Boy in Striped Pajamas

‘The Boy in the Striped Pajamas’ In the novel ‘The Boy in the Striped Pajamas’ by John Boyne, the most important relationship is between Bruno, a German boy whose father is a Nazi Commandant and Jewish boy Shmuel who is a Prisoner of War kept in Auschwitz. This relationship is important to the idea of friendship across the divide. It shows that friendship can brake racial barriers, change peoples perspectives and get people to stick people together in all situations. Shmuel and Bruno’s relationship shows the idea of friendship across the divide because despite major differences they still form a close bond. Bruno is a German and Shmuel is Jewish and during the Holocaust the Germans went to war to eliminate the Jewish Population. Because of this Bruno and Shmuel should have been kept apart, yet they still managed to keep a strong and close relationship. This can be seen when Bruno makes the effort to meet Shmuel everyday even though there would be major consequences “You’re my best friend Shmuel...My best friend for life.” Bruno comments on their close friendship. The idea of friendship across the divide is shown through Bruno and Shmuel’s relationship because they have a close friendship that displays braking down racial barriers in order to have a best friend. The relationship between Bruno and Shmuel also shows the idea because their friendship is innocent. Both boys are young and because of this they both show their innocence through what they talk about when they meet up, not knowing about what is happening around them. Their innocence can be seen when Bruno says “It’s so unfair... I don’t see why I have to be stuck over here on this side of the fence where there’s no-one to talk to and no one to play with and you get top have dozens of friends.” because Bruno is innocent he doesn’t understand why Shmuel is stuck on the other side with thousands of Jewish people where he’s stuck