As
The Reader progresses into Part II, we see a different side of Michael. His disavowal of Hanna led to betrayal and left him carrying the burden of guilt. The guilt he describes is not the type of guilt that children experience when they know they've done something wrong and they're afraid to admit it to their parents because for the fear of scolding, but a guilt that leads to numbness in the mind and a mental paralysis. To Michael, it wasn't just the feeling of guilt, but it was also something that he couldn't overcome and something that will always be a part of him. Michael expresses ".....and I know that even if I had said goodbye to my memory of Hanna, I had not overcome it.....never to take guilt upon myself or feel guilty, never again to love anyone whom it would hurt to lose--I didn't formulate any of this as I thought back then, but I know that's how I felt." (Page 88) This demonstrates that Michael did not only possess guilt, but the guilt controlled him to the extent in which he fears to love again. As I had predicted in my previous posts, the instability of their relationship and their difference would leave him vulnerable. Personally, I don't think it's fair that he had to suffer through all of these feelings at such a young age, but at the same time because of this relationship, he gained maturity and experience and he has the choice to grow stronger and keep his head held high, or let it destroy him (the latter is the route that he chose). In Part II, he meets Hanna as he watches the trials for convicted prosecutors who worked for the Nazi and the Auschwitz camp. Guilt was not only felt by Hanna for her wrongdoings, but felt by everyone that witnessed and were involved in the trials. Their as an over-encompassing guilt felt by everyone, all to their own degree of guilt, depending on how they handled guilt of the Nazi horrors. There's this numbness in which Michael felt and observed the same numbness felt by others, "All survivor literature talks about this numbness, in which life's functions are reduced to a minimum, behavior becomes completely selfish and indifferent to others, and gassing and burning are everyday occurrences.....the gas chambers and ovens became ordinary scenery...exhibiting a mental paralysis and indifference, a dullness that makes them seem drugged or drunk. The defendants seemed to me to be trapped still, and forever, in this drugged state, in sense petrified in it." (Page 103) It's a depressing state involving all of the German population, no matter what their role was in WWII or just being the post-world war II generation having to accept their past with shame and repulsion.
The repulsion, shame, guilt felt by the witnesses of the trials. (Also applicable to the numbness Michael felt towards love or any feeling of compassion)
I feel like his portrays how I would imagine Michael and his numbness.
Sources:
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l11jc6UKmn1qai1u6o1_500.gif
http://31.media.tumblr.com/5cbd87971c86717c35a018f79aa3bbf1/tumblr_mvwv3vhMeO1sf7mc7o1_500.png
It was interesting how you pointed out Michael was being controlled by guilt and how that has caused him to go numb. Do you think Michael's guilt and shame for his relationship with Hanna is the same kind of guilt the second generation after WWII felt about their parents?
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned how Michael's relationship with Hanna has caused him to mature but I actually think he had a false idea that he had matured because it gave him a false sense of confidence when in reality his relationship with Hanna was actually really destructive. But that's just my opinion :)
(I really like the gif you chose for your post)
"Guilt was not only felt by Hanna for her wrongdoings, but felt by everyone that witnessed and were involved in the trials." It's interesting that you think everyone felt guilty because of the horrors of the Nazi regime even though the second generation most definitely weren't involved. I differ in opinion about the numbness being a sign of guilt because to me, it seems more like a sign of being desensitized and being resigned to the horrors of the war. That they hear about it so much that the numbness appears as a way of surviving and living on without having to feel tormented and guilty.
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