Michael Character Analysis in The Golden Notebook

Michael is a married psychiatrist with whom Anna has a lengthy, heartbreaking affair during roughly the first half of the 1950s. He is a Jewish ex-communist—much of his family died in the Holocaust, and many of his communist dissenter friends were murdered by the Soviets. Their relationship is mostly referenced in passing and through the fictional character Ella’s relationship with the fictional doctor Paul Tanner in the yellow notebook, but it is clearly the central reason for Anna’s emotional devastation throughout the novel. In the third section of the blue notebook, Anna recounts the end of their relationship; on September 16, 1954, which Anna describes in detail, she spends much of her day at home catering to Michael’s every desire—sex, food, emotional reassurance—but gains nothing in return; after she lovingly makes him a veal dinner, he never shows up and she ends up throwing it in the trash. While Michael was the only man Anna ever loved, he never saw her as anything more than a diversion and never would have married her; this disconnect between men’s apparent affection for women and their lack of emotional investment in them is the central obstacle to Anna’s satisfaction with her romantic relationships.

Michael Quotes in The Golden Notebook

The The Golden Notebook quotes below are all either spoken by Michael or refer to Michael. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Fragmentation, Breakdown, and Unity Theme Icon

“How can you separate love-making off from everything else? It doesn't make sense.”

Related Characters: Ella (speaker), Paul Tanner, George, Michael, Anna Wulf

Page Number and Citation: 172

Explanation and Analysis:

In the yellow notebook, Ella (a fictionalized version of Anna) meets the psychiatrist Paul Tanner (a fictionalized version of Michael) at a work function. Anna’s narration then jumps ahead to the end of their relationship, when Paul criticizes Anna for only falling in love with him after sleeping with him, and Anna replies with this line. She points to a nearly universal pattern in the men she meets: they are invested in sex but not in love; they view sex and love as two separate spheres and cannot bring themselves to understand how the women they sleep with fall in Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corp

What Ella lost during those five years was the power to create through naivety.

Related Characters: Anna Wulf (speaker), Ella, Paul Tanner, Michael, Mrs Marks / Mother Sugar

Page Number and Citation: 201

Explanation and Analysis:

In a digression from the main story of the yellow notebook, Anna realizes one of the central themes she had not previously acknowledged in her novel The Shadow of the Third: the relationship between naivety and creativity. She sees this naivety in Ella’s faith that her affair with Paul would turn into something (and, by extension, in her own faith that her relationship with Michael would succeed). Anna declares that naivety is the same thing as “spontaneous creative faith”—the combination of trust and inspiration that can lead people to make art, or remake their lives in a frenzy—and that this Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque

15th September, 1954

A normal day. During the course of a discussion with John Butte and Jack I decided to leave the Party. I must now be careful not to start hating the Party in the way we do hate stages of our life we have outgrown. Noted signs of it already: moments of disliking Jack which were quite irrational. Janet as usual, no problems. Molly worried, I think with reason, over Tommy. She has a hunch he will marry his new girl. Well, her hunches usually come off. I realized that Michael had finally decided to break it off. I must pull myself together.

Related Characters: Anna Wulf (speaker), Molly Jacobs, Michael, Jack, Comrade John Butte, Janet Wulf, Tommy

Page Number and Citation: 352

Explanation and Analysis:

After Anna attempts to record every event of her day on September 15, she ultimately crosses out her entire entry and offers this bare version of the day instead. The reader gets two perspectives on the same experience, one full of life and affect, the other a set of dead, empty facts. Beyond showing how Anna’s often finicky authorial choices shape the reader’s access to her “truth,” this also implies that there is much in Anna’s life the reader might not be privy to because her notebooks so often evacuate her experience of all detail. Beyond revealing Anna’s struggle to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis conse

From this point of the novel “the third,” previously Paul’s wife; then Ella’s younger alter ego formed from fantasies about Paul’s wife; then the memory of Paul; becomes Ella herself. As Ella cracks and disintegrates, she holds fast to the idea of Ella whole, healthy and happy. The link between the various “thirds” must be made very clear: the link is normality, but more than that — conventionality, attitudes or emotions proper to the “respectable” life which in fact Ella refuses to have anything to do with.

Related Characters: Anna Wulf (speaker), Michael, Ella, Paul Tanner

Page Number and Citation: 429-30

Explanation and Analysis:

Anna begins to explore the meaning of her novel’s’ title, The Shadow of the Third. The “third” in her title may be an obscure reference to the American philosopher C.S. Peirce, who argued that relationships between signs and the things to which they refer also require a third term, the set of rules and conventions on which reference is based—this makes it clear that Anna’s “thirds” have two functions. First, as she suggests here, they show Ella the “normal” life she is missing out on: Paul’s wife has the committed relationship with him that Ella wants for herself; after Ella Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequatur magnam. Aliquid iste enim. Sequi aut maxime. Adipisci voluptate et. Voluptas suscipit alias. In et eveniet. Eaque et repellendus. Dolores aut voluptatibus. Voluptatem qui voluptatum. Voluptatibus sed placeat. Aut tenetur autem. Fugit voluptates in. Quidem impedit sunt. Exce

Michael Character Timeline in The Golden Notebook

The timeline below shows where the character Michael appears in The Golden Notebook. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Molly also asks about Anna herself—she had a visit from Michael, with whom she had broken up three years prior after living together for five years.... (full context)

Fact, Fiction, and Authorship Theme Icon

Anna walks back to her five-room flat, where Michael persuaded her to live (instead of with Molly). She rents a room to two students... (full context)

Communism and Disillusionment Theme Icon

...defend it at dinner with an old friend, Joyce. When he stops by that night, Michael is unsurprised. He plays the Eastern European ex-revolutionary, and it is “fascinating—the roles we play,... (full context)

Three of Michael’s friends are hanged in Prague, and he insists to Anna that they could not be... (full context)

...wholeness through the Party—but it actually “intensified the split.” That night, she discusses it with Michael, that “witch-doctor” and “soul-curer,” who affirms that the human soul is far too complex to... (full context)

Anna and Michael go to East Berlin, which is ominous and terrifying. Some old Comrades are hostile to... (full context)

...Stalin might not have known about “all the terrible things that were happening,” and later Michael agrees, since “anything is possible.” He mentions that he used to see Stalin as a... (full context)

...Ella’s relationship with Paul Tanner. Naivety is what Anna sees in her own relationship with Michael—but neither she nor Ella understood during their relationships how men destroy “the knowing, doubting, sophisticated”... (full context)

Anna has never analyzed her own relationship with Michael—it was “like a curving line on a graph.” Anna explains that, in Ella’s first months... (full context)

...her room, Anna remembers waking to the same noise each morning in Africa, and then Michael’s “cold irony,” which was also repetitive. Playing with Janet and her blocks, Anna feels nothing.... (full context)

...a magic wand had been waved.” She and Mrs Marks talk about her resentment for Michael, who mocks her writing and preference for Janet above him, and who says he will... (full context)

...15, 1950: Anna tells Mrs Marks she is the happiest she has ever been with Michael, but hates him every morning. Mrs Marks suggests it is “time you started dreaming again,”... (full context)

On April 15, 1954: Anna has multiple dreams about Michael leaving, which convince her that he will indeed leave soon. Though unhappy in life, she... (full context)

...ever was with Janet’s father, Max Wulf. She did not love him—she loved nobody until Michael. She thinks this is not so terrible, but that the only terrible thing is “to... (full context)

...Molly is fed up with the Party’s lies to defend the Soviet Union. Anna tells Michael about this at night, and to her surprise, he supports her. (full context)

...alone, watching the world’s fragments fly about in chaos. All she cares about, truly, is Michael—he is the only thing that brings her happiness. (full context)

The blue notebook continues. In an entry dated September 15, 1954, Anna recounts how Michael declares that their affair is over, but poses it as a question. He celebrates their... (full context)

Anna’s portrait of her day begins. She wakes early, next to Michael, and wonders whether it will be their last time together, which feels impossible in the... (full context)

...feels tense and resentful, looking ahead to a day full of meaningless tasks, knowing that Michael will have “women in all kinds of capacities” helping him with his work all day.... (full context)

Anna wakes Michael, who praises her “efficiency and practicality.” She makes breakfast and eats with him while wondering... (full context)

Anna dons a dress that Michael likes and buys the food she plans to cook for him. She changes the sheets... (full context)

...another version of herself might soon decide not to leave the Party and realizing that Michael and Jack, “the ex-communist” and “the communist bureaucrat” respectively, represent her nightmare about the execution.... (full context)

...and notices that her dress has a “slightly grimy” collar, picks another outfit and imagines Michael’s criticisms. She makes two dinners (one for Janet, one for her and Michael) and runs... (full context)

Anna makes veal for Michael and herself, feeling delighted until her happiness disappears into self-doubt and tiredness, guilt and dissatisfaction.... (full context)

Molly returns from the theater and asks if Michael is coming—Anna promises that he is, but Molly doubts her. Anna tells Molly that she... (full context)

Anna realizes Michael will not be coming; he calls and says he can’t make it, but that he... (full context)

...to with Jack. Janet is “as usual”; Molly is distraught over Tommy; Anna understands “that Michael had finally decided to break it off” and “must pull [her]self together.” (full context)

...wonders what that could mean—perhaps it means the “whole area of tension” with men like Michael and Richard. Ivor’s friend Ronnie has “moved into Ivor’s room and to his bed,” and... (full context)

...“this new frightened vulnerable Anna” has come into being, realizing that it is because of Michael leaving her. Yet she is glad to think she can be strong “just so long... (full context)

...her to read through the books for the first time, which reminds her how much Michael’s rejection impacted her. She is also “disturbed” because she cannot recognize herself in her writing... (full context)

...deeper sense of ‘reality’ than ‘normal’ people.” Dave told Anna that she should not let Michael’s rejection—years old by now—affect her, since “who are you if you can be broken up... (full context)

...character; the girl is as normal as one can be, except for Anna, Molly, and Michael’s influence. By going to boarding school, she means to say that she wants “to get... (full context)

...he immediately changes, proving “extraordinarily acute about her character and situation,” like no man but Michael could have done, “naming” her so pleasingly. (full context)

...memories switches to another scene: a fight between Paul Tanner from the yellow notebook and Michael from reality; these two men merge into a new, heroically strong person, who says they... (full context)

The projectionist runs through various films: Mashopi, then Paul Tanner and Ella, then Michael and Anna, Ella and Julia, Anna and Molly. He laughs when it says, “directed by... (full context)

Michael Character Analysis

Michael Quotes in The Golden Notebook

The Notebooks: 1 Quotes

The Notebooks: 2 Quotes

The Notebooks: 3 Quotes

Michael Character Timeline in The Golden Notebook