Hanna Schmitz - Book Report/Review Example

The Reader. Why Hanna Decided to Learn to Read Once she was in Prison. Bernhard Schlink’s for his story, Der Vorleser which in German literallytranslates to ‘reading aloud’ is itself a vague indicator of Hanna Schmitz’ weakness. Throughout the novel, the picture of Hanna we get is that of a fearless, physically tough, fiercely independent and assertive woman. And yet there was something which she painfully hid inside her strong exterior, which she dreaded the most, her inability to read and write. Hanna’s life had always been a difficult one. In the first part of the book where she befriends Michael Berg and goes on to indulge in a passionate and intimate relationship with the then fifteen year old boy, there are many instances where her attitude towards him and her conduct in general, are incomprehensible not just to the teenage boy but also to the reader of the book. It is only when the story progresses that we are able to make sense of her bizarre behavior and come to know of her dark secret. It was a secret which Michael could have figured out much earlier but which he failed to identify until much later and that too under very different circumstances. From this point on we realize how it has always been one of the biggest battles Hanna had to fight with herself throughout her adult life. And for a woman of such gallant disposition it is indeed difficult for Michael and for us to get an idea of the extent to which her illiteracy had adversely affected her personal as well as professional life. Her feeling of shame and embarrassment from the fact that she was unable to read and write made her keep it a closely guarded secret, something which she fiercely protected from the world at any cost, even that of her life. She had always been passionate about work which can be seen very early on in the book when she gets agitated with the young Michael’s casual remark that he may have to work like an ‘idiot’ to pass his course. And she even remarks that he may come to see her the next day only if he’s done with his work. But it was the world of books and literature that truly amazed her and she secretly fulfilled her desire by making Michael read aloud to her during the course of their clandestine affair. Later on, it is revealed that as a former SS guard she would make the weak and helpless girls read aloud to her before sending them off to the gas chambers. With every step in the story it becomes increasingly clear how many of the decisions that she made in her life were influenced directly by her fear of being exposed. This is why she runs away from her job as a tram conductor when her employers decide to give her a promotion. It is also why she chooses not to rise in the hierarchy of SS officials and remains a guard throughout her Nazi stint. This is why she becomes furious and hits young Michael with a belt when he leaves her a note and goes out to buy breakfast while on a cycling trip. It is also why she avoids all the maps and reservations and leaves everything up to Michael on the same trip. And more importantly, at a later stage during her indictment she is unwilling to read a copy of the witness’ book for the same reason even though she knew that all evidence was against her. The final straw however was when she takes it upon herself and admits to the crime despite not being fully responsible just to avoid submitting a sample of her handwriting and being exposed thereby (Walia). Her illiteracy made her a fugitive, running away from her own life and the many situations it presented to her. And her sentence to a life in prison was the highest price she had to pay for her biggest weakness. It altered her life in a way which she wouldn’t willingly want but might have anticipated at some point of time. Her time in prison was a period of introspection to her, an opportunity to understand why her life had turned out the way it did and atonement from what she believes she was guilty of. She was able to comprehend the outcome illiteracy had on her life. But she was not bitter. And somewhere down the line she realized that her absolution would come only if she learned to read and write. As soon as she learned to do so she read about the concentration camps, about Hannah Arendt’s report on Eichmann in Jerusalem, the autobiography of Rudolf Hess and the literature of the victims. But in one sense it was her deep attachment to the only long lasting relationship she had in her life, the one with Michael that gave her the inspiration to learn to read and write. She knew that Michael was the only person who was aware of her biggest weakness, her greatest fear and she wanted to perhaps subtly prove him otherwise. She learnt to read with him, the tapes she received from him while in prison were her source of energy. It was also her only hope of reconnecting with Michael, of reviving a relationship that was lost in time. She wanted desperately to accept that her relationship with Michael was not how it used to be and yet wanted to keep her hopes alive. She felt that the best way to do this was by enabling herself to read and write. Unfortunately Michael realized this much too late but is evidently hurt by it and can be sensed when he says, “I could feel how little my admiration and happiness were worth compared to what learning to read and write must have cost Hanna, how meager they must have been if they could not even get me to answer her, visit her, talk to her” (Schlink 66). Her bonding with Michael although largely physical, helped her explore the world of books. It is possible that she always wanted to experience it on her own at some later stage in life. And she took her term in prison as that opportunity. Prison was sort of a hermitage for her. Learning to read and write while in prison freed her from all the shackles that had tied her down all these years; it gave her absolute independence and a sense of freedom from the prison, from the holocaust and from Michael. And most of all it exempted her from her biggest guilt, the burden of which she carried through her entire life. She no longer faced the chores of being an illiterate which Michael explains as, “I knew about the helplessness in everyday activities, finding one’s way or finding an address or choosing a meal in a restaurant, about how illiterates anxiously stick to prescribed patterns and familiar routines, about how much energy it takes to conceal one’s inability to read and write, energy lost to actual living” (63). And Hanna found eternal release from it. Hanna was as powerful as an inmate in the prison as she was as a person in the outside world. There are references to her position in the prison, as someone who had authority and who was greatly respected by the other women whom she befriended but kept at a distance. The others sought her advice when there were problems, and if she intervened in an argument, her decision was final (Schlink 69). She used her time productively by working in a sewing shop. But she still felt the need to educate herself which implies that deep down authority was not as important to her as her desire to read and write. She organized a sit-down strike until cuts in library funding were reinstated (another instance of her deep running commitment to learn to read as well as her powerful personality). For the eighteen years in prison she lived as though in a convent. She adapted beautifully to the system and took very good care of herself deriving her strength from her education. It was only in the final few years that she gave up and withdrew even more into herself. Towards the end of the story we feel that all she wanted to do was reconnect with Michael through the world of literature. As the warden points out to Michael, “She so hoped you would write. You were the only one she got mail from, and when the mail was distributed and she said ‘No letter for me?’ she wasn’t talking about the packages the tapes came in” (69). This probably explains why she ended her life too despite finally receiving freedom from eighteen years in prison. She had already found her freedom inside the walls of the prison and her hopes of reconnecting with Michael the way she desired turned out futile. She didn’t want anything or anyone else. “Illiteracy is dependence. By finding the courage to learn to read and write, Hanna had advanced from dependence to independence, a step towards liberation” (63). The irony remains that she found her independence only after being imprisoned and chose to end her life for fear that she might lose it once out in the world again. Works cited: 1. Walia, Shelley. “Tragedy of History”. Frontline. Vol 26 – Issue 07. The Hindu. 28 Mar 2009. Web. 4 Dec 2010. 2. Schlink, Bernard. Der Vorleser. 1995. (English Translation by Carol Brown Janeway). The Reader. Vintage International, 157. 1997. Print. Read More