The past couple of days I found the book much more intriguing because it delved into the deep and complicated relationship between Michael and Hanna. What I find most intriguing though is Hanna’s choices in the court room.
I was not surprised that Hanna took part in the Nazi war crimes as in my earlier reaction I labeled her as a viperous; however, what I find interesting was the large role that social norms played in the small room. When Michael and his readers found out that Hanna was illiterate I was quite perplexed. Why would a defendant, whose life is at stake, not mention the fact that she was illiterate which could explain many of her actions. As a reader, for the first time, I found an ounce of sympathy for the woman. It explained why she always transferred jobs when she was promoted and why he asked her prisoners and Michael to read to her. She wanted something that she could not achieve. Furthermore, I was astonished that Hanna placed more significance on her image then she did on her life. She would rather choose to keep up appearances of her intellectual capabilities because if she did not, society would condemn her even more so than they did when they thought of her as a Nazi soldier.
I always believed that people would do no matter what it took to preserve their lives because life is sacred. It was powerful that Bernhard Schlink made Hanna give up her freedom, and sacrifice her life in exchange for her image. Although I found this most intriguing, I was sickened by the fact that society and its norms has that much power over human beings that they are willing to sacrifice themselves for an image that they cannot take to the grave. From this stems the fact that the human civilizations’ priorities are skewed. We should admire and worship life and people of all personalities rather than attempt to fit a social norm that in reality no one can role model. Through this comes a large amount of vanity, selfishness, and most of all misery as seen with Hanna. She sacrificed everything to keep her image in tact, and a result, got sentenced a lifetime in prison for it.
I was not surprised that Hanna took part in the Nazi war crimes as in my earlier reaction I labeled her as a viperous; however, what I find interesting was the large role that social norms played in the small room. When Michael and his readers found out that Hanna was illiterate I was quite perplexed. Why would a defendant, whose life is at stake, not mention the fact that she was illiterate which could explain many of her actions. As a reader, for the first time, I found an ounce of sympathy for the woman. It explained why she always transferred jobs when she was promoted and why he asked her prisoners and Michael to read to her. She wanted something that she could not achieve. Furthermore, I was astonished that Hanna placed more significance on her image then she did on her life. She would rather choose to keep up appearances of her intellectual capabilities because if she did not, society would condemn her even more so than they did when they thought of her as a Nazi soldier.
I always believed that people would do no matter what it took to preserve their lives because life is sacred. It was powerful that Bernhard Schlink made Hanna give up her freedom, and sacrifice her life in exchange for her image. Although I found this most intriguing, I was sickened by the fact that society and its norms has that much power over human beings that they are willing to sacrifice themselves for an image that they cannot take to the grave. From this stems the fact that the human civilizations’ priorities are skewed. We should admire and worship life and people of all personalities rather than attempt to fit a social norm that in reality no one can role model. Through this comes a large amount of vanity, selfishness, and most of all misery as seen with Hanna. She sacrificed everything to keep her image in tact, and a result, got sentenced a lifetime in prison for it.
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