History And Morality In Bernhard Schlink's The Reader
1300 Words6 Pages
The belief in and search for the existence of an undeniable “absolute truth” is a collective human personality in contemporary culture. In the controversial metafictional translated novel, The Reader, Bernhard Schlink explores the memory of Michael’s past, symbolically representative of the German Holocaust history, as an augmentation of subjective nonfictional details. The plot smoothly transitions between past and present, and within its subtext investigates a plethora of fundamental themes, guiding the audience towards an introspection of their own identity and existence. Upon doing so, Schlink induces confusion, and consequently the blurring, of predefined boundaries between different absolutes within the reader’s minds. Particularly significant in doing so is the exploration of the theme of history, and morality, and the implementation of a particular style of narration that cumulatively questions whether it is possible to ascertain such a thing as absolution.…show more content… Regardless of the fundamental subjectivity that the book is subjected to, however, humans read with the drive and aim to absorb the information or knowledge, in order gain another piece towards a more holistic understanding in the search truth, of human construct. As a result, The Reader could have been Schlink’s way of raising awareness of the subjectivity to what we define to be truths, and simultaneously, recreating a fictionalized pathway, using literature as the medium, to providing the public with a step towards a better perception in the direction of absolution, or at least, a higher class of