The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne is about an unlikely friendship between Bruno, the son of a German Nazi commandant and Shmuel, a Jewish captive in a concentration camp ran by Bruno’s father. The novel takes place during 1940’s, allowing us to recognize that the Holocaust is taking place. The Holocaust was a large genocide led by Adolf Hitler and his army of Nazi’s to exterminate all Jewish people in Europe. The novel begins with Bruno and his family moving into an ‘out-with’, which happens to be in the middle of nowhere. Bruno decides to explore the area around his house and comes across a “farm” surrounded by barbed wired fence. On the other side of the fence was a boy, Shmuel, around his age that is wearing striped pajamas. …show more content…
It is seen throughout the novel how Pavel and many other Jews were being beaten up and yelled at by the Nazi’s. When Pavel was serving wine during dinner time, he accidently spilled some on lieutenant Kolter. Due to his sudden rage and embarrassment, he takes Pavel out of the room. When Kolter returnes, there was no sign of Pavel allowing readers to assume he was beaten to death. Bruno had described the incident is such horror it is tragic how a young boy had to see the monstrosities at a young age. “What happened then was both unexpected and extremely unpleasant. Lieutenant Kotler grew very angry with Pavel and not Bruno, not Gretel, not mother and not even father- stepped in to stop him from doing what he did next, even though none of them could watch.” (Boyne 148-149).
Although this incident had occurred in almost 70 years, the social disparity is seen to this day. In 2017, Donald trump, president of the United States, had launched a Muslim Ban. This ban has discontinued the entrance from major Muslim based countries. This action is exposing the judgment and oppression on a certain religion just as Hitler had done on the Jews. Rather than killing the Muslims, Trump managed to forbid them to seek refuge from the war zone on their land. This novel effects people’s perspective about society by showing them that the world hasn’t changed much and showing fear on how an incident as the holocaust is possible to occur. The
The ‘Boy in The Striped Pyjamas’ is a moving novel published by an author named John Boyne to re write the struggles and atrocities of the Holocaust through the eyes of a nine-year-old boy. Although the hard confrontations that were thrown at these characters, they still stood for what they believed in, showing strong traits of a very virtuous person. Even in the most challenging situations, these characters represented the very best of humanity. Bruno’s behaviour, friendship and sacrifices towards Shmuel, Pavel’s acts of kindness throughout the novel and Grandmothers strong opinions about the Holocaust, the Nazi and her own son are three substantial examples of showing humanity in
“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
Background info: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne follows nine-year old Bruno as he unknowingly moves to a home near a concentration camp. There he meets a Jewish boy of the exact same age named Shmuel.
“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.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a fictional story of two different boys who found an improbable friendship in the midst of resentment between the Nazis and the Jews. It was told from the perspective of a nine-year-old boy named Bruno, the son of a Nazi commandant named Ralf.
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a novel by John Boyne that has recently been turned into a film. It tells the story of a young German boy (Bruno), and a Jewish boy (Shmuel)’s “forbidden” friendship. Bruno, located on the opposite side of a huge barbed-wire fence that guards the concentration camp where Shmuel is confined, has never had a friend he can’t play with. Throughout the novel, their friendship grows and both boys learn very important lessons. When the novel was made into a film, a few things were changed, some were
John Boyne additionally distorts reality in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas for the purpose of portraying the occurrence of the Holocaust to a younger audience. Boyne achieves this intention by distorting the content of the Holocaust, without completely removing its abhorrence and inhumanity. By allowing young boys to exist within the concentration camp as well as permitting the friendship of Shmuel and Bruno to continue for such a prolonged period of time, and even occur at all, makes the concentration camps appear more flexible and less lurid than in truth. Furthermore, the eradication of the aspect of death and torture of the Jews abates the horror and repugnancy of the Holocaust, permitting for a younger audience to perceive the novel. People must constantly be reminded of the Holocaust, since its atrocities fade into history with the passage of time. Hence, since “narratives are the main way we make sense of things,” The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas informs and reminds both youth and maturity of the horrors of
Have you ever looked back and felt sad because of what happened in the Holocaust? The Nazis didn’t treat the Jews like thy would want to be treated. The boy in the Striped Pajamas is a sad story about a German family and a young boy that is a Jew during the Holocaust. A by named Bruno and his family (his dad is a soldier) had to move to auschwitz where Bruno would find a boy named shmuel (a jewish boy) and they met almost every day to talk. One dad something happened… John Boyne reveals actions throughout the story to build suspense.
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne is a story that tells of the holocaust through the eyes of a child, Bruno, a boy who discovers a peculiar friend that lives a strange existence on the other side of the adjoining wire fence. The important ideas presented in the novel are cruelty, discrimination, and abusive power, the holocaust from a child’s perspective and the misinterpretations from a child who gradually discovers the world to be not as enjoyable as he thought. Using some of these ideas listed above the storyline of the book gradually becomes more evident and keeps you interested in the book to finding that the story is of the holocaust and how the Jews were once treated, last century.
As a child, we are focused on the small aspects of life. We worry about eating ice cream on a hot summer day or when we will get the opportunity to go out on a cold snowy day and go sled riding with our friends and drink hot chocolate. We are fully focused on such basic childlike desires that we are completely unaware of serious events happening around us or in this case right next-door. As a nine-year-old boy, Bruno has no idea that his father was running a mass concentration camp right next door to his house and exterminating Jews including his new friend Shmuel. Instead, Bruno acquired an irreproachable friendship due to his innocent way of thinking that allowed for him to ignore society’s prejudices against his Jewish friend Shmuel. This essay will provide information regarding the Holocaust and hash treatment of the Jews within the German concentration camp “Auschwitz”. This essay will then offer a brief summary of the events within The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. Finally, this essay will analyze the paradox of innocence depicted within the story, in order to explain how innocence supplied both disadvantages and advantages for Bruno and Shmuel. While this innocence led to the death of Bruno and Shmuel due to their ignorance of the dangers of the Holocaust, it also allowed for the boys to live their lives unaware of
The Boy in the striped pajamas is a good book, but it doesn’t represent the brutal events of the Holocaust. John Boyne was smart and not smart about using Bruno a non jewish german that’s nine. This book did not show the brutal and terrible events of the holocaust like the stuff that happened inside Auschwitz. If the story was told from a jewish perspective the story would be more educational and better in general. Also Bruno was completely oblivious of the holocaust events. The holocaust was so much worse then what was described in the Boy in the Striped
The boy in the striped pyjamas is a profanation. This fictional novel by author John Boyne is set in the early 1940’s and tells the tale of a German boy’s friendship with a Jewish boy imprisoned within a concentration camp. Whilst the novel is moving, clever and seemingly informative, it is actually an inaccurate account of the Holocaust and as such, may misinform readers who have no other knowledge of this time in history.
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne is a novel about an innocent boy called Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a concentration camp, whose forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences. Through his use of stylistic elements such as selection of detail, imagery and figurative language, Boyne reveals how “ignorance is bliss”. The novel uses a child’s perspective through the narrative voice to emphasise that all men are equal. The concerns of this book also circles around the idea of innocence is bliss, and the similarities and differences between people.
The Boy with the Striped Pajamas is a heart wrenching film that depicts the innocence of children in the midst of a racial war. Mark Herman, the director, chose to use two eight-year-old boys to expose the audience to a unique perspective of World War II. Bruno and Shmuel are first introduced to the audience as two completely different characters who are experiencing the Holocaust in completely different ways. Bruno is the son of the newly appointed commanding officer who oversees the concentration camp where Shmuel is kept prisoner. Since Bruno had to move away to be closer to the concentration camp, he has no friends and is always bored. Through his constant explorations, because he was lonely, he discovers Shmuel and they begin a forbidden
The book opens in the 1940s with a young boy ,Bruno, attempting to convince his family not to leave his home in Berlin Germany. His father has been promoted and he is leaving for the “country”. He is forced to leave his home and go with his family. He moves to a smaller house that is extremely isolated and has a barbed wire fence on the outside. The strange thing to him is there are people inside the wire and they all have “striped pajamas” on. He meets a German soldier he instantly doesn’t like and he meets Pavel ,a jew, who helps the family with basic chores.