“I believe in the sun when the sun is not shining. I believe in love even when I cannot feel it. I believe in God even when He is silent.” This was written on a cellar wall in Cologne, Germany during the Holocaust (Day). The Boy in the Striped Pajamas was a book that was taken place during the Holocaust 1933-1945. It shows the different views of people throughout the Holocaust and the difficult situations that some of them went through.
Bruno’s friend Shmuel and the other Jews were treated less than human during the Holocaust. Once Bruno moved to the Out-With house the first thing he noticed was that there was no kids or neighbors unlike his old house in Berlin. Bruno soon began to investigate further in finding where all the people are at. Bruno then noticed a barbed wire fence which was very high and had huge wooden posts like telephone poles holding it up for support. (Boyne 31) That same day Bruno began to reveal what was inside the fence, it was people, not like Bruno though, they wore the same striped clothes that were grey striped pajamas with a grey striped cap on their heads. (Boyne 38) These people lived in huts that are only one floor
Such as when Bruno asked his father who the people on the other side of the fence were. Bruno’s father answered with “Those people…well, they’re not people at all Bruno.” (Boyne 53) Bruno uses these people as if they are nothing when he puts them in a sentence. For instance, when he says “He’d often seen the people from his side of the fence on the other side of the fence.”(Boyne 100-101) Another thing that could support this would be when Bruno and Gretel noticed that all the people outside or (in the fence) were boys, fathers, grandfathers, and Gretel wandered where all the girls were at! (Boyne 30) By isolating the Jews from their population the Jews lost all their freedom, family, and close
While the adults show their disgust and hatred to the Jews, Bruno doesn't mind them and is nice to Pavel, the Jew that got him the tire, and later becomes friends with Shmuel. Bruno’s father is a soldier and is in charge of the concentration camp. Even with all the Jew hating Germans around him, he still goes out to visit Shmuel and doesn’t let them ruin his friendship. Near the end of the movie Bruno shows his friend how much he cares by entering the camp to help look for Shmuel’s father, who had gone missing. While entering the camp, Bruno learned first hand how bad the camps actually were and wished he hadn’t come. Even with these feelings he still wants to help his friend, which eventually leads to his demise.
mature. When Bruno first discovers the fence, a boy called Shmuel faces him. The use of
The major theme of the book is shown through the bonds of friendship and how in the most of unlikely circumstances friendship can survive and exist between people possessing an extensive and most restrictive division. A second theme is the evil and the intolerance which existed around these times of the Nazi regime and the Holocaust, as seen by the Germans having the Jews in the concentration camp. And the third theme is the curiosity and innocence of Bruno, Shmuel and Gretel, who all seem to fail to properly notice and understand what is really happening in the world around them, all contrasting with the well acknowledgement of others, such as Lt. Kottler.
In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne, a young naive boy, Bruno, tells from his perspective how the occurrences in the Holocaust took place. In 1943, the beginning of the story, Bruno’s father, a commandant in Hitler’s army, is promoted and moves to Oswiecim with his family. Oswiecim is home to the hideous Auschwitz Concentration Camp. While Bruno is out playing near a fence at the edge of Auschwitz Concentration Camp, against his father’s orders, he becomes friends with a young Jewis...
When Bruno moved to Auschwitz he was completely oblivious to the Holocaust. When he met Shmuel, he became slightly more aware, but couldn’t comprehend what it all meant. It is ironic that his innocence sheltered him from the traumatizing truth of the Holocaust, but it is what killed him in the
well, they're not people at all, Bruno.". In this quote, we see Bruno does not see Jews as terrible people up to this point because he has to ask his father about the people in striped pajamas, showing us the innocence of Bruno. This quote also shows us what Bruno's father thinks of Jews and the realization of what Bruno thinks of jews. This is because he has a pause in between “people” and “well”, showing his confusion and realization of Bruno not knowing what he thinks is reality, that being, Jews are unacceptable. Eventually, his father hires a tutor, Herr Liszt, to teach him about nationalistic ideas proven by what is said on page 97, “Those things are useless to you….. A sound understanding of the social sciences is far more important in this day and age.” and about the Jews, “Then this is what I am here to change…..To get your head out of your storybooks and teach you more about where you come from. About the great wrongs that have been done to you.” said on page 98. Bruno is skeptical of Herr Liszt
Children have often been viewed as innocent and innocent may be a nicer way to call children naive. Since children’s lives are so worry free they lack the knowledge of how to transition from being a child to becoming an adolescent. Their lack of knowledge may be a large part of their difficulties growing up, which could be a few rough years for many. In books like the boy in the striped pajamas the story is told from the point of view of a little boy, this way we get a full view of how innocent he is. In this book the writer shows the reader first hand how a child viewed the holocaust and how his innocence cost him his life. Then in books like the perks of being a wallflower Charlie is a teen whom is struggling with the transition from being a child to becoming an adolescent. In this book the writer gives a first hand look at how difficult it can be to transition into an adolescent. Charlie has many difficulties in this book; he is in search of his identity and how to fit in.
During the WWII the Germans conducted Holocaust of the Jewish race. The Germans invaded several different cities and countries and took the Jews to concentration labour camps and eventually killed them. The Germans killed approximately six million Jews all because of racial superiority. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is set in this era. The movie is also centered around the Holocaust where Ralph, Bruno’s father is a SS Commandant in the Russian army. He gets promoted and thus, the family has to relocate Auschwitz. Ralph is the commandant incharge of the Auschwitz concentration camp. His son Bruno, whose point of view we see the movie through, befriends a Jewish boy from the other side of the camp, which proves to have some starting and unexpected consequences. Meanwhile through the documentary we get to see the other side; the artifacts, blueprints and designs of the incinerators and interviews with various engineers to know the reality of how the Nazi were able to kill so many Jews.
A hostage inside himself, and troubled soul that has had very many bad influences in his life. Bruno, a boy, makes many mistakes and has had very many tragic instances like his father dieing, and nothing will, and can go right for him. As the reader will find out is he is very quiet and has a large stature that was feared by many, and has a lot of things that trouble him. Bruno goes though a tough time and bad situations that help influence his actions, feelings, and words, though his life, and holds him hostage within himself.
This film portrays one of humanity’s greatest modern tragedies, through heartache and transgression, reflecting various themes throughout the movie. Beyond the minor themes some seem to argue as more important in the film, the theme of friendship and love is widely signified and found to be fundamental in understanding the true meaning behind The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Director Mark Herman presents a narrative film that attests to the brutal, thought-provoking Nazi regime, in war-torn Europe. It is obvious that with Herman’s relatively clean representation of this era, he felt it was most important to resonate with the audience in a profound and philosophical manner rather than in a ruthlessly infuriating way. Despite scenes that are more graphic than others, the film's objective was not to recap on the awful brutality that took place in camps such as the one in the movie.
Bruno, an eight year old boy at the time of the war, is completely oblivious to the atrocities of the war around him - even with a father who is a Nazi commandant. The title of the book is evidence to this - Bruno perceives the concentration camp uniforms as "striped pajamas." Further evidence is the misnomers "the Fury," (the Furher) and "Out-With" (Auschwitz). Bruno and Shmuel, the boy he meets from Auschwitz, share a great deal in common but perhaps what is most striking is the childhood innocence which characterizes both boys. Bruno is unaware that his father is a Nazi commandant and that his home is on ther periphery of Auschwitz. Shmuel, imprisoned in the camp, seems not to understand the severity of his situation. When his father goes missing, Shmuel does not understand that he has gone to the gas chamber.
The story The Boy in the Striped Pajamas shows symbolism that represents dehumanization. One of the main characters is a Jewish boy named Shmuel, that befriends a German soldier's son Bruno. Bruno and Shmuel meet and become friends despite a fence separating them. This fence is a symbol from the story that dehumanized Jews. Fences are generally used to keep something
The story begins with Bruno one day coming home from school and seeing his maid packing his stuff up. He was a little curious about what was going on and sees that his sister is doing the same with her stuff, getting it all ready to leave Berlin. He goes through the house to find his mother gathering her stuff as well and he starts to ask questions about what was happening and what was going on. She said to him that they are leaving Berlin because of something about the father's work. He got a promotion to be Commandant.
He never really knew why Shmuel was on the other side of the fence. In the book, Bruno asked his sister, Gretel, “‘Are we Jews?’” (Boyne 182). This shows that Bruno had very little knowledge of what was really happening in Auschwitz and all around the world. Boyne had also made Bruno use a very shameful and inappropriate term in his book.
Thus, through the various distortions posed throughout The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, John Boyne reveals many aspects of truth. Such distortions allow the author to evoke the audience’s emotion, portray the Holocaust to younger readers and communicate humans’ capacity for brutality and apathy. This is achieved by Boyne through the exaggeration of the innocence of Bruno, the misrepresented content of the novel as well as the distinctive voice of youth. Narrative, in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne, is therefore presented as a device that distorts aspects of truth in order to reveal. However, in the end, it is the choice of the reader as to whether they will consider the narrative to be a ‘fable’ which reveals a message or an actual source of knowledge and truth.