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The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas Essay

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John Boyne’s novel “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas”, published in 2006, explores life in Europe during World War 2, while also discussing significant topics such as prejudice and the dangers of countries led by dictators. Throughout the novel, Boyne uses dramatic and situational irony for deliberate effect to position readers to reflect on the senselessness of discrimination and its devastating consequences. Boyne’s recurring use of dramatic irony not only creates tension throughout the book, but also conveys the author’s tone in relation to topics such as blind animosity towards others. During a brief conversation between Bruno and his Father, the reader receives a deeper understanding of the author’s confusion as to why people would be so cruel as to treat Jewish people as less than human beings. Boyne cleverly produces a sense of perplexity in the reader’s mind, as just as Bruno is “unsure what Father meant by that [the Jews not being people]” (page 52), so is the majority of the audience. This use of dramatic irony further proves the author’s opinion in regards to the utter absurdity of the Holocaust and the disturbing fact that …show more content…

As Bruno enters the concentration camp with Shmuel, he realises that Shmuel’s living conditions, which have previously been a mystery to both Bruno and the reader, have “no grown-ups sitting on rocking chairs … no children playing games in groups … no café like there had been back in Berlin” (page 207) and, similarly to the audience, is horrified. In this scene, the author utilises situational irony in order to create a deplorable atmosphere, accompanied with an ominous and eerie mood, which advances the directly positions the reader to contemplate the atrocities of the concentration camp. The impacts of hatred are made clear to the audience in the form of a surprising plot twist that Bruno is on the receiving end

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