The Boy in the Striped pyjamas essay
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – English assessment draft
In the book, Bruno is portrayed as a young boy with a sense of adventure and curiosity; it mirrors this in the film too, however in the book he seems more mature and his age doesn’t meet his personality, it expresses this when it says ‘..he asked in as polite a tone as he could muster…his mother had always taught him to be kind to Maria..’ so he clearly listens and knows what is right and what the correct behaviour is. If any other 8 year old child came home to find someone else packing their possessions away, they wouldn’t go about it in a completely polite way like Bruno does.
The way Bruno’s father says ‘the people outside their house aren’t really people at all’ clearly proves the disgust his father shows towards the Jews. It demonstrates his discrimination over the Jewish people and makes Bruno think about Out-With in a different way. Bruno knows that his father is a good man but it remains unusual to him about what he really does. “My dad's a soldier, but not the sort that takes people's clothes away.” – Bruno. This quote shows that Bruno knows his father is a soldier but he still believes that his father is not the sort to do terrible things.
Bruno is curious to know what is happening but whenever he asks he never gets a clear answer. This is probably because he is too young to understand the true horror of the situation so he resorts to a much simpler and childish reason. As an example, in the book there are many times where he sees the people over the fence being shouted at and sent away in groups so Bruno come up with the idea that they are doing jobs and earning money to feed their families.
The writer obviously has a very good sense of what thoughts and anguishes would of have run through a young boys head, as he writes with such empathy – ‘..which Bruno knew to be true because he always taught the big boys who it was always wise to steer clear of’ – as if he too was an 8 year old boy. That
In the book, Bruno is portrayed as a young boy with a sense of adventure and curiosity; it mirrors this in the film too, however in the book he seems more mature and his age doesn’t meet his personality, it expresses this when it says ‘..he asked in as polite a tone as he could muster…his mother had always taught him to be kind to Maria..’ so he clearly listens and knows what is right and what the correct behaviour is. If any other 8 year old child came home to find someone else packing their possessions away, they wouldn’t go about it in a completely polite way like Bruno does.
The way Bruno’s father says ‘the people outside their house aren’t really people at all’ clearly proves the disgust his father shows towards the Jews. It demonstrates his discrimination over the Jewish people and makes Bruno think about Out-With in a different way. Bruno knows that his father is a good man but it remains unusual to him about what he really does. “My dad's a soldier, but not the sort that takes people's clothes away.” – Bruno. This quote shows that Bruno knows his father is a soldier but he still believes that his father is not the sort to do terrible things.
Bruno is curious to know what is happening but whenever he asks he never gets a clear answer. This is probably because he is too young to understand the true horror of the situation so he resorts to a much simpler and childish reason. As an example, in the book there are many times where he sees the people over the fence being shouted at and sent away in groups so Bruno come up with the idea that they are doing jobs and earning money to feed their families.
The writer obviously has a very good sense of what thoughts and anguishes would of have run through a young boys head, as he writes with such empathy – ‘..which Bruno knew to be true because he always taught the big boys who it was always wise to steer clear of’ – as if he too was an 8 year old boy. That