Hanna's Disappearance

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While aiming to bring the text to the big screen, Stephen Daldry is compelled to extract the story from its original first person narrative. The first person narrative is what defines the internal monologues of Michael. In the film, director Daldry eliminates this and leaves indications to Michael’s thoughts without turning them into words. This compelled eradication of perspective is exhibited through Michael’s thoughts after Hanna’s disappearance when he thinks, “But even worse than my physical desire was my sense of guilt. Why hadn’t I jumped up immediately when she stood there and run to her! This one moment summed up all my halfheartedness of the past months, which had produced my denial of her, and my betrayal. Leaving was her punishment.”(p.83). …show more content…

He seems aggrieved by Hanna’s disappearance, however, his self accusation and longing for her is failed to be shown. In this passage of the book, Michael’s conscious thoughts were given expression through his words. The requisite succinctness of the movie adaptation gives no room for such internal considerations as these. The movie only allows broad portrayals, omitting the finer details of the novel, wherein lie subtleties of thought and expression. After Hanna’s death he again contemplates, “In the first few years after Hanna’s death, I was tormented by the old questions of whether I owed her something, whether I was guilty for having loved her. Sometimes I ask myself if I was responsible for her death. And sometimes I was in rage at her and at what she had done to me.” (p. 216). In contrast, the final scene of the movie incorporates Michael visiting Hanna’s grave with his daughter. This scene completely overlooks the guilt that Michael feels at the end after Hanna’s death. The moral quandaries are not explored as they are in the

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