“Children are innocent and love justice, while most adults are wicked and prefer mercy.” (Gilbert Chesterton). During WW2, millions of men and women contributed to fight for their countries. For Nazi Germany, their goal was to wipe out the race of the Jews. As a result camps such as Auschwitz was built to murder the population. In the novel, Bruno, a son of a Nazi’s general was forced to move next to the concentration camp due to his father’s occupation. Upon arriving to his new home, Bruno attempt to scout the area to get to know his new surrounding. During the stressful time, Bruno finds it difficult to recruit new friends around the neighborhood since his house is located in a rural area. However, everything changes when Bruno stumbles on a Jewish boy who lives behind the fence. Throughout the novel of the The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Boyne emphasizes the innocent mindset of Bruno by using dramatic irony, presented through the protagonist's view, Auschwitz, prisoner uniform, and race are known as something more childish for Bruno. Auschwitz, a place which was once described as a slaughter house by a WW2 survivor. While Bruno moves into this gruesome place, an interesting question pops up in Bruno’s head. Bruno asked what is the name of the house, mother answers the question with Auschwitz; however, due to miss pronunciation or misheard, Bruno calls the place “Out-With”. Boyne hinted this mistake by adding a dialogue between Bruno’s sister Gretel and Bruno. "It's not
The Holocaust was a terrible and depressing time during history. There were millions of people recklessly murdered, women and children included, just because of their religion, or because one person decided that he didn’t like them, or that they were a threat. They were thrown into concentration camps where all they did was suffer, work, and eventually, be killed. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas follows a boy whose father was a commandant of Auschwitz. Auschwitz was the largest, and most famous, of the death camps the Nazi’s (people who followed Hitler, the leader of the Holocaust). The boy, Bruno, meets a boy named Shmuel that lives in Auschwitz. Bruno and Shmuel soon become friends, and decide to go on a ‘final adventure’ together to try
The Boy In The Stripped Pajamas by John Boyne is a 2006 holocaust novel seen through the innocent eyes of a young boy named Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, whose forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has shocking and unexpected consequences. During the novel, prejudice and discrimination are shown to have many effects on numerous of the characters such as Bruno and Shmuel, Discrimination, or in other words, treating a person or group of people differently, especially on the fields of race, age and sex is taken place by a multitude of people such as Gretel, by following Kotler’s decisions, Gretel is discriminating because she is supporting the Germans belief. Prejudice on the other hand, is another word for an unfair and unreasonable opinion or feeling, especially when formed without enough thought or knowledge. Lieutenant Kotler one of Father's soldiers shows a great example of this as well as discrimination while Bruno at the end of the novel shows he fights against prejudice and discrimination
John Boyne's book "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" invites the readers to embark on an imaginative journey at two levels. At the first level, Boyne himself embarks upon an imaginative journey that explores a possible scenario in relation to Auschwitz. Bruno is a 9 year old boy growing up in a loving, but typically authoritarian German family in the 1930?s. His father is a
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is set in the time period of the early 1940s during World War II. In this book, the characters acted and reacted the way they did because of the horrific situation with the Nazis. For example, when Bruno's father was promoted to run Auschwitz and the family moved to the new house, Bruno reacted by disliking everything about the new arrangements, especially the Nazis soldiers, who were very stern and harsh. The setting in the Boy in the Striped Pajamas is an important element in the novel because it sets the tone for how the story develops according to the time, situation, and place. Also, throughout the novel the story contradicts the innocence of youth with the monstrosities of war through the setting
One day, Bruno is looking out the window and asks his mother if he could “play with the children on the farm.” This is where the audience learns Bruno’s Harmartia, or tragic flaw, of his age. Children at Bruno’s age are innocent, kind, curious, and are often hidden from the evils of the world. Unknowingly, he moves close to a concentration camp, but due to his innocence, he believes the prison is a farm. He describes the “farmers” as looking “strange”
“How do I look?” Bruno asked as he was putting his pajamas on. Shmuel responded with a nod indicating that they look alike. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas portrays a family during the German war and all the struggles they had faced. Bruno, who is the son of this family, wanted nothing but to go on an adventure. He even went against his mother’s strict orders not to leave and found himself outside a concentration camp. Children tend to have their own views on the world which results in them not seeing how harsh the world truly is especially when it comes to the aspect of race. In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, the power of rhetoric is shown in the culture between the German’s and the Jew’s lives and the
The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas is a novel written by John Boyne. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is about a young man named Bruno. Bruno moves from Berlin to Auschwitz. Bravery and courage comes in many forms – from moving to a new place you’ve never been before, to making new friends with people you’ve never met. Bruno is one such character that displays strong acts of bravery. Moreover, the intention of this essay is to explain in greater depth why Bruno is a justifiably brave character.
“The Boy In the Striped Pyjamas” by John Boyne gives an insight to the holocaust and the rule of Nazi Germany in WW2, Boyne’s novel demonstrates Friendship through protagonist Bruno. Boyne writes about the an inhumane period, even if his book is a fable it still is based on the hardship that the jewish people suffered during this dark time. Throughout the Novel Bruno’s perspective on Friendship changes, he realises that you shouldn’t judge a friend by there appearance. The characters show intricate acts of friendship for life, friendship between young and old. Mateship between four “best friends for life” (karl, Daniel, Martin and Bruno) and the protagonist, Bruno, “crossing the fence” by entering an concentration and extermination camp for his jewish friend, Shmuel. The book is set on the German Polish border in about the year 1942 in the middle of Nazi Germany.
John Boyne has created a sophisticated and meaningful novel “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas” through his portrayal of prejudice and discrimination. Throughout the text, he exposes society's perception, attitude and behavior towards different racial groups and people during the Holocaust in WW2. Bruno’s curious nature, captures the attention of the reader, and provides a platform from which to explore the atrocities of war. Bruno’s innocence shields him from the monstrosities of prejudice and discrimination, depicted by the attitude and behaviour of the people around him. In particular, Bruno bears witness to prejudice and discrimination propagated by Hitler, The Commandant and Lt Kotler.
World War II was a drastic war fought from 1939 to 1945 that affected society in many ways. Adolf Hitler’s attempts to take over the world by starting to attack neighboring countries triggered the start of this massive world war. Adolf Hitler became leader of Germany and this resulted in the country of Germany following the National Socialist Party or more commonly known as the Nazi Party. This party led the entire country to believe in many inhumane things that would go against the standards of humanity set forth by the public currently. The main idea that the Nazi party taught Germans of all ages is to treat Jewish people poorly. The Nazi party not only taught the adults that jews are unequal to all other citizens but they also taught the children living in the country. As a result of these views, the Germans closed and vandalised all businesses owned by jewish men, imprisoned jews, held many jews in concentration camps often being killed in gas chambers and mass murdering these jews. This situation in Germany is the main cause for all the conflicts within the book, “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”. John Boyne made this book take place during the World War II era. The protagonist in the story is a nine year old boy named Bruno who is the son of a very important figure in the German Military. Bruno’s father 's role in society is also a contributing factor in many of the conflicts that occur in the novel. The three main conflicts John Boyne writes about in “The Boy in the
Children’s innocence and unconditional love for their parents often unleash terror and abuse. It is impossible not to perceive the author’s hidden parallels: the nation’s that blindly follow their “chosen one” without questioning his decisions and true motifs march to imminent doom. Bruno comes to terms with his new life rather briskly and is perfectly willing to go on as long as he has a pleasant distraction - Shmuel - in his life. He instinctively avoids the question that can expose the horrors of his “best friend’s” existence or his father’s true nature. Even after witnessing the sad reality of the concentration camp with his own eyes, Bruno walks into the gas chamber with an unshakable thought that “... Father was the commandant, and if this was the kind of thing that he wanted the people to do then it must be all right” (Boyne 210). This very school of thought has been luring people into senseless wars and self-ruin from the beginning of time.
Bruno thinks his little world is terrible, but he dosen’t know what the people at Auschwitz are suffering. Bruno is sad, because his house isn’t five stories tall yet some people are stuck in a room with ten other people. Shumel even told Bruno about his hardship and his struggles before he went to Auschwitz. Bruno noticed Shumuel getting skinny and gray, but thought it was natural. It didn’t help that Bruno was nine, but he still could have known more about the camp, because his father took pride in being a commander.
The novel, ‘The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne is a miserable story that portrays the friendship of two-nine-year old boys during the Holocaust. The author shows many life lessons in every part of the story including the value behind the friendship between Bruno and Shmuel, the relationship between Maria and Father stating the lesson that people aren't always what they seem and how blood is thicker than water between Bruno and Gretel. All these life lessons are very important in real life because they have consequences, some are not that important but some are also serious. The book is relevant for all readers to understand these life lessons and their consequences. Despite the differences and difficulties Bruno and Shmuel had,
In the novel, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne, the historical setting of Nazi Germany is of key importance. Although the novel is fictional having it set during a time period of such significance, such as Germany under the Nazi regime, gives a sense of reality to the book. This is important as this connects readers to the plot line as they understand the setting. This setting is interesting as it was a terrible point of history, filled with hatred, fear and bigotry. In this essay, I will be discussing the main points of the historical setting and the reasons this fits well with the book and how this historical setting came about. This historical setting had key relevance and was essential for the book.
Bruno, initially, has ignorance about everything going on in his life. For example, his dissatisfaction with leaving Berlin is demonstrated in many parts of the story. He is shown to the reader as being innocent, immature, and unable to give things a chance. On many occasions, Bruno complains about moving to “Out-With” (Auschwitz). He continually complains before even giving himself a chance to experience it. He was whining and being stubborn. To illustrate, in the novel, the author says, “Nothing, thought Bruno, not even the insects, would ever choose to stay at Out-With.