The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Theme Some people believe that certain individuals are better than others. They were not born thinking this but were told this later in life. This book is a great example of someone who believes everyone is equal. In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, the main character, Bruno, moves with his family for his father’s new job at Auschwitz. Bruno can see the camp but does not know who is there or what is going on. This changes when he goes over and meets a prisoner named Shmuel who is the same age. Their friendship is the only thing keeping Bruno from wanting to leave. In this book, John Boyne teaches the reader that people are equal, no matter how different their backgrounds are. The first example of what makes people equal happens when Bruno meets Shmuel. Bruno was very happy to meet Shmuel and hoped to soon become friends. Shmuel was also a prison of the concentration camp where Bruno was not allowed to go. After their first conversation, Bruno has to choose whether he would tell everyone about his new friend. He finally make up his mind when he says, “It would be his own secret. Well, his and Shmuel’s”(Boyne 133). Bruno, not knowing that he could get into a lot of trouble for doing this, feels it would …show more content…
At the end of the book, Bruno snuck into the concentration camp to play with Shmuel but they got caught up in a march. This march led them into the gas chambers and then Bruno sensed something bad about to happen. Once he heard the doors click shut, Bruno said, “‘You’re my best friend, Shmuel,’ he said. ‘My best friend for life’”(Boyne 213) This quote shows how strong Bruno and Shmuel’s friendship is. Even though Shmuel was Jewish and Bruno was German and they were not supposed to like each other, their friendship kept them together. The society was supposed to separate them but they stayed together all the way until 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
The story, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, tells of a young boy forced to move to a new house very far away when he does not want to go. His father is a very important military figure and needs to move there for his job. The boy, Bruno, discovers something he had never seen before that sends him on a journey filled with friendship and excitement. Set in the Holocaust, this book and its movie has many similarities and differences. Although the similarities between the book and the movie of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas written by John Boyne make the movie as good as it is, the differences make the book the better of the two.
For the novel study, I read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas which is a holocaust based novel written by John Boyne. I believe that the statement above means many things, but I think that mostly it means that some people no matter what the situation still find time for others, and that it wouldn’t matter what race or religion they were.
Topic: Compare how the theme of innocence is represented in The Book Thief and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.
He tells Bruno on one of their visits that he does not know where his father is and asks Bruno to help. He wants to help when he finds out that his dad is missing, and he also visits Shmuel almost every single day. They are doing everything they can to try and help one another even if it means breaking the rules. The book says, “Despite the chaos that followed,” meaning being put in the gas chambers, “Bruno found that he was still holding Shmuel’s hand in his own and nothing in the world would have persuaded him to let go.” This proves the real friendship between Shmuel and
The book, The Boy In The Striped Pajamas is a historical fiction novel in the time period of the 1940s about a German boy, Bruno, whose father is a high ranking Nazi commander. The family is forced to move to a concentration camp called Auschwitz, or how Bruno pronounces it “Out-With”. While he is at “Out-With” Bruno meets a boy named Shmuel, the only thing is, there is a fence separating them, Shmuel is a Jewish prisoner. The universal theme I found in the novel is prejudicm is the only thing that causes the boys to be separated.
Bruno and Shmuel shared similar trait, evidence was portrayed throughout the stories. As commented by Bruno “….because my birthday is April the fifteenth too” implies that both Bruno and Shmuel shares the same birthday. Bruno and Shmuel was forced to leave their hometowns, to go to Auschwitz. Similarity included, feeling lonely and longing for home. Throughout the dialogue, the conversation between Bruno and Shmuel was spoken in German. Shmuel was taught German from his mother, commented by Bruno “Mama is a teacher in my school and she taught me German,’. This is comparable as Bruno was also taught to speak German from his teacher. Their personality is similar in some way as both of them really hates Auschwitz. Due to their similarities, both
Essay Question: “Books that engage directly with contemporary concerns and issues will always involve a reader”
Bruno is still innocent and ignorant but relies that it would be the best if he would lie about his new friend Shmuel just because the fact that Bruno found that found him first and that it was HIS friend. Bruno being a young boy doesn’t understand why the physical separation of the 2 boys and who it relates to his father’s job nor the war.
John Boyne has created a sophisticated and meaningful novel in The Boy in the Striped
Firstly ,the friendship Bruno and Shmuel grew despite their social economic differences . To be more specific , first when Bruno met Shmuel along the fence , they recognized their wide difference economically between of them. In the quote ‘ I live in the house on this side of the fence ,’ (pg.108) Bruno explained who owned his house for their family. But Shmuel who was living in a nasty and tiny prison room of Out-With with other 11 Jews . There were lots of soldiers stationed at the Out-with and in Bruno’s house. Those properties were different, namely , the soldiers were stationed at Out-With for watching the Jews at the camp . Outside the fence which represented freedom to Shmuel who was controlled living in the Out-With . One example of this economic difference was when Bruno had played swing by himself. After Pavel saw Bruno was fallen on the ground , Pavel took some tools to clean Bruno’s knee , and then he put a bandage on it . Pavel told Bruno his previous job was a doctor even though Maria said to Brune: ‘ No , he’s not a doctor . He’s a waiter .’ ( pg.136) Pavel represented the Jew who were deprived of their freedoms by the
Finally, it was good that Bruno was naive about the Holocaust throughout the novel. Although Bruno became friends with Shmuel, which lead to a tragic ending. If Bruno wasn't naive about the holocaust he might not have even thought of going nearly as close to the
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 second struggle in Bruno 's and Shmuel’s friendship is their need to overcome their differences in the family background. One day, Bruno decided to talk about how they came to be in Auschwitz. When Shmuel starts talking about how he got here.He said that, “The train was horrible," said Shmuel. There were too many of us in the carriages for one thing. And there was no air to breathe.” “That 's because you all crowded onto one train,”said Bruno.... “When we came here, there was another one on the other side of the platform, but no one seemed to see it. That was the one we got.” (129-130). When Bruno talks about
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