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“How​ ​is​ ​guilt​ ​portrayed​ ​in​ ​the​ ​main​ ​characters​ ​of​ ​‘The​ ​Reader’​ ​by​ ​Bernhard
Schlink​ ​and​ ​in​ ​‘All​ ​My​ ​Sons’​ ​by​ ​Arthur​ ​Miller?”
Category​ ​2
Words:​ ​2812

English​ ​A​ ​-​ ​Language​ ​&​ ​Literature
Extended​ ​Essay

Abstract
In​ ​this​ ​extended​ ​essay​ ​the​ ​main​ ​characters​ ​from​ ​the​ ​books​ ​“The​ ​Reader”​ ​by
Bernhard​ ​Schlink​ ​and​ ​“All​ ​My​ ​Sons”​ ​by​ ​Arthur​ ​Miller​ ​are​ ​analyzed,​ ​comparing​ ​and
contrasting​ ​the​ ​way​ ​the​ ​authors​ ​present​ ​the​ ​theme​ ​of​ ​guilt​ ​through​ ​them
...
​ ​This​ ​information​ ​is​ ​relevant​ ​in​ ​both​ ​novels​ ​to
support​ ​some​ ​of​ ​the​ ​stories’​ ​parts​ ​and​ ​background​ ​material
...

It​ ​is​ ​concluded​ ​that​ ​even​ ​though​ ​the​ ​main​ ​characters​ ​have​ ​several​ ​different
characteristics,​ ​both​ ​authors​ ​present​ ​the​ ​theme​ ​of​ ​guilt​ ​in​ ​their​ ​characters,​ ​and​ ​they
had​ ​similar​ ​endings
...


1

Content
Abstract

​ ​1

Introduction

​ ​3

Chapter​ ​I

Theoretical​ ​Information

​ ​4

I
...
II

Guilt​ ​and​ ​World​ ​War​ ​II

​ ​5

I
...
IV

Guilt​ ​in​ ​Arthur​ ​Miller’s​ ​work

​ ​6

Analysis

​ ​8

II
...
II

Main​ ​character’s​ ​guilt​ ​outcome

10

II
...

In ‘The Reader’, Bernhard Schlink portrays a german woman who used to
work as a concentration camp guard named Hanna Schmitz
...
On the other hand, in “All My Sons”, Arthur Miller creates Joe Keller, a
middle-aged american who owns a factory and authorized the shipment of damaged
cylinder​ ​heads​ ​and​ ​caused​ ​the​ ​death​ ​of​ ​twenty-one​ ​pilots
...
Also, there are many aspects in both stories that help the
theme to emerge, such as the context, setting, time, and other characters
...
It is desired to conclude by finding how is guilt portrayed in both novels, and up
to​ ​what​ ​extremes​ ​it​ ​reaches
...
1
Origin​ ​of​ ​Guilt
Guilt is a feeling of remorse where the human conscience realizes one has
done something they should have not done or something they should have done
...
There is also the legal perspective, which is the condition of
committing something legally wrong regardless what one believes
...
However, there are people who lack a sense of guilt, which
in​ ​comparison​ ​to​ ​most​ ​humans,​ ​it​ ​can​ ​lead​ ​to​ ​an​ ​absence​ ​of​ ​moral​ ​thinking
...
Due to the serpent’s temptation
they eat the fruit and their sanction is that “eyes of them both were opened” (Gen
...
​ ​Meaning​ ​that​ ​sins​ ​were​ ​created​ ​which​ ​provoke​ ​a​ ​feeling​ ​of​ ​guilt
...
This six reasons are: depression, psychopathy,
impulsiveness, a cry for help, a philosophical desire to die, and

mistakes
...


4

Chapter​ ​I
1
...

This concept refers to the responsibility young generations feel towards the actions
their ancestors committed during World War II
...
I got the idea to look at collective guilt from research into tribal
communities
...
​” (Schlink, B
...

After World War II, Nuremberg, Germany was chosen as a location for trials
between 1945 and 1946
...
Those participants who killed directly were severely
sentenced, people who had roles inside the concentration camps -such as
government officials and business executives- received shorter sentences, and
those​ ​who​ ​had​ ​a​ ​prominent​ ​role​ ​were​ ​sentenced​ ​to​ ​death
...
3

Theoretical​ ​Information

Guilt​ ​in​ ​Bernhard​ ​Schlink’s​ ​work
According to the writer Erin McGlothlin, ​Väterliteratur ​or the ​literature of the

fathers ​is a term used for the second generation literature about the Holocaust as a
literature in memory of the survival from the point of view of perpetrator's children
...
For example,
“The Reader”, presents the relationship between generations as sexual attachment,
questioning the second generation’s ability to detach from the war generation’s
crimes
...

In ‘The Reader’, Bernhard Schlink creates Hanna Schmitz, an illiterate woman
who has a relationship with Michael, a boy who is more than half her age
...
Michael went to Hanna's house everyday after school
...
The second part is six
years later when Michael is a law student who attends to observe a trial about a
group of women who were part of the SS guards at Auschwitz
...
On the last part, Hanna
teaches herself to write and read
...


Chapter​ ​I
I
...
He states “Society is inside
man and man is inside society, the water is in the fish, the fish is in the water
...
This

1

​ ​Bigsby,​ ​C
...
E
...
​ ​(Cambridge​ ​University​ ​Press)

6

causes them a denial of their guilt and responsibility in order to believe they are
innocence
...
For more than three years, he blamed Steve Deever,
his neighbor and partner
...
The last act is about how Joe
accepts to approach the authorities to recognize his guilt, but he entered the house
for his coat and killed himself with a gunshot to avoid feeling guilty for the problems
he​ ​caused​ ​to​ ​his​ ​family
...
1
Main​ ​character’s​ ​guilt​ ​development
Even though the theme of guilt in “The Reader” and “All My Sons” is
presented in other characters aside Hanna and Joe, they are the ones who suffer
most from this controversy
...

Since the first part of “The Reader”, the character of Hanna Schmitz presents
a behavior of authority towards Michael which reflects her past job as a
concentration camp guard
...
“But next day when I arrived and wanted to kiss her, she pulled
back
...
’ She was serious
...
”2 Hanna gives an
order to Michael, and he decided to follow it
...

Distinct from Hanna, in “All My Sons”, Joe Keller is guilty for the death of
twenty one pilots because he authorized the damaged airplane cylinders
...
Steve Deever has been in jail ever since for being wrongly accused
...

Hanna and Joe have similar characteristics
...
The time is

2

​ ​Schlink,​ ​B
...
​ ​The​ ​Reader,​ ​(Part​ ​1,​ ​Chapter​ ​9,​ ​p
...
The two of them could have chose another action, but they did not know
there was another option
...
Joe sent the aeroplanes to avoid losing production, even
though the cylinders were damaged, since he wanted to provide money to his family
...
What
must I be forgiven? You wanted money, didn’t you?3” In this reference, Joe was
discussing with his wife, since she wanted him to accept the blame and go to jail, but
he justified himself by telling her he only did it for the family’s benefit
...
She did not know it
took place at a concentration camp, due to her illiteracy, so she accepted it to gain
money
...
Hanna did exactly what she was
told to, because she would did not know how to act differently than the responsibility
she had
...
I mean,
we had guarded them the whole time, in the campo and on the march, that was the
point, that we had to guard them and not let them escape
...
”

4

Here, Hanna was at the trial and the judge was asking her why she did

not let the prisoners escape and she said that she was only following the
assignments she was told to do, which was to keep the prisoners inside
...


3
4

​ ​Miller,​ ​A
...
​ ​All​ ​My​ ​Sons,​ ​(Act​ ​3,​ ​p​ ​76)
​ ​Schlink,​ ​B
...
​ ​The​ ​Reader,​ ​(Part​ ​2,​ ​Chapter​ ​9,​ ​p​ ​128)

9

Even though the characters of Hanna and Joe have various similar aspects,
they also have their own distinctions
...
Recovering the first chapter of this work, the trials for crimes
against humanity were established after the war, just as in the book, where people
who worked in the concentration camps and committed inhuman acts towards the
prisoners were severely sentenced, which explains why Hannah was sent to jail
...
The story mostly takes place in the Keller’s backyard
which​ ​can​ ​symbolize​ ​Joe’s​ ​isolation​ ​against​ ​society​ ​and​ ​reality
...
Also, Joe was the one who gave the order and afterwards
blamed his partner, but Hanna was accused by the other SS guards for having the
responsibility​ ​of​ ​the​ ​fire’s​ ​report,​ ​even​ ​though​ ​she​ ​did​ ​not​ ​do​ ​it
...
2
Main​ ​character’s​ ​guilt​ ​outcome
After both of the characters struggled with different events in their life, guilt
dominated them, causing a feeling of remorse and humiliation in them
...


10

In “The Reader”, Hanna never thought what she have done was wrong until
she was accused at the trial and sent to jail
...
She learnt to write to stop being
illiterate, and started sending letters to Michael
...
This feeling of rejection contributed in
Hanna’s guilt, since she started thinking Michael also blamed her for what she did in
her past
...

On the other hand, in “All My Sons”, Joe always knew that what he did was
wrong, and for many years he kept his secret, this consciousness might create a
bigger feeling of remorse
...

This two characters have different life events, but guilt took over both of them
and they had a similar ending
...

Hanna hung up herself on prison the day of her release, possibly to avoid shame on
the real world
...
This to suicides show that both of them feared what would
happen to them in the future, and thought that their relatives would be humiliated
from them
...


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Chapter​ ​II Analysis
2
...
These actions somehow also affect the main plot of each book and even
contribute​ ​to​ ​the​ ​main​ ​characters’​ ​struggle
...
Also, on the second
chapter, when he found out Hanna was the one being blamed at the trial he started
getting culpability for loved a woman who was responsible for killing a lot of people at
the concentration camp she guarded
...
He is supposed to carry the war’s
generation disgrace, and avoid the ones that were responsible of the war
...
Not only had I loved her, I had chosen her
...
”5 Unlike other people who
were related to people culpable of the crimes and had to automatically carry their
guilt, Michael becomes unable to judge Hanna, because he got involved by choice to
her guilt
...

In “All My Sons”, Kate Keller is also responsible of her husband’s guilt
...
On the third act when they all knew that Joe was
5

​ ​ ​Schlink,​ ​B
...
​ ​The​ ​Reader,​ ​(Part​ ​3,​ ​Chapter​ ​1,​ ​p​ ​170)

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the one responsible of the crime, she decided to tell Joe that he should voluntarily go
to​ ​prison​ ​to​ ​show​ ​he​ ​regretted​ ​what​ ​he​ ​had​ ​done​ ​and​ ​avoid​ ​more​ ​conflicts
...

Guilt in both novels was analyzed by involving the context, setting, time, and
other characters, and giving illustrations of both of them
...

Even though this extended essay was done to examine how is guilt portrayed
in Hanna and Joe, there were some interesting ideas that were not analyzed
...
(2011, October) Germany has yet to rid itself of its guilt over the Nazis,
says​ ​Schlink
...
independent
...
uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/germany-has-yet-to-rid
-itself-of-its-guilt-over-the-nazis-says-schlink-2082712
...
(2015, June) The Limits of German Guilt
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project-syndicate
...
(2012) War, Guilt, and World Politics after World War II
...
​ ​Press
Calvocoressi, Peter, (1948) Nuremberg, the Facts, the Law and the Consequences
...
Information retrieved on January 31, 2016
from:
http://www
...
ucsb
...
htm
Keilbach,​ ​A
...
​ ​Information
retrieved​ ​on​ ​December​ ​15,​ ​2015​ ​from:
http://www
...
com/en/e-book/118453/guilt-and-responsibility-in-arthur-miller-s-play
s
Lickerman,​ ​A
...
​ ​Health​ ​Communications,​ ​Inc
...
​ ​ ​(2006)​ ​Second-Generation​ ​Holocaust​ ​Literature
...
google
...
mx/books?id=GW7xkJQo090C&pg=PA16&lpg=PA16&dq=
V%C3%A4terliteratur+english&source=bl&ots=cQt_M8EXpR&sig=uALCftMU59wfhz
9aT8-Uvo3Zjv4&hl=es&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjW287-_bnJAhXIbSYKHRWMAcEQ6A
EIKDAB#v=onepage&q=V%C3%A4terliteratur%20english&f=false
Nöthling,​ ​M
...
​ ​(2000)
...
​ ​Harold​ ​Bloom
Schlink,​ ​B
...
​ ​The​ ​Reader
...
(2013, July) How do I speak about the past? Information retrieved on
November​ ​25,​ ​2015​ ​from:
http://wiredspace
...
ac
...
pdf?
sequence=2

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