Years later he has been married, had a child, and has been divorced. There’s a lot more to this that will be mentioned later. He seeks out relationships that remind him of Hanna, but he doesn’t really have any luck. He starts to send tapes of him reading books, and one day Hanna write him a letter back, he is overjoyed seeing that she learnt how to read, however he never says anything more than the book’s content, he never visits her, or gives any indication that he is receiving the letters, other than listening to her requests about what he is reading. He gets a letter that she will be let out soon and makes the arrangements for her to have a job and stuff. However she kills herself the morning before she is let out. She leaves Michael in charge of part of her ‘will’ more of a note she left, for him to take the money in her tin and give it to the daughter in the case. The daughter doesn’t really want her money though, so she recommends Michael to give it to a charity an dthey decide on a Jewish charity against illiteracy (or for helping people not be illiterate)
Text type
Novel
Format
3 parts spanning three different times
the first one is in 1958
The second one is in 1966
The third one is in 1995
It’s good to remember that each part doesn’t actually all take place in that year, theres a lot of flashback and stuff. For example how he met his wife was in the third part and was a flashback to when he was still in uni.
Main character’s names
Michael Berg
Hanna / Frau Schmitz
Michael’s Father
Michael’s mother
The Jewish woman / daughter who was in the trial (nameless in the book)
The Driver
Sophie - Michael’s like crush who he slept with in college
Purpose
To highlight teh inter-generational conflict between the war generation and the post-war generation. Many believe that his romantic relationship with Hanna was done to further this disconnect.
Contextual points to remember
- Post WW2
- Inter-generational disconnect
- Trials of the nazi’s
- First two parts take place in WEST Germany, last in Germany
- German guilt
Audience
German students and population
Tone
dark / melancholic but it’s also very objective, as michael is detached ffrom his emotions
Author and publication info
Author - Bernhard Schlink
Published - 1995
Translated to English - 1997
How is the intergenerational divide shown with device and technique?
How is Justice shown with device and technique?
How is ‘education’ shown with device and technique?
How is ‘power’ shown with device and technique
How is the pacing / flashback used and what is the effect?
How is romantic ‘love’ conveyed with device and technique
How is non-romantic ‘love’ conveyed with device and technique
Prt1. What happened in the scene we meet Hanna
Michael is sick and throwing up “when rescue came, it was almost an assault”. She “seized [his] arm” and dragged him, cleaned his hands, splashed water in his face and made him help clean up his vomit.
Prt. 1 What happens when Michael visits Hanna after she saved him (#1 and #2)
1st visit, he thanks her and doesn’t remember much. Before he goes Hanna says that she needs to leave too, and says just to wait as she gets changed. She leaves the door open a crack, and notices Michael watching, he then runs away, embarressed
A week later he returned, but she wasn’t home, so he waited. When she returns she asks him to go get coal, he makes a big mess and gets coal all over himself and he takes a bath at her house, she says she would not look at him, but literally does before he gets in. In the bath, he uh, well he gets hard and when he leaves the bath she grabs, it also naked. They then have sex.
Prt1. What happened in the dinner scene between Michael and his family
He gets home late from being with Hanna and his family notes on it. Michael says that he’s going to go to school tomorrow, and that he’s well enough to. His mom is immediately concerned, but turns to his dad. His dad allows him to go.
Throughout this passage theres a lot it talks bout the father, and how distant he is. It talks about how Michael feels his father treats his family as pets, and how his life is elsewhere.
At the end of the exchange he states that he feels he will never talk to them so intimetly again, although it is worth noting the conversation was far from intimate.
Prt 1. What happened when Hanna found out Michael might not pass the grade
Hanna shuts down and gets very mad. She misinterprets Michael’s statement of smt along the lines of ‘he would have to work like an idiot to pass’ to mean that he is calling her work idiotic. Hanna shows him what she does for work and he states smt along the lines of that it didn’t matter that she was naked, she was as cold as if she was wearing her uniform
She changed her shift to a later one and said that michael could come over granted he work first. From then on she asked for him to read out loud before sex
Prt 1. What happened on the first day of Easter vacation
Michael got up at 4am to surprise her for her early shift. She was in the front car of the streetcar with the driver and the second car was empty. He joined the second car thinking that she would see him and come over to be with him and they could be alone. She didn’t, but rather ignored him, and he was confused and upset. Eventually he transferred cars and stared at her, but she refused to acknowledge him, but rather talked to the driver. Eventually he left but before he did he had this beautiful line “I knew that this stretch continued through various places and ended up in schwetzingen. But I felt rejected, exiled from the real world in which people lived and worked and loved. It was as if I were condemned to ride forever in an empty car to nowhere.” (45).
Prt 1. what happened on Michael and Hanna’s vacation together
prt. 1 What happened when Hanna visited his house
Prt. 1What happened on Michael’s birthday
He was at the pool with his friends, but then he goes to see Hanna. Hanna did not know it was his birthday, he asked a while back what hers was, and still remembered it to be October 21st but she didn’t ask back.
She was tired, and upset because of that, but not more upset than she usually is when she’s tired. But he got upset at her and it kinda spiraled from there,
