Literacy / Illiteracy
Hanna is illiterate and this is one of the central themes of the novel, in that it impacts absolutely everything about her life, and also the lives of those around her. Being illiterate is an enormous shame to her and something that the reader deduces is an indication of her impoverished upbringing that she wants to hide and does not want to be judged by. She is also in fear of her illiteracy because it both limits her, and makes her afraid that she will not be able to learn to read. She cannot try to learn to read because she does not want to admit that she cannot which means she cannot ask anyone to help her. Being illiterate makes Hanna miss out on more than one promotion and holds her back from fulfilling her potential and she also implies that illiteracy causes her to sign up as a prison guard as well, it being the only way out of admitting that she cannot read or write and therefore cannot take the offered promotion at the Siemens factory. Similarly, she is unable to read the indictment against her and is therefore far less prepared than her fellow defendants to understand the entirety of the case against her. Being illiterate also makes her angry because she is dependent on people. Throughout the book, the effect of not being able to read or write, and how it completely changes the path a person's life can take, is illustrated.
War Crimes
Nazi war crimes are a theme in the novel due mainly to the fact that Hanna is on trial for war crimes, and the trial is one of the key moments of Michael's life. He has already told the reader that his generation judge his parents' and grandparents' generations very harshly for not doing anything to prevent Hitler's power and the holocaust that was happening around them. It is made clear in the book that doing nothing to stop the events is just as bad as participating in them. It's also made clear throughout the book that the leaders of the systematic extermination of the Jews are generally not the people on trial. They were influential people and have now found their way into offices of similar influence in the judiciary, in politics and in medicine. The people who were "carrying out orders" are the people who are being tried for the crimes. It also makes it clear in the novel that "just following orders" is not an excuse for the murder and abuse that was carried out by those lower on the totem pole. The novel details several war crimes including the death marches and the way in which the weakest of the prisoners were "selected" at random, their life or death being simply on the whim of the guard in charge of them.
Forgiveness and Redemption
Whilst Michael tries to mitigate Hanna's behavior in the war by convincing himself she selected the weakest in the camp to read aloud to her because she wanted to give them some respite in their last days, it is really himself that he is finding it difficult to forgive for loving a war criminal in the first place. The theme of forgiveness and redemption runs throughout the novel but is most poignant at the end when Hanna bequeaths her money to the surviving daughter from the church fire; Michael sees this as an illustration of a changed woman who is trying to make restitution for the wrongs she has done. The daughter sees Hanna as a woman who, to the end, is trying to get a redemption that she does not deserve, and who merely wants to be seen to have done the "right thing" at the end. The novel throws up interesting questions about the nature of forgiveness and the way in which the individual is able to justify it according to their relationship with the person asking to be forgiven.
Child Abuse
Michael is not a young child in the novel, and is fifteen when he begins his relationship with Hanna. Although he describes himself as a more than willing participant, the theme of abuse is nonetheless present throughout the novel. As the adult, Hanna should have been the one to turn down any advances he made, or to resist the attraction between them. She should not have used him as her reader, or made their relationship into an adult one his teenage brain was unable to cope with. The effect of the abuse has decimated his life as he is unable to connect properly with women once he is an adult, and seems to be going through the motions of an emotional life without truly participating in one. He is also unable to recognize that he was abused. The issue of the abuser is also an ongoing theme; Hanna abuses her prisoners, abuses Michael and is shown as an abusive type of personality, the book thus raising the question of whether once an abuser, always an abuser. The surviving daughter also feels that she is continuing to abuse her by leaving her the money and therfore making her acknowledge that the woman she knows as a murderer has done something that is on the face of it, the right thing. This is very manipulative and can therefore be seen as further evidence of abuse. Michael also takes on some of the traits of the emotional remoteness that was prevalent in his relationship with Hanna as he drifts further from his own daughter, too preoccupied with Hanna to participate fully in her upbringing.
