The Reader

1. The Reader A Marxist Reading By Fernanda & Jun

2. Bernard Schlink • Father was a professor, yet lost job to Nazis • Proletariat  Bourgeoisie

3. Hanna- Symbolic of Proletariat Illiteracy= symbolic of Nazi ignorance Her social status is marginalized

4. Michael- Symbolic of Bourgeoisie

5. Marxist Perspective- Setting

6. Hanna’s Place • “Old building” • “ building had darkened with the passing of years” • “no decorative plaster, no mirrors, no runner” • “The red paint on the stairs had worn off…the stamped green lino that was glued on the walls..” • Not open to education

7. Michael’s Home Goes to school “Her eyes explored everything- the Biedermeier furniture, the piano, the old grandfather clock, the pictures, the bookcases..” We are never given any evidence to suggest that she is, before thetrial, haunted by recollections of her past and at least a partial explanation for thismust be that Hanna is a character who is forced to live in the present. She needs toearn a sufficient living to stay alive, all the while concealing her inability to read. Unlike the leisured middle classes, she does not have the luxury to spend timecontemplating life as both Michael and his philosopher father are able to. WhilstMichael is more or less oblivious to class tensions, Hanna is deeply uncomfortable when he cooks for her in his parents' home. Thus while he is able to inhabit bothworlds, Hanna registers the material difference in their backgrounds and feelsculturally displaced.

8. The Courtroom • “My feelings were numb” • “I felt nothing” • “So what would you have done?” p. 110 • “The judge’s answer came across as hapless and pathetic”