The Reader : Chapters 8-10

1. Carissa and Jaclyn The Reader: Chapters 8-10

2. Chapter 8: • Michael and Hanna making love • The 7th time they met, Michael finally asks for Hanna’s name • Hanna and Michael have a fight when Michael tells Hanna he is skipping class, Michael is the one who ends up apologising Plot

3. Chapter 9: • Reflection of Michael himself about his childhood followed by his daily schedule • Reflection about Hanna’s life • We are told how Michael balances the relationship and school • Suggestion of their holiday trip occurs • Reading aloud to Hanna continues

4. Chapter 10: • Holiday period for Michael (no school) • Michael visits Hanna at work on the tram but goes into the second carriage instead of the first where she is • After this they have a fight because Hanna thought Michael should have come onto the first carriage, but Michael wanted privacy so waited for Hanna in the second carriage • Michael had to apologise to Hanna in the end • Made love again at Hanna’s home

5. Feel Michael’s weakness and pain in the relationship • Get to understand more in depth into the way Michael and Hanna live • We understand the ‘fake’ type of Michael and Hanna’s relationship as it is only in chapter 8 that they learn each other’s names • They had been making love for the past 7 days without knowing who each other was – demonstrates the type of relationship Characterisation

6. We see that Hanna is more dominant, particularly during their fight after the tram incident, where Michael ended up apologising for something that was a misunderstanding after Hanna lost her temper. This shows that Michael sacrifices a lot to be with Hanna to have the sexual relationship: “Sometimes I thought she just bullied me. But either way, I had no choice” chapter 10, pp. 48 • Michael still challenging himself to be the adult by being the one to apologise – accepting the blame: “I’m sorry Hanna. Everything went wrong. I didn’t meant to upset you, but it looks…” pp. 46, but in this way we are positioned to see Michael as the weaker in the relationship

7. Still in Berlin • Chapter 8: Hanna’s home • Chapter 9: reflection – no real sense of present setting. After reflection at Hanna’s home still • Chapter 10: New setting introduced here – Hanna’s workplace at the tram tracks • A sense of the real world now brought in compared to before with Hanna • After the incident on the tram, readers are brought back to the ‘fantasy world’. This juxtaposition foregrounds the type of relationship that Hanna and Michael have Setting

8. Appearance vs. Reality Dualities: public face of Hanna compared to the private of Hanna blending in Fantasy and reality: Michael in his own fantasy world, the tram is the first time he’s seen Hanna as part of the real world where he still thinks he can act the same: “You wanted to do it with me in the tram too? Kid, kid!’”pp. 47 Youth and Age: Michael and Hanna’s relationship Love and power Themes

9. Foreshadowing Hanna’s illiteracy • Chapter 8: “Your work is idiotic? Idoitic?” pp. 33 – after Michael telling Hanna he was skipping class • Chapter 9: “you have such a nice voice, kid, I’d rather listen to you than read it myself” pp. 40 • Chapter 10: “Once or twice I wrote her letters. But she didn’t react, and when I asked her about them, she said, ‘Are you starting that again?’” pp. 48 Style

10. Recurring motif of the bathtub and washing still present - After their fight the bathtub removed any misunderstandings and hatred that occurred prior – ‘purging the guilt’: goes back to being the motherly figure Passage of time in chapter 10, morning Michael was fine, and towards the night that Hanna was ignoring her – linked to how is feelings are building up - Michael admits it’s a dysfunctional relationship, when they plan to get a room together as a mother and son