Humanity Dims but Still Shines Each person is a candle, a candle of understanding, compassion and morality, of humanity. There, however, was a time when cold, dark winds, called the Nazi, blew out many of these candles, because they were different, not like them. This time, was The Holocaust. Although, dark winds swept through, extinguishing lights of humanity, some burnt on, shining through the story, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne, takes place in Germany, during the dark Holocaust, where thousands upon thousands of innocents were snatched from their bright lives and brought to the camps of winds, where the darkness engulfed them and their light. However, this story, is told through hopeful eyes, as it introduces three of the few …show more content…
Even though, Mother is a Nazi, on top of the pyramid of hierarchy, she does not act superior to others, she acts with compassion. Although Mother has many servants, of whom she has no obligation to respect, she does anyway, despite the orders of others, including Father. This is clear when mother continuously stands up for Maria, informing her children, that she be treated with respect as shown in the following quote, as told by Bruno, “ His mother has always told him that he was to treat Maria respectfully and not just imitate the way Father spoke to her.” (Boyne, 1) This quote allows Mothers strong, compassionate character to be declared. Although Maria is merely a servant, and Father, the rule maker, undermines her, Mother does not, much like Pavel, she disobeys the rules of the Nazi, freely confessing her humanity. This act of compassion also brings out many ideas within the plot, such as rebellion, against hierarchy, superiority and the Nazi. As she proves even those who have been corrupt can still be humane, with this sense
The Great Depression of the 1930’s caused widespread poverty, but the popular culture of the time did not reflect this. People wanted to escape from this harsh time so movies, dancing and sports became very popular. Radios broadcasted boxing matches and boxers became stars. The heavyweight champion James J. Braddock aka “Cinderella Man,” gained popularity. James Braddock gained fame by winning many fights and proving everyone wrong when they said he was too old and couldn’t win.
Many different responses have occurred to readers after their perusal of this novel. Those that doubt the stories of the holocaust’s reality see Night as lies and propaganda designed to further the myth of the holocaust. Yet, for those people believing in the reality, the feelings proffered by the book are quite different. Many feel outrage at the extent of human maliciousness towards other humans. Others experience pity for the loss of family, friends, and self that is felt by the Holocaust victims.
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...
Pavel’s recurring kindness and openness to the mother allowed the mother to move forward but with the removal of Pavel her crutch is snatched from her and she falls. When the gendarmes arrived it is made clear that “this time the affair was not [as] terrorizing to her” (pg. 74). With Pavel’s arrest the mother was stronger in her understanding of the truth. She knew that it was necessary, but her strength did not last. “When the police had led Pavel away, the mother sat down on the bench, closing her eyes began to weep quietly” (pg. 75). The mot...
The book The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne is about a young boy, Bruno, whose father is a soldier in the German army during WWII. Bruno lives with his parents and his older sister, Gretel. They live in a five story house in Berlin. He goes to school and has three best friends that he goes on adventures with. One day he comes home to find their maid packing his things. They move to a three story house in Germany because his dad was promoted and needs to be closer to his work.
We all have a childhood, whether it is happy or unfortunate. The Boy In The Striped Pajamas by Irish novelist John Boyne tell us about during World War II, 8-year-old Bruno and his family leave Berlin to take up residence near the concentration camp where his father has just become commandant. He beginning a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy in the camps about his age. The Kite Runner by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini tells us about in 1970’s Afghan, Amir and Hassan who are friends. As Amir’s servant, Hassan protects him when Assef a local bully threatens them, but Amir doubts the relationship between he and Hassan. Even though, these children are different ages, live in different countries, and have different experiences, they still have some similarities in power, friendship, and bravery.
In the film, The Breakfast Club (1985), John Bender, the slovenly rebel at Shermer High School in Chicago, is serving a Saturday detention with four very different students. Right from the beginning, Bender exhibits the qualities of a destructive and thoughtless criminal, i.e., he taunts everyone else in order to hide his personal inadequacies. Whenever Bender is questioned by his peers about a personal issue, or whenever he cannot provide a clear answer to a question, he—albeit defensively— responds in a facetious and irritated manner. Bender demonstrated this when Andrew Clark, the “sporto”, told him that he did not count, and that “if [he] disappeared forever it wouldn’t make any difference.” Distraught from Andrew’s blunt comment, Bender sarcastically retorted, “Well, I’ll just run right out and join the wrestling team...” As time goes on, Bender slowly sheds his rough attitude and starts opening up his true self to the other students.
Boyne, John. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. New York: Random House Inc., 2006. Print.
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.
"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" explores the beauty of a child's innocence in a time of war:
Occam’s razor states, “No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary (Haddon 90).” In “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time” Mark Haddon emphasizes Christopher’s dislike of fiction, lies and illogical situations. The novel is about Christopher John Francis Boone, a teenage boy with autism. After Chris found his neighbor's dog to be dead, he decided to further investigate the mysterious murder to make sense of the situation. Although Chris is determined to find out what happened, he faces many obstacles including his autism, reality and other individuals. Having autism is certainly a struggle for Chris at times, but because it makes him a very logical, honest person, Christopher is protected from highly emotional realities that occur throughout the book.
Narrative is a rhetorical structure that distorts reality in order to reveal it. This is an eminently evident actuality in John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Through this distortion, Boyne is able to evoke the reader’s empathy, portray the horror of the Holocaust to a younger audience and convey human’s capacity for inhumanity and indifference. This is achieved by Boyne, primarily through the exaggeration of innocence throughout the novel, the content presented to the audience, and the use of a child narrator. Thus, in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne, narrative is presented as a composition that distorts in order to reveal.
Imagine waking up on a normal day, in your normal house, in your normal room. Imagine if you knew that that day, you would be taken away from your normal life, and forced to a life of death, sickness, and violence. Imagine seeing your parents taken away from you. Imagine watching your family walk into their certain death. Imagine being a survivor. Just think of the nightmares that linger in your mind. You are stuck with emotional pain gnawing at your sanity. These scenerios are just some of the horrific things that went on between 1933-1945, the time of the Holocaust. This tragic and terrifying event has been written about many times. However, this is about one particularly fascinating story called The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne.
It’s always important to be touched. Writers know and understand this idea. Whether the audience feels good or bad about whom or what you present is not as important as the fact that they feel something. Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children is a perfect example of a work that doesn’t leave us in very high spirits but touches us in such a way that it becomes even more powerful than if it had.
The plays “Master Harold”... and the boys by Athol Fugard and Othello by William Shakespeare were written centuries apart, but both explore society’s complex perspective on race. In the 1600’s and the 1950’s—the respective time time periods of Othello and “Master Harold”... and the boys—having dark skin meant that one was considered an outsider, and someone typically below people with lighter skin; the protagonists of Shakespeare and Fugard’s works contrast this stereotype. Othello is a highly regarded general in the Venetian army, but his appearance quickly leads to his mutation and downfall as a murderer. On a less drastic scale, Sam Semala is a wise and caring servant in young Hally’s parents’ tea shop; his nature is twisted when Hally chooses