Striped Pajamas: Innocence

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” by John Boyne is a story told through the innocent eyes of Bruno, an eight year old boy living in the era of World War II. This story focused on the very controversial events that occurred during this time period, such as the concentration camps and the treatment of the Jewish people. When Bruno's father Ralf is prompted, Bruno's family must move to a new home in the countryside of Berlin, located right next to a concentration camp. Once situated, Bruno notices the concentration camp located next to their home, sparking his interest. Due to Bruno's creative and adventures nature, he disobeyed his father's rules, and snuck out of their new house to find out more about the people
wearing the “pair of grey striped pajamas with a grey striped cap on their heads” (38). Eventually reaching the barbed wire fence that surrounds the camp, Bruno befriends a young boy on the other side of the fence named Schmuel. Bruno's innocence shielded him from the realities of the concentration camp, leaving him oblivious to the significance of his and Shmuel's relationship. While he didn't understand the reasons behind the Jewish people being sentenced to the concentration camps, he picks up on the very obvious differences between how the men in the camp are treated compared to how his family, and everyone else is treated. John Boyne, uses Bruno's innocence to “capture the horrors of the concentration camps….particularly through the eyes of a rather naive child who couldn't possibly understand the terrible things that were taking place around him” (217-218).
This theme of Bruno's innocence is clearly stated throughout this novel, with both Bruno and Shmuel showing a “childlike innocence”, unable to comprehend the political rules their friendship is breaking. The ironic truth is that Bruno's father is Commandant of a Jewish concentration camp, while Bruno’s best friend is a prisoner at Auschwitz. This theme of innocence is also brought up again when Bruno's parents go to great lengths to hide the realities of the war, even going as far to hide the fact that Bruno's father was a Commandant of a Jewish concentration camp, for Nazi Germany, “he wasn't entirely sure what job Father did, only that it was a very important job, a job that needs a very special man to do it.” (5). While Bruno noticed the difference in how the soldiers around him spoke to “them” (the Jews), he didn't understand the slang used, but nonetheless felt guilty just by being associated with the soldiers and the attitude and language they used when talking to the Jews, “He said the word again and something about the harsh sound of it made Bruno look away and feel ashamed to be a part of this at all”
(75). Everyday for a year, Bruno visited Shmuel, hoping that one day they would get to both be on the same side of the fence, eliminating the one thing that kept them from playing together. While Shmuel would explain to Bruno how horrible it was on his side of the fence, Bruno's innocence kept him from understanding how badly the soldiers treated the prisoners, even expressing his desire to visit the other side of the camp so he could meet the other children there. The book ends with Shmuel finally convincing Bruno to travel to the other side of the fence, stealing a pair of striped pajamas so the soldiers wouldn't be able to tell Bruno apart from the other prisoners. While in the camp, Bruno and Shmuel and lead into a gas chamber, trapping them inside, and yet Bruno died still without the proper understanding and concept of what was happening, assuming that the gas chamber they were lead into to, was built to “[keep] the rain out and stopping people from catching colds” (212).