Bruno, a 9 year old boy, that is curious, adventurous, innocent and is friends with a Jewish boy named Shmuel. Shmuel, a 9 year old boy, a victim of the Holocaust. Gretel, is a 12 year old girl, and is Bruno´s older sister; she is referred to as the “Helpless Case”. Bruno´s Mother is a stay at home mom and his Father is a Nazi lieutenant. Lt. Kotler is one of Bruno´s Fathers soldiers and The Fury is known as Hitler. The first scene of the book takes place at Berlin where Bruno first lives and the second scene takes place at Auschwitz which is where the concentration camp is.
Bruno lives in a huge house with his parents, his sister Gretel and the servants. After a visit from the Fury, Bruno´s Father is promoted to Commandant, and to Bruno's dismay the family has to move away to a place called Auschwitz. Bruno finds out he is not allowed to explore the house or its surroundings, and his father especially doesn’t want him to go into his office. Bruno decides to explore because he is very bored and that is when he seed Shmuel on the other side of the fence. That was the day when they became friends. Towards the end of the book Bruno´s Mother and sister Gretel decide to go back to Berlin. Then he decides to put on the striped pajamas and go under the fence to help Shmuel find his father. That’s when they find themselves caught in a group of people being forced to march by the Nazi guards. Soon enough they get crowded in a gas chamber thinking they were put inside to be kept dry while the rain stops. John Boyne definitely achieved their purpose because it showed us that no matter what race you come from, you can still be friends. The writing of the book is very powerful because the two friends never gave up on their friendship. I found this