There is the dilemma between desired and due, virtue and vice, the life meaning and purpose. Together, the characters rethink values and views on the world. In this complex story, the themes of guilt, shame, and responsibility for actions are revealed. “The Reader” raises the topics as attempting to find a balance between the condemnation and acceptance of vices. It is the search for the relationship between two different generations of Germans.
In the trial scene, the characters make a choice that cannot change. Hanna did not admit her illiteracy, and it ended badly for her. Michael’s “inaction” turned out to be a fatal choice that he could not correct. Kate Winslet has incredibly coped with such a demanding role. She managed to convey despair and pain, which caused me to sympathize with the main character – Hanna.
Hanna is an incredibly complex, tense, ambiguous, and contradictory woman. It is more shameful for her to make the secret public than to reveal her past (Raghunath & Devi, 2021). This moment shocked me; sometimes, personal problems are more important than world tragedies. Her moral sense lacks depth, selectivity, a sense of love, care. The woman has a clear and definite attitude to what she considers natural and correct.
First of all, Michael felt guilty for his indifference to Hanna’s fate. He repents, that for many years he could not forget the woman. The boy was confused by the connection with Hannah, even after she abruptly disappeared. Michael tried to get rid of guilt for crimes that he did not commit. Thus, he did not help to mitigate the punishment of the “beloved woman.”
I think that Hanna realized that no one else needed her. The last ray of hope for love has faded; the relationship with Michael has become cold. She took advantage of the boy for her purposes, broke his life. Only after being imprisoned, Hanna begun to realize her actions. The woman admitted mistakes and was punished; she came to terms with guilt as a Nazi.
In my opinion, the connection between literacy and morality is exceptionally ambiguous. There are several inconsistencies in the text regarding the image of illiteracy. The movie contains doubts about literacy and the ability to make moral judgments. This is especially vividly reproduced in the scene of the Holocaust debate. Nevertheless, these concepts are elusive concerning their meaning; there are still deep disagreements about what is “acceptable” or not.
Reference
Raghunath, A., & Devi, K. (2021). The metamorphosis of identity: A reading of Hanna in “The Reader’’. Annals of the Romanian Society for Cell Biology, 25(4), pp. 17721-17725. Web.