The Reader by Bernard Schlink

A Short Analysis of



Bernard Schlink's

The Reader
der Vorleser

The Reader is a novel that addresses the generation gap of Germans after the second World War. It begs the question of how it is the children of those Germans implicated in the Holocaust, whether directly involved, or placidly docile about it, should feel about them.

The book is narrated by a German man named Michael, looking back on his life. Sick with Tuberculosis at 15, he falls ill and is rescued by a street conductor named Hanna. Eventually they become lovers. It is written with such consideration for the characters, that the reader can't help but understand Michael's enraptured passion for Hanna. They develop a habit of having Michael read aloud to Hanna. Then one day, with no warning, Hanna disappears.

Years later, a cynical University student studying for the bar, Michael and his classmates attend Nazi war trials. Who should he see but Hanna, being tried for a horrific crime she committed while working as a prison guard at a death camp. Although, never speaking with Hanna, Michael attends every day of the trial and becomes invested in the trial. He is tortured by what Hanna has done and by that he loves her so much. Is it a crime to love a criminal? Through this trial, he realizes that Hanna is illiterate, and that because of her unwillingness to unveil this secret of hers she is incapable of defending herself at the trial. The becomes a scapegoat for the other people involved in the crime and is sentenced to life imprisonment.

Years pass and Michael has a string of unfeeling affairs. He marries, has a child, divorces. He begins sending Hanna tapes of himself reading books to her. While in prison, Hanna borrows books from the prison library and, following along with the text, manages to teach herself to read and write. She writes to him, but he never replies; only sends more tapes. When she is to be released early due to her good behavior in prison, Michael reluctantly agrees to arrange a living and work situation for her. On the day of her release she hangs herself.


The Reader deals with the guilt felt my those who were born after the crimes of their forefathers. Although, they are not directly involved in the crimes they must come to some sort of balance between condemnation and understanding. Are they able to be understanding while still being moral? Or should all perpetrated in the Holocaust be condemned for their part in it? Michael is torn by this when he discovers that the person he loved had so implicitly followed orders to send people to their deaths.

The book also deals with the topic of illiteracy. While in prison, after Hanna learns to read and write, she reads a number of books written by prisoners in the camp. It is strongly implied that, due to her ability to read about the victims life, she felt guilt-ridden and that that is what pushed her towards suicide.

On 'The Stranger'

A Short Essay on:

Albert Camus'

The Stranger

L'étranger

'The Stranger' is a short French novel written in 1942. The entire novel follows a young, somewhat reclusive man named Meursault. He lives by himself in a small apartment in the city working a standard office job. What makes him significant is that he is apathetic towards everything. Including other people's opinions of him. He refuses to humor people in their expectations of him. He is himself entirely; never pretending he feels when he does not.

When he gets involved in a conflict in Algiers and kills a man, he is arrested and put on trial. However, rather than be tried for the murder, the jury condemn him for the lack of emotion he has about the incident and also his lack of emotion after his mother's death, which happened in the first chapter of the novel. Witnesses are brought in who attest merely to things like his not crying at the funeral, and his having gone to a comedy with his girlfriend the following evening.

The Stranger is clearly an existential piece. By the end of the novel, Meursault comes to the conclusion that the world is indifferent and essentially pointless, and that the only meaning or purpose in life is invented by humans to cope with their meaningless existence.

'The Stranger' is also a statement about our society, in which a person must follow specific social rules or else be ostracized and persecuted. Whether these rules are logical and have purpose is inconsequential. The point is only to follow them. Why? Because everybody else does? Because it gives people's lives something of a fragile structure? Perhaps it is simply human nature? The reason is beside the point. The ultimate truth of the matter is that we live in a world in which we are constantly required to pretend. We are continuously acting. Whether it be fawning our interest to a colleague or indulging the whims of another, when it comes down to it, we are simply humoring others so as not to be scorned.

Meursault is a man who is unwilling (or incapable) of doing just that, and is therefor condemned and executed. His final thoughts however, are a laugh of defiance in the face of those who try and claim that life is anything but a trivial string of events which eventually end:

“For the final consummation and for me to feel less lonely, my last wish was that there should be a crowd of spectators at my execution and that they should greet me with cries of hatred.”