i mean, i DO understand why she told the Nazi soldier who she really was, but i DONT understand why on earth she told them that simon was her son! she knew they'd be taken into custody so why did she sell him out like that? was it to get back at her husband for loving tania?
shareI think she was in a deep abyss of despair about the unraveling of her marriage and her world. She was unhinged and disconnected from her maternal feelings. Some impulse made her want to assert her identity (and her son's) for better or worse: We are Jews; you can't make me lie. Her last stand?
shareI think she did it impulsively, not as retribution. She was miserable and afraid and wanted to keep one thing that she loved - her son.
shareHannah was so distraught but also so very jealous. She chose not to live under those conditions but in what I consider to be a vengeful act, she deliberately identified Simon as her son. What better way to get back at her faithless husband than to rob him of the son he loved. At least that's the way I interpreted her actions.
A very interesting story but one that you don't want to miss any part of. It could get confusing.
You've identified the big plot hole the bothered me, too.
But, I assume, this actually happened from the book and real-life.
I guess she destroyed her son to hurt her husband. The son was more precious to him than she was. It's a pretty monstrous thing to do but people have done worse.
See or read The Joy Luck Club. She did the same thing. It's to get back at her husband. I have seen it in real life in my forensic mental health practice. Thankfully it is rare.
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yes to get back at her husband, taking his 'prized' son..
shareI think it was absolutely to punish her husband.
It reminds me of a true story of a couple where the woman was on a cruise when the man's father died and she declined to return for the funeral. They subsequently married and had a child. When the baby was about a year old, the man strangled him and said he had planned it all along because he wanted her to feel the loss of somebody she loved.
I think people here are too hard on her.
Honest, I think there are several ways to interpret her actions and the truth is that no one will actually know what the real woman behind the character of Hannah was thinking, but try to remember that at that point in time, they did not know what was being dome to the Jews who were taken. And that the most natural thing in the world is for a mother to want her son with her. You should also remember that a lot of parents went through a lot of terrible things during that war and most of them (unless they specifically knew what was going on, which most of them didn't) assumed their kids are always safest with them.
"He shall be an adder on the path, to bite a horse's heel"share
I think Hannah knew that her husband was lost to Tania and in a moment of desperation she chose to stay behind and keep the son with her -as another poster said, her son was the one who truly loved her. I think she might have had an idea of their fate considering that two days after they were arrested they were gassed. She was depressed, confused, desperate, and who wouldn't be?
share@fanaticita: Actually, it was nine days after they were arrested. You're thinking about the two days after being transferred to Auschwitz that they were gassed.
I've considered the possibilities, and I think the harshness is warranted.
Her first move, revealing that she was Jewish, shows that she was either crazy or stupid. It's likely that she wasn't precisely aware of the concentration camps and gas chambers, but still-- she had to know that she was vaulting herself into extreme danger and uncertainty.
Her second move, revealing her son, was pure spite and petty jealousy-- or again pure craziness. I think it was pretty clear that her husband hadn't actually done anything with Tania yet. All he did was toss longing glances at her. And for that, she condemned her own son? Can you imagine if a mother did this today if she caught her husband checking out women at the mall?
You should realize that at the time no one knew about the concentration camps. They even comment on not knowing what happens after the transit stations. Try reading Elie Wiesel's Night. They have opportunities to escape, but no one could imagine what the Third Reich was really up to. Really, could you imagine some first world country doing that now? Of course not, so what makes you think that she could imagine that would happen. And as a mother, I can tell you the natural inclination is to just keep your kid with you.
share@ShanaLD: But you're missing the main point.
Hannah was crazy and selfish enough to RISK giving up herself and Simon. Yet you're saying she may've done this on a hunch that it might be okay or because she was ignorant to the possible outcome? No way. No normal mother would make that gamble. She was a very disturbed person at that point...and she took their innocent son with her.
Even if she was concerned about her husband's fidelity, there was no sane reason to back out of their plan just 1/2 mile and hours from safety. It would've been the truly unselfish choice to make sure she got her son to safety...to ensure that Simon would live out his life. True mother's love. After that, Hannah could leave her husband, kill her self, or whatever...but there was absolutely NO NEED to give up herself and her son on a whim that they might fare well in a war where Jews were despised.
Hannah was clearly disturbed and depressed, while consequently selfish and vindictive. It was pretty much a murder-suicide and she instinctively knew that...at the very least, she was wiling to gamble on it.
edit: If you get a chance, check out this Oscar-winning German short about a mother's selfless love for her son during WWII: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1280548/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
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I also felt viewers were to hard on her. Her husband was putting her threw hell with being infatuated with her brothers wife. She knew he was not interested in her brother being with them a the safe place because he was in a concentration camp he only really wanted Tania and most importantly his son but was hiding it and she knew it. He wanted to have his cake and eat it too. The letter said it all when he said the family would be together. Meaning Tania and his son. She could not handle the betrayal, Just look at the kitchen scene when she stairs at Tania and Tania knew what it was about. So since the boy is not is not tania's she takes the boy with her.
shareMaybe she just wanted to hang on to all she has got lrft, her son?
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