Argumentative Essay of the Movie "The Reader"
Parra 1
Martin Parra
Prof. Enrique Wong
English 100
4 December 2012
Looks can be deceiving; do not fall into the trap
“Ethical principles stand above the existence of the nation and that, by adhering to these principles an individual, belongs to the community of all those who share, who have shared, and who will share this belief” (Fromm 121). This thought was impossible to perceive in Germany during Hitler’s command and his cruel, racist, immoral Jewish holocaust. Ethics and moral never existed in that country by that time, thus Germans only lived under the “law”. One special case of this atrocity was the one of Hanna Schmitz, in the movie The Reader. Some people would say that Hanna Schmitz was a right person based on the fact that she helped Michael Berg during his youth and also the fact that she was a disciplined worker. However, she manipulated Michael Berg, killed around three hundred people in the concentration camp, and killed herself when she was in jail.
Despite Hanna helped Michael when he more needed at the time he was very sick, she manipulated and mistreated him in different ways. The first one and the most important was when Michael had to take a bath (The Reader, film). He wanted a private moment, but Hanna disrespected him (The Reader, film). She did not close the curtain and saw him naked. When Michael realized that, he was restrained. Looking at his eyes, Hanna seized the moment and got naked, too. Michael got shocked. After some looks, Michael was having his first sex experience (The Reader, film). He was just fifteen years old. Then, they began to repeat this situation almost every day. So, Michael
Parra 2 started to prefer going Hanna’s instead going home, and she did not care about it. Neither cared about his name (she just called him “kid”) nor how was he with his disease (The Reader, film). She just wanted to have sex and pleasure, not love at all. After some time, Michael read a story to Hanna and she liked the way he did
Martin Parra
Prof. Enrique Wong
English 100
4 December 2012
Looks can be deceiving; do not fall into the trap
“Ethical principles stand above the existence of the nation and that, by adhering to these principles an individual, belongs to the community of all those who share, who have shared, and who will share this belief” (Fromm 121). This thought was impossible to perceive in Germany during Hitler’s command and his cruel, racist, immoral Jewish holocaust. Ethics and moral never existed in that country by that time, thus Germans only lived under the “law”. One special case of this atrocity was the one of Hanna Schmitz, in the movie The Reader. Some people would say that Hanna Schmitz was a right person based on the fact that she helped Michael Berg during his youth and also the fact that she was a disciplined worker. However, she manipulated Michael Berg, killed around three hundred people in the concentration camp, and killed herself when she was in jail.
Despite Hanna helped Michael when he more needed at the time he was very sick, she manipulated and mistreated him in different ways. The first one and the most important was when Michael had to take a bath (The Reader, film). He wanted a private moment, but Hanna disrespected him (The Reader, film). She did not close the curtain and saw him naked. When Michael realized that, he was restrained. Looking at his eyes, Hanna seized the moment and got naked, too. Michael got shocked. After some looks, Michael was having his first sex experience (The Reader, film). He was just fifteen years old. Then, they began to repeat this situation almost every day. So, Michael
Parra 2 started to prefer going Hanna’s instead going home, and she did not care about it. Neither cared about his name (she just called him “kid”) nor how was he with his disease (The Reader, film). She just wanted to have sex and pleasure, not love at all. After some time, Michael read a story to Hanna and she liked the way he did
Cited: Fromm, Erich. Escape from freedom. New York: Farrar and Rinehart, 1941. Print. The reader. Dir. Stephen Daldry. Perf. Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, and Bruno Ganz. Mirage, 2008. Film. Walker, Donal B. The Detah Penalthy: Legal Cruelty. USA Today, November 1983.