I don't understand why he lived the rest of his life so closed off from the world around him. He felt guilty for loving Hanna, but he did not know what Hanna was guilty of at the time. He seemed to feel such great remorse for no reason.
I do not understand, however, why he was refrained from speaking to her in private and confronting her about her illiteracy.
I think that it was part of his general character. I think he was a reserved and possibly somewhat introverted person.
The reason he closed himself off, I think, is because Hanna was his first love, and he was left heartbroken unexpectedly without explaination. He defied his family and left them to be with her, which he might have thought was forever only to be left crawling back. I think that made him feel like he meant nothing to her, so he did not feel comfortable popping into her life like nothing had happened and tried to carry on with his life like she did when she left him.
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