Told almost entirely from a young, naive German boy’s point of view, Mark Herman’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a hard-hitting Holocaust tale that will render audiences speechless. After arriving home, Bruno (Asa Butterfield) learns that his family will have to move because his father (David Thewlis) achieved a promotion in the Nazi army. Bruno noticed what he believed to be farmers living just past a stretch of woods near their new home. One day, not long after being told not to go near the “farmers,” Bruno leaves his home and heads towards the camp. There he meets Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), a young Jewish boy. While trying to understand what is happening in the world around them, the boys become friends. While…
How can two best friends simultaneously be enemies? John Boyne answers this question in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. He writes a tale about a Nazi commandant’s son who befriends another boy. They soon become best friends. Everyday Bruno the commandant’s son, visits Shmuel, a concentration camp inmate. Since Bruno’s father works for Hitler and Shmuel and his family are trapped by Hitler, this makes things difficult on the boys. Instead of being able to play with each other, like Bruno wants, they are separated by a fence. Bruno and Shmuel have these secret meetings every day and Bruno’s mother is also having secret meetings. However, her meetings are with the young lieutenant who works for Hitler. Although this is not clearly stated in the book, one can infer that she is having an affair with the man. Eventually, the commandant sends the lieutenant away. After a while of visiting each other Bruno learns that he is moving. As a last adventure, the two devise a plan that involves Bruno crossing the fence. When Bruno finally crosses, a herd of Nazi army officials rush a group of Jews and Bruno into an air tight room. He is only nine-years-old so he is clueless about the…
The story starts off in Nazi Germany in the early 1940s. Eight-year-old Bruno and his family move to the countryside because his father was in charge of a concentration camp in Germany called Auschwitz. One day when Bruno was exploring an area that his parents said was out of bounds he came a cross a fence where a boy his age was on the other side. Bruno quickly becomes friends with this boy, Shmuel, and day after day Bruno visits him at the “farm”. Shmuel decided to tell Bruno that his father is missing and Bruno vows to help him find him. The next day the boys meet at the fence and Bruno changes into the striped pajamas that Shmuel provided and then climbs under the fence into the “farm”. As the boys search the rooms for Shmuel’s father they…
The main themes of the movie that stand out the most but are certainly not limited to is, innocent and complicity. Though he attends school and his father is a high ranking Nazi official, Bruno is mostly ignorant of the political situation at the time. When Bruno leaves Berlin he wonders why he left to be near the camp full of people in striped pajamas. Another example is the fact that he has no idea what is going on in the camp or Germany and also thinks Shmuel lives in the concentration camp with his family. That is abruptly changed when he actually goes inside to look for Shmuel’s father and realizes its not like the video about the camps. Even though Bruno’s mother is not thrilled at her husband’s job, she does not actively fight his decision to move the family. Through her not protesting and like many Germans, they complied with, did not interfere or think about the harsh realities of what the Nazis are doing. Also Bruno, Gretel or the mother doesn’t do anything when Kotler beats Pavel to death, they continue to eat through…
There are many quotes in the book ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ that show how the Jews were treated under Nazi control, through Bruno’s friend from the other side of the fence. However, the author does this in a clever and unique way; through his clothes. An example of this is found on page one hundred and six in chapter ten, where Shmuel “wore the same striped pyjamas that all the other people on that side of the fence wore, and a striped clothed cap on his head.” This tells the reader that he is not seen as an individual at the concentration camp, but as part of a group with no personal identity as he is identical to everyone else. John Boyne then goes on to say “He wasn’t wearing any shoes or socks and his feet were rather dirty. On his arm he wore an armband with a star on it.”, hinting that Shmuel is spending this period of his life in poor conditions due to the fact that he is a Jew.…
During the Second World War the Nazis were cleansing the Jewish population of Europe. In the book The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne he writes about a Jewish boy named Shmuel and a German boy named Bruno. Shmuel is a prisoner in the Nazi concentration camp named Auschwitz and Bruno’s father is a high-ranking member of the Nazi forces station at Auschwitz. The two boys somehow become friends despite the stupendous odds set against each other by the German forces, "You're my best friend, Shmuel," he said. "My best friend for life” (Boyne 213). This quote shows the strength Bruno has to stay with Shmuel to the end even though he is considered less equal as Bruno. When Bruno was at home talking to his father about Shmuel says, “The people I see from the window. In the huts, in the distance. They're all dressed the same. Ah, those people, Those people... well, they're not people at all, Bruno"(Boyne 53). Brunos innocence is shown is this quote from him having no idea what is going on in the world at the time, and through his eyes he sees everyone as…
Both boys have a different set of rules and freedoms due to what side of the fence they have grown up on.“What exactly was the difference? he wondered to himself. And who decided which people wore the striped pajamas and which people wore the uniforms?” Asked Bruno. Both are in places they were forced to go to, and both can't leave. Of course the gigantic difference is that Shmuel is in a concentration camp and Bruno is in a house. Shmuel is drastically confined, first to his house, then to a share room, then a…
The book tells a story seen through the innocent eyes of an 8 year old boy, Bruno, who is unsure of his place in the world. The most evident concept of belonging is his hitch in his transition from childhood to adulthood. Throughout the book, he faces the conflict between accepting the harsh "Jew-killing" reality of the world or stay immersed in his fantastical world filled with adventure. Bruno also feels alienated from society having been moved from Berlin to the countryside, resulting in his isolation. On another level, he must further decide his place and to whether support his Nazi father's actions and stay true to his "Fatherland" or stay a companion with Shmuel, the 8 year old Jew that Bruno befriends.…
In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, the fence in the story was not just between the Nazi and Jew population, but also between many characters. Confliction grew and fences existed between Bruno and his parents, Bruno’s father and Grandmother, Bruno and the servants (Pavel and Maria), and between Bruno and Shmuel. These fences strained many relationships and affected how they treated one another and what they told each other.…
Book Plot Boy in the Striped Pajamas is about a young German boy during World War II. His father is a Nazi Commandant in charge of a concentration camp. When Bruno was 9, he was forced to move to a new house next to the concentration camp Auschwitz. The new house is much worse than their old house, with fewer floors, fewer places to explore, and just less fun, in general. However, when Bruno looks out his window, he can see a lot of boys and men, and the only thing separating him from them is a fence.…
The book I did was The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. The author is John Boyne and is characterized under historical fiction. In Berlin 1942, Bruno returns home from school and gets the surprise that his belongings are getting packed in crates. They are moving because Bruno’s father had gotten a promotion. He moves to a place called “Out-With.”…
The movie, “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” was a very interesting but sad movie. It made me think about how children really don’t see a lot of things and how they are very innocent. The way the jews were being treated made me really upset at how things were really running like that in Germany without many countries not noticing, especially the United States, until years later when they had gone to war. But by then, many people had died, or became survivors without any family, homes or any of their belongings at all. It was ridiculous in the way they got away with a lot of things. Their own people in the country thought that it wasn’t even bad and they saw the jews as the enemies. Brunos father who was in charge of the concentration camp though he was doing the right thing, but until his own son died, he was in complete shock. He didn’t know what to do anymore. He was just standing there and couldn’t believe it. I think he realized what he was doing and how things drastically changed for his family and him, especially in how many children and jews he had been killing in the camp.…
Boyne expresses perspective through the theme of friendship and characterisation throughout the novel. “I’m very sorry, Shmuel,” ‘I can’t believe I didn’t tell him the truth…” and “You’re my best friend. My best friend for life,” further confirms Bruno’s naivety, apologetic and friendly character. The similar characteristics of Shmuel and Bruno are what makes their friendship blossom and becomes inseparable. The portrayals of their perspectives are different- Bruno being ignorant and brash whilst Shmuel is seen as the more mature character. They have been through such different experiences of different extremities yet they ended up with the same ending. Boyne cultivated and heavily challenged original thoughts that such conflicting perspectives are often barriers when bonding with friends and instead showed the power and capability of friendships. Perspectives on friendship were changed, as it is to such great lengths that people go to in order to maintain a stable relationship. Due to the previous statements, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas successfully expresses, challenges and shapes…
In the novel The Boy in Striped Pajamas’ by John Boyne an interesting character is Bruno, he is interesting because he models and provides the solution to how the holocaust could have been prevented. He models the exact behaviors that we should exhibit if we wish for an event as horrific as this to never occur again. The author uses the naivety of Bruno’s voice to question both the rationality and morality of what is happening around him.…
When Bruno starts to walk around the garden, he discovers a fence that separates their garden from the field with the people in striped pajamas. Close to the fence, he sees a little boy. They start talking to each other, and so he discovers that the boys is called Shmuel. After a while, they get good friends and talk a lot.…