Making Unexpected Friends in The Boy with the Striped Pajamas

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS

The main characters in this story have different personalities and they represent the good and the bad in human beings. Bruno, the nine years old German boy, was an adventurous, curious and innocent boy like many other kids his age. Because of his age sometimes he was a little naive but overall I think he was a very smart boy. He showed us the importance of friendship and compassion after he met Shmuel at the concentration camp.

Shmuel, the Jewish boy, was the representation of injustice, fear and sadness. Although he was aware that the living situation in the concentration camp were not right he never wanted to talk about it probably because of his fear to the Nazis. But he also represents the strength in people no matter their living situation.

Gretel, Bruno’s sister, represents the bullies. She enjoyed very much making fun of Bruno’s ignorance of things. She was only 3 years older than Bruno but she acted like she was way more mature. Later, after they moved from Berlin, things changed and she started to be more supportive and friendlier with Bruno. That show us that people can change if they want to.

Bruno’s parents for me represent the normal parent that care for their families. The dad is the military strict dad like many other dads today. He wanted the best for his family so he decided that moving from Berlin to get a “better” position on his job was the best thing to do. The mom represents the typical stay at home mom that takes care of the family and follows her husband wishes to keep the family together. The dad also represents racism because as most Nazis he didn’t like Jewish people.

And finally, the Nazis, all the militaries that were in charge of the concentration camp. ...

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...u have experience it yourself.

8. “The people I see from my window. In the huts, in the distance. They're all dressed the same.' 'Ah, those people,' said Father, nodding his head and smiling slightly. 'Those people...well, they're not people at all, Bruno.' Bruno frowned. 'They're not?' he asked, unsure what Father meant by that.” - The horrible racism and hate from the Nazis toward Jews.

9. “When I make mistakes I get punished,' insisted Bruno, irritated by the fact that the rules that always applied to children ed them)never seemed to apply to grown-ups at all (despite the fact that they were the ones who enforce them).” - Bruno sees the unfair way on how adults act many times.

10.“Just because a man glances up at the sky at night does not make him an astronomer, you know.” - It shows me that we don’t know everything and we are not experts of everything in life.