Boy In The Striped Pajamas Essay

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In the novel ‘The Boy in the Striped Pajamas’, Pavel and Maria are two servants of Bruno (the protagonist of the novel) and his family. While Maria has been the family’s maid since Bruno was only three years old, Pavel has recently joined the family when they moved to their new home at ‘Out-With’ as their butler. Boyne presents the characters of Pavel and Maria as very similar. However, they have their own unique differences that sets them apart from each other. Boyne emphasizes the differences and consistently works in their similarities by use of speech and interactions with other characters; their relationship with Bruno; and their deception of appearance. Boyne uses the characters’ speech and interactions to express their similarities. …show more content…

This is also shown when Pavel refers to Kotler as ‘Sir’. His response could also imply that he is unimportant and that he has no status in Bruno’s family. Pavel also says this in a ‘quiet voice’, this shows that Pavel doesn’t want to be noticed or attract any extra attention to himself. It can also mean that he doesn’t want to get in any trouble or that he just doesn’t want to be heard, this explanation is reinforced as Pavel’s response was ‘so quiet that he may not have said it at all’. This is similar to when Maria is ordered by Gretel to make her a bath, Maria says “Of course, Miss Gretel” “I’ll just finish tidying your brother’s clothes away and I’ll be right with you”. In this interaction Maria is fully obedient and does not resist Gretel as she immediately says ‘Of course’ and ‘I’ll be right with you’. The comma in ‘Of course, Miss Gretel’ signifies a polite pause, especially since Maria refers to Gretel as ‘Miss’ implying that Gretel is more important than herself. Maria also says ‘just finish tidying your brother’s clothes away’ this implies that she doesn’t want

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