The Reader (pp. 145-82)                                                             Name:___________________________________

1. (pp. 145-48): How do what Michael knows about Hanna now and his fantasies about her as a prison camp guard change the way he regards himself and his former relationship with her?

2. (pp. 149-52): What does the truck driver say about the mentality of death camp workers to explain how they could be so cruel as to kill innocent people? Do you think he is right?

3. (pp. 153-57): For an intelligent adult Michael seems to be strangely tongue-tied in his encounter with the truck driver and inarticulate in dealing with what he believes to be a case of cruelty in the guest house. A member of the generation that wants to love its elders but feels betrayed by their failings during the war, Michael feels only numbness. Do you think this conflict is making him a victim too? Hanna's victim? What should he do to get on with his life?

4. (pp. 158-60): In finally "doing something" do you think Michael does the right thing? It is not clear if he actually tells the judge what he knows. How do you read the encounter?

5. (pp. 161-63): Do you think justice was done in the trial? Why/Why not?

6. (pp. 167-71): If, as he said, he is "no longer upset at having been left, deceived, and used by Hanna," why is he so numb? How does the outcome of the trial affect him? Of what does he feel guilty? Does loving a person who has committed a crime mean one shares their guilt?

7. (pp. 172-78): What does Hanna still mean to Michael?

8. (pp.179-82): How does Michael feel about the legal profession? Escaping into a study of legal history, how does he come to view the historical progress of the law? How is it like Homer's Odyssey (p. 181-82)?