The reader Chapter 12 & 13 J anette Rica yo

1. The reader Chapter 12 & 13Janette Rica yo

2. Summary Chapter 12: • Michael’s parents & older siblings go out of town for a week, leaving Michael and her younger sister at home • He bribes his younger sister to stay at a friend’s house while he invites Hanna to his house Chapter 13: • Michael completes 10th grade and moves up to 11th grade and sits next to a girl named Sophie • They gradually bonded and developed a friendship

3. Plot Chapter 12: • “While I have no memory of the lies I told my parents…” Tells the story from adult Michael’s voice: starts off with a reflection of 15 year old Michael • Hanna was invited as a guest but she felt Chapter 13: • Tells the story from 15 year old Michael where he includes his classmates into the story. “We didn’t find out about it until school began.” • Places Michael within the context of his life beyond Hanna. He spends, perhaps, one or two hours most days with Hanna, reading, bathing, and having sex. Of course, he spends far more time in school and with his family. His burgeoning relationship with Sophie is hampered and ultimately destroyed by his strange attachment to Hanna

4. Characterization Chapter 12: • Michael is presented to the readers as a excited and desperate 15 year old boy (“I had longed every night to feel her next to me…”) • Michael’s affection for Hanna is also presented clearly through his detailed “pictures” of Hanna he stores away in his mind. He lists the pictures one by one in great detail “Another is Hanna riding her bike with her skirt blowing in her slipstream.” These images of Hanna still remains with adult Michael and this displays that his relationship with Hanna affects him emotionally.

5. Characterization • Hanna’s character is of a curious young girl in this chapter as she is unfamiliar with the environment. When she was given the nightdress from Michael, her actions were similar to that of a young child “she laughed and beamed.” “…danced a few steps...” • His desperateness is highlighted from his dialogue with Hanna where Hanna asks Michael about his father’s books but Michael replies with short and unresponsive responses. (“I don’t know” “I don’t know Hanna”)

6. Characterization • We are first introduced to Michael’s sister’s character where we see her as a spoiled girl (“She demanded jeans”) • Shows how little Michael thinks of stealing when it is a big issue, illustrates that Hanna and Michael’s relationship is going strong (“The day after that I stole a silk nightdress for Hanna…”) • It physically took Hanna to come to Michael’s house for Michael to grasp the discomfort with the class differences in their relationship (“She felt like an intruder in our house.”)

7. Characterization Chapter 13: • Michael is represented to shown more maturity through the didactic tone started out in the chapter where he explains about the school systems (“My class was disbanded and divided into three parallel classes.” ) • The rhetorical question used in this chapter also indicates how Michael feels he is much more matured than the other boys in his class “Does everyone feel this way?”

8. Characterization • Michael’s experiences are presented to us as memories reinforced particularly through sight, a powerful link to memory (“ Brown hair, brown eyes, brown summer skin…”) • The choice Michael had to make between Hanna and Sophie is first demonstrated in this chapter where readers are presented to see Michael in a conflicting decision (“Should I imagine her as Hanna or Sophie?”)

9. Setting Chapter 12: • Setting is placed in Michael’s home where Hanna is invited for the first time • One of the first chapters in the book since Hanna and Michael started their affair that really puts their relationship in the context of reality. Up until now, they've just done what they wanted when they wanted with no thought for the outside world. By inviting Hanna into his house Michael has allowed the first strains of reality to become clear in their relationship; there are of course later examples of this happening but this is the real first sign of it

10. Setting Chapter 13: • Setting is set in Michael’s school/classroom where he first interacts with Sophie, the girl who he develops a friendship with • Readers are presented for the first time Michael’s interaction in his surroundings, how he interacts with his friends and teachers from school. This emphasizes the large age differences in Hanna and Michael’s relationship and how both interacts in their environment (Hanna working as a tram conductor vs. Michael’s school life)

11. Style Chapter 12: - “Bookshelves” “Father’s study” “books” The repetition of reading material and objects throughout this chapter stresses Hanna’s interest in reading Chapter 13: - “Nausicaa, white-armed and virginal” In the Odyssey, Nausicaa is represented as a fair maiden and readers are positioned to see that Michael thinks of both Hanna and Sophie as a fair maiden