“She was wearing a black suit and white blouse, and the cut of the suit and the tie that went with the blouse made her look as if she were in uniform. I have never seen the uniform of the women who worked for the SS. But I believed, and the spectators all believed, that before us we were seeing that uniform” (162).
Throughout the whole book Michael is always downplaying all of Hanna’s bad attributes, violent attacks, and demeaning behavior. This is the first time in the book where Michael truly is beginning to see Hanna as a perpetrator. After going to a concentration camp for the first time himself, imagining all the people cramped into the small areas and the gas chambers, the picture of this outfit of Hanna solidifies his thought that Hanna is indeed a perpetrator. Michael also goes on to describe how the spectators of the court case have become outraged with the attire chosen by Hanna. They feel as if she is making fun of the court case. As a reader, throughout the trial I had gained some sympathy for Hanna and began to see her more as a person. However, this image of her showing up to hear the verdict in a SS uniform look alike instantly makes me feel as if she is a perpetrator and has always been a perpetrator, and has been deceiving everyone around her. Also very interesting is the description of how Hanna listened to her verdict and how she walked out of the courtroom. Michael says Hanna stood up “straight backed, and motionless.” This depiction sounds exactly what guards do when on duty and when they are taking her orders. I believe that Hanna truly believed in what she was doing and followed every order she was given precisely. Her walk out of the courtroom is eerily similar to how soldiers march into battle. They look straight ahead and through everything, only concentrated on one thing. Throughout the whole trial Hanna was being portrayed as a possible victim of the courtroom and that she was being targeted due to the fact that she was illiterate. Now there is no further doubt in my mind, and probably any readers’ minds that she is indeed a perpetrator.
