The Reader

Content Warning: This guide summarizes and discusses statutory rape, the Holocaust, and Nazi brutality, which feature in the source text.

Feelings versus numbness is a theme that propels the story. Without Michael’s intense feelings for Hanna, there is no story. Michael’s choice to be with her as a teen, his daily consumption of her trial, and his ongoing engagement with her in jail represent his strong feelings for her. Hanna stirs something inside him that no one else can—not Sophie, Gertrud, or his mother, resulting in his feelings becoming polarized. He feels very intensely for Hanna but feels numb toward others, resulting in alienation. Michael tries to hide his intense feelings and doesn’t tell Sophie, Gertrud, or his mother about Hanna. When he tells later romantic partners about her, their responses are underwhelming, and Michael states, “So I stopped talking about it. There’s no need to talk because the truth of what one says lies in what one does” (133). In other words, Michael feels he betrays his ongoing feelings for Hanna by talking about her. Other women can’t evoke the same intensity in him, and he wants to be around her. Even the older Hanna, after 18 years in jail, galvanizes him. Michael says, “I had seen that I had disappointed her before, and I wanted to do better, make up for it” (150); such phrasing evokes the emotional manipulation inherent in statutory rape and grooming. Michael’s feelings for Hanna make her the center of the world, reflecting the enduring repercussions of their abusive relationship.

Their time together is characterized by heightened feelings and passions, including sex and violence. Teen Michael admits, “I kept getting erections, but I didn’t want to masturbate. I wanted to be with her” (25), and Michael’s recollections of Hanna are sexually explicit. Sex and violence become intertwined when Hanna hits Michael with a belt when she feels abandoned, then caresses his wound. While their physical bond is also presented as beautiful, such actions hint at their relationship’s dark underbelly. Michael’s numbness comes into play when Hanna departs suddenly, leaving him brokenhearted. His subsequent relationships all involve an emotional distance; he is unable to feel deeply for women who are not Hanna.

The trial links to this theme, with Michael observing a “similar numbness” among those in the courtroom. The theme reveals the superficiality of the trial as people perform feelings. They act horrified at the witness testimonies, but hardly any of the nameless participants seem to have a genuine response to the testimony. Even the daughter who survived the church burning is numb. Numbness has its advantages; it can help a person lead a tidy, straightforward life. About the detached, obtuse judge, Michael says, “He had done everything the right way” (124). After the trial, Michael enjoys his numbness, stating, “It allowed me to return to and continue to live my everyday life” (124). Michael’s attempt to lead a detached, unfeeling life perpetuates his isolation. He divorces his wife and doesn’t appear to have much feeling for his daughter—she doesn’t take up much space.

The choice to send tapes to Hanna indicates that Michael loses his battle with numbness. As thorny, tangled, and problematic as they can be, Michael can’t set aside his feelings for Hanna. He feels dedicated to her for life, and he stays loyal to her after she dies by bringing her money to the daughter from the church. As Hanna is a former Nazi and a pedophile, Michael’s continued devotion to her is discomfiting. The book suggests that feelings don’t comfort or neatly follow societal norms, but it also questions whether immoral feelings condemn a person. Michael’s feelings make him feel guilty and complicit, yet he doesn’t suppress them; he exhaustively confronts them, in contrast to those in the courtroom.