the reader

no. 64 The Reader

I wish I would have felt well enough to post this last week when my ideas were fresh!

Youth can provide the blinders that we should allow ourselves throughout our lives. The experiences we may miss out on because we are "above" or "beyond" another persons, another situation...we don't realize what we may gain. I know I have found myself there before - when I realized that a friend's boyfriend was a highschool dropout. He was intimidated my be, that I would make her realize what she was missing by having a relationship that was intellectually stimulating. Once she told me she was encouraging him to study for his GEDs, it was easy to recognize the difference between us - and his dislike of me at the surface. We separate ourselves to a large degree from people who are different from us, whether it be a class differentiation, cultural or education. Michael had this amazing experience because his youth provided the ignorance of their differences.

There were no significant trials during the time - mass media brings out this specific trial. Germans didn't want to accept the horrible truth they lived through; it would be an acknowledgement of their lies and truth. Michael, as the next generation, knew the truth about Hanna and couldn't see the trial being about justice. It's about his parents' generations' guilt - not submission - they are hoping to pin the "law" on these six women to clear their own conscious. His profound guilt in not going through with exposing her leads to the extention of his kindness in the continued "reading" - he gives her what she cannot give herself, truth, insight.

Little actions were interesting - again, what do we know about Hanna? Who presses their bra? I think it's showing that she's taking care of the things she has, that she may not have had much in her life. Although illiteracy would have been more widespread during her youth, you have to ask yourself what her life situation/family was to have put her in that situation. She saw a job with the SS as a way to make a living, she knew she had to be responsible for her own care. There was a great deleted scene where Michael's family was out of town and he couldn't wait for her to stay over - she couldn't consummate under this roof because it put her lie in the forefront, their differences. Emotionally, I believe they were near equals, but she knew he was out of her league.

As always, Ms. Winslet was amazing.