Similarities Between The Book Thief And The Boy In The Striped Pajamas

The Book Thief compared to Boy in the striped pajamas

A child's view of war is significantly different from an adults view. When comparing The Book Thief and The boy in the striped pajamas, the children introduced in the book and movie take different views of war throughout the entirety of the plot. The characters develop different understandings and views of war as they progress throughout their lives. Liesel, The Book Thief, is introduced to the readers as a very incompetent, slow girl whos views suddenly change when she is introduced to the power of words and a innocent jewish man. She has a good understanding of war, and her views on war are knowledgeable. Bruno, The Boy in the striped pajamas, does not understand thoroughly the war and

the horrors of the holocaust happening just outside his box he puts himself in. Rudy, The Book Thief, develops a strong relationship with Liesel, and much like Liesel, his view of war is knowledgeable. Gretel, is a very strong Nazi supporter, as her dad is a commander is the party. Therefore, her views of war are strong, as she believes that the Nazi Party is great, and Jews are in fact lesser value. Both Jews, Max and Shmuel, live very terrifying lives as they are mistreated and thought upon as dirt. However, Max, The Book Thief, gains a better view upon the war and the Nazi Ideology, when Shmuel lives his live in confusion.
Both main characters in The Book Thief and The boy in the striped pajamas are German, however, both take different views on war that differ them from the naive and the brave. In the Book Thief, Liesel is introduced as a young girl who develops a very “slow” mind. Her view on war at the first is very basic, however as she begins to meet her new foster parents Rosa and Hans, she begins to learn to read and discovers the power of words in which Hitler used to take her family away from her and rise to power. Throughout the plot, Liesel develops a view that stands strongly against Hitler and the Nazi Ideology. As she develops the skill to read, her story telling talents help sustain a jew in her house, and they develop a strong relationship where she learns more about Hitler’s view and his hatred for jews, which also changes Liesel's view of war.
"I hate the Führer. […] I hate him" (Zusak)
Liesel's view of war is strongly against Hitler, as she says above in the novel, the Führer (Hitler) is who she despises, and she later explains how she has developed a strong understanding of World War Two as a whole.
Liesel’s view of war is significantly different from Bruno, Boy in the striped pajamas, and his view of war. Bruno does not entirely understand the war and the Nazi ideal, although his father is high up in the ranks. He gains a friendship with a jewish boy, Shmuel, but even so, does not entirely understand what is going on with him and why he is put in a camp. Bruno’s point of view makes him a very naive character, and does not realize what is really happening to the the Jews.
“I don't understand[...] one man caused all this trouble?” (Boyne)
Bruno does not understand that “The Fury”, which is his naive description of Hitler, is the main reason for all of his encounters and the evil camps holding Jews. Bruno also does not understand that his father works for Hitler, and when his father tries to explain something to him, he only takes the main point, and doesn't understand thoroughly why. To sum it up, Bruno and Liesel are two very different people, and although they do share some similarities, Liesel understands war, and her view helps her survive the horrors, when Bruno, does not thoroughly understand, and is quite oblivious to what is going on around him.
A child’s view of war is significantly different from an adult’s view. They understand very little at first, and even as they progress, they take very few details that help them understand. When comparing Rudy, The Book Thief, and Gretel, they show two different people and show two completely different views of war. Rudy, is the same age as Liesel, and develops a strong relationship with her throughout the novel. Rudy, much like Liesel, shows that he is strongly against Hitler and the Nazi Ideology. Rudy shows this when he doesn't accept the invitation to become a youth leader for the Nazi program, as well as seeing through Hitler’s power, and feeding Jews along a paraded march to a camp. Rudy had a very unique point of view that made him stand out on Himmel Street. His love and obsession for Jesse Owens made him follow his beliefs and actions throughout his lifetime, and this changed Rudy.
“I just want to be like Jesse Owens[...]Papa” (Zusak)
This is significant for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Jesse followed a series of beliefs that were strongly against Hitler, and lastly he was an African American. Rudy once painted himself black to represent Jesse Owens, which in the view of Hitler, is not right. When Rudy had realized what Hitler had been doing to the black people such as Jesse, and the Jews, his view of war was changed to having a weak view to a strong view. From that point on, Rudy had a sense of direction of what to do, and what not to do in the nightmares of The Fuhrer.
This view can be compared to Gretel, Boy in the striped pajamas, whose view is the complete opposite to Rudy’s. Gretel is referred to as a “hopeless case” by Bruno, however shows that she is the wiser of the two children. At first, She had no sense of what the Nazi’s were doing, but after a few lessons with their tutor and her father’s preachings, she became a Nazi lover. Her views were changed, and she now strongly supported the Nazi Ideology. She began to see war as a good thing, and began to believe that the Jews were in fact “lesser value” to the German people.
“We should be prouder of dad now more than ever before [...]He’s making our country great again” (Boyne)
This quote shows that Gretel realizes what her father is doing to the Jews, and the Nazi Party, and is proud of what he is doing. The difference between Rudy and Gretel in this comparison is this; Rudy does not support Hitler, and therefore he sees war as a nightmare. Gretel supports Hitler, opposite to Rudy, and sees war as a good thing, and that the Nazi Ideology is great. She believes that her dad is making Germany great again, when he is really causing pain and terror for the Jewish race.
The war ruined everyone, especially the Jews.

Max, The Book Thief and Shmuel, Boy in the striped pajamas, are two Jews unfortunately living through the terror. Although they are both Jewish, they show two different views of the war that change their characters. Max, is a young man who lives life in the basement of the Hubermanns household, and develops a strong relationship with Liesel during his stay. He thoroughly understands the war, as he dreams about boxing Hitler and writes stories about Hitler and his power. Max fortunately understands the life he has, and he sees the war as a never-ending nightmare of hate and fear. His view sees Hitler as a bad guy, for taking away his family and friends from him, as well as putting him in a position of

hopelessness.
“Living is living [...] the price was guilt and shame” (Zusak)
Death quotes this in result of Max entering the Hubermanns basement, because he leaves his family in order to survive. Throughout the plot, Max has shows emotional anger towards the Nazi’s, and this gives him a view that every Jew likely had, anger and fear… except for Shmuel.
Max’s view is different from Shmuel’s view in several ways.

Although they both share the Jewish culture, Shmuel lacks the knowledge of the Nazi ideology, which separates Max and Shmuel from the knowing and the unknowing. Shmuel is introduced to the viewers as an innocent Jewish child attempting to survive a concentration camp. In the beginning, he is introduced to Bruno, who also does not thoroughly understand what is going on. The two intertwine and find a friendship that held till the end of the movie. Shmuel, along with his family, were captured a little bit after the war began, all of his family died except for his father, whom he lived with in the camp. Shmuel’s sees his life as a routine, and he doesn't enjoy his life as much as he did before World War Two.

“There are no nice guards in here Bruno” (Boyne)

Shmuel’s view of war is different from Max’s view, as he does not entirely understand the war and why he a prisoner of war. Max understands the life he has, and unlike Shmuel, he sees war as the way it is, when Shmuel lives The Holocaust in confusion and terror, as he sees it all, but doesnt understand why it is happening.

The children in the book and movie show different views of war during World War Two. The characters react to what they see in different manors and therefore, they act differently when certain events take place in their lives. A child’s view of war is significantly different from an adults. The children in the movie show different views of war as a

whole, and this is shown throughout the storyline, which explains why a child’s view is different from an adults view.