Comparing The Book Thief And The Boy In Striped Pyjamas

“The power of words, written or spoken, have life. They can change the world.” (search quotes). The power of words should not be underestimated. Liesel proves this to be true in the novel and the film The Book Thief. She uses words to develop relationships with her foster father, Hans Hubermann; Max Vandenburg, the illicit Jew in her basement; and her neighbours. In the novel The Book Thief by Markus Zusak there is much more relationship development compared to the film The Book Thief directed by Brian Percival. This consequently causes the theme of the power of words to be less prominent in the film.

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

John Boyne’s book “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas” is set in the area bordering Nazi Germany and Poland in the 1940s. The story concern a young German boy named Bruno, his family and the unlikely friendship he has between another boy named Schmuel, imprisoned in Auschwitz.

Their opinions are brought forward whilst there is a march in their hometown and the two characters feed the marchers. Whilst this is only a small action, they managed to change the course of the storyline and the consequences of their actions really did bring the context of war upfront and it allowed the reader to understand what happened to some of the German people that tried to help the Jews and the others that were tortured along with them. The most serious effect that the war had on the characters of The Book Thief, Liesel especially, was at the end of the novel was when a bomb was dropped on her home town. As a result of this everyone that was special to Liesel was killed, including Rudy. Children in war are not aware of what is happening around them, especially in Bruno’s case, he only knows what he has seen. For example when Shmuel tells him that there are a lot of children on his side of the fence he thinks that it will be like in Berlin where children are happy and playful and have liberty, but when Bruno crosses the fence and experiences what Shmuel does every day he is very surprised and in a way disappointed to see that the children here and all lethargic and gloomy, this may affect a child very harshly in the long run seeing such a place on the inside, such as Auschwitz. In the story we see that Bruno can not comprehend what is happening when he and Shmuel are taken into the gas chamber and they think that it

The Holocaust was a distressing time in history and is not a story everyone can absorb. Both the book, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas written by John Boyne and the film, Life is Beautiful, directed by Robert Benigni, are based upon the real life events of the Holocaust but with a difference. They made clever use of different techniques to dim and censor the reality of the events and interpret it in a more tolerable way. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas depicts the life of a young nine year old boy named Bruno who is the son of the Commandant of the Auschwitz

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a novel by John Boyne. This novel is set during World War 2 and explores themes such as prejudice, racism, war, innocence and friendship. What sets it apart from other novels is that it uses a third person limited point of view, and mostly depicts events as they are seen by a young and naïve boy. This was one of the main narrative conventions that engaged me in this novel.

In the novels The Book Thief and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, childhood innocence in times of war is very evident in Rudy from The Book Thief, and Bruno from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Though childhood innocence can be endearing, in these books it leads to their death. With both Rudy and Bruno their innocence keeps them from understanding the war. Rudy risks his life, without knowing, to save Liesel and Bruno hails Hitler, with the understanding it is just a way to say goodbye. Not only do they not understand the war, they both maintain their innocence despite the war. Rudy idolizes somebody that during that time was unacceptable. Bruno befriends somebody, but doesn’t understand who he is and what his situation is. These books also

John Boyne’s historical fable, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, is an optimistic narration of World War Two set in the “Out-With” concentration camp. In the background of the war, the story details the life of male protagonist Bruno, who befriends the unlikeliest of strangers in his attempt to adjust to life at Out-With. In Boyne’s portrayal of this dictatorship, the characters' go through life controlled by the notion of fear, only escaping its grasp through the most dramatic of circumstances. The didactic text paints a picture of how “we don’t have a choice” when we are being controlled by our fear (p.8). Thus,

A number of differences have been recognised between the novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and the film that followed it. Some of these differences include the character’s appearances and ages, their decisions and their involvement in the events that take place. These changes have been made for a number of reasons, mainly to please

The Holocaust was a time of great suffering and inhumanity. The novel Night, which took place during this time, was written by Elie Wiesel and talks about his teen self-experiencing the concentration camps of Auschwitz. This is related to the movie The Boy in the Striped Pajamas which is the story of a young German boy named Bruno who befriends a Jewish boy in a concentration camp. The many similarities and differences between the movie The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and the novel Night include their many themes of “inhumanity” and “guilt and inaction”, and the two also share and differ in the loss of innocence of the characters and how they develop in each medium.

Many are familiar with Anne Frank's diary and have even sat down and watched the movie The Diary of Anne Frank. With her diary we learn a lot about Anne and her family, as well as the tragic story of their life, and the lives of many other Jews. However, this is not the only movie that gives us an insight in the life of a young girl during World War II. The Book Thief is in many ways similar to The Diary of Anne Frank in which the viewer is provided the experiences of the war between two very different young girls that have to adapt to a new home and possess an increasing hunger for knowledge.

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.

The developmental stage of a young child’s life is very crucial and can be impacted by the media. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Liesel Meminger is a young girl living in a very important part of Germany’s history, the Second World War. Liesel’s childhood unfolds and develops against the backdrop of a time when words, books specifically were used for power and control. Liesel is someone who has a love for reading and, as such, books become very important to her, not only for her education but for her rebellion and discovering her true identity. Throughout the novel, books become a crucial symbol used to convey the desires and discovery of identity for the main character as her childish ignorance changes to her mature adulthood.

innocence is the theme that develops throughout the novel. Bruno misinterprets what is going on in

‘The boy in the striped pyjamas’ written by John Boyne and directed by Mark Herman tells the disastrous story of a young boy Bruno and his family in Nazi Germany; the family move to the countryside when his Nazi officer dad got a promotion at a concentration camp less than a mile away from their house. Bruno meets a new boy who later becomes friends in a wild friendship. Gretel, Bruno’s sister, gets influenced by a Nazi soldier and by her teacher, which makes her drastically change into a young Nazi woman. The changes progress when looking at the five shots from the film and studying mise-en-scene.