Abstract
This thesis probes the relation between shame and evil to attempt to understand how Germany history between the two World Wars came to build a cog of the systematic killing machinery out of an ordinary person through Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader. By examining how social forces impact on one’s moral judgement and action, this thesis argues Hanna Schmitz, the female protagonist, embodies the ubiquitous blindness to the extraordinary evil of Nazi Germany because of the constraints of her shame and loneliness. This research consists of three chapters. In the first chapter, I analyse how illiteracy of Hanna subjects her to shame and such feeling of shame greatly affects her social intercourses with others. To avoid shamefulness, she sticks to rules and strives for social approval, which nonetheless hinders her from perceiving the state of things and fostering independent thinking. In the second chapter, I employ Hanna Arendt’s concept of the banality of evil to elaborate how the female protagonist represents the obedient yet thoughtless masses who are manipulated by Nazi regime to take part in the perpetration of evil. Through Arendt’s illumination of modern conditions concerning the social and historical contexts of totalitarianism, I clarify the significant link between loneliness and evil. In the third chapter, I demonstrate how the idea of odyssey is a primary influence that penetrates life experiences of two protagonists. Through the act of reading, they help each other ultimately fulfil homecomings after their long-term wanderings—namely, to make peace with self and come to terms with the past. By looking into issues presented in The Reader, this thesis hopes to bring forth reflection upon our own living conditions and to elicit re-examination of how we construct, perceive, and respond to history and current reality.