Part 3

In part 3, Michael still feels numb regarding the whole situation with Hanna but also feels like he can have other kinds of feelings and in a way closes his story with her. Although he marries Gertrude and has children with her, it is evident that Michael will never feel the same love and passion for any other woman as he did for Hanna. Michael’s issues concerning sleep, emotions, and relationships are essentially a product of his relationship with Hanna. After she abandoned him, he was unable to feel total happiness again and was wounded for the rest of his life. He was clearly too young to be able to deal with such neglect and greatly suffered after what he thought was “the love of his life” left him without an explanation.  Although it could be seen as sweet that Michael sends Hanna tapes of himself reading out loud, I find it kind of pathetic that he hasn’t been strong enough to block her out of his life. Instead of trying to break out of this depression that’s been causing him to lose sleep, he makes it worse by associating himself with her.

Hanna and Michael’s reencounter is rather different than what I had imagined. Hanna is excited to see Michael, but his emotionless reaction threw me off and reminded me that he is no longer the love-struck, naïve child that he was at the beginning of their relationship. It is clear in this scene that Michael will never be the passionate and lively man that he was when his and Hanna’s relationship was at its peak. At this point, the age difference between the two is also very obvious. While Michael is still in his younger years, Hanna is an old woman and no longer posses the sexy, mysterious, intriguing qualities that once attracted Michael.

I couldn’t understand why Hanna killed herself. Was it because she realized that her and Michael would never be together? Did she feel that she was a burden on his life and find it worthless to go out into the real world? Nonetheless, Michael remains untouched by the situation. Despite his lack of sadness considering her suicide, Michael speaks to the author who wrote about Hanna and still cares about her memory. How can he be so numb when it comes to Hanna, but still care about her so much? He is finally able to let go of her after her death and in a way finds peace after living a long life of depression and detachment.

I enjoyed the reader, but also found it incredibly sad. It is still somewhat unclear to me whether or not Michael confused sex for love, because if it affected him so much then it had to have been somewhat close to love.