The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a historical fiction by John Boyne. In the beginning of the book Bruno moves the Auschwitz. In the middle of the book Bruno meets Shmuel. In the end Bruno goes onto Shmuel’s side of the fence. In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas besides being a physical barrier it is also a barrier between classes, races, victims and the persecutors and bystanders. The fence in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas separates two classes. The rich, Bruno’s side, and the poor, Shmuel’s side. This barrier plays a huge role in the story. One way the class separation played a huge role was in Bruno’s privileged perspective. At one point in the story Bruno can’t believe that Shmuel only lived in a two story house, not five. This shows us how sheltered Bruno is. Also because of his perspective Bruno can’t relate to Shmuel’s situation and what he’s going through. “‘I’m sorry I’m late’ he said handing …show more content…
Boyne is very clear many times in the book when he shows the ignorance or guilt of the bystanders and hate towards the soldiers that the people in the camp radiate. “‘There aren’t any good soldiers,’ repeated Shmuel. ‘Except Father,’ repeated Bruno,” (Boyne pg 140). This quote shows that the bystander, Bruno, is so ignorant of his father’s job that he won’t listen to Shmuel. Bruno only sees the good side of his father while Shmuel only sees the bad side.Boyne also emphasizes the hate exchanged from the Jewish people and the soldiers. “‘But that’s alright because I hate them too. I hate them,’ he repeated forcefully.” (Boyne pg 195). This is from a conversation between Bruno and Shmuel about the soldiers. Boyne shows us the hate that goes back and forth between the Nazis and the people in the Auschwitz. John Boyne did a great job of representing the many aspects of the fence throughout the
While the adults show their disgust and hatred to the Jews, Bruno doesn't mind them and is nice to Pavel, the Jew that got him the tire, and later becomes friends with Shmuel. Bruno’s father is a soldier and is in charge of the concentration camp. Even with all the Jew hating Germans around him, he still goes out to visit Shmuel and doesn’t let them ruin his friendship. Near the end of the movie Bruno shows his friend how much he cares by entering the camp to help look for Shmuel’s father, who had gone missing. While entering the camp, Bruno learned first hand how bad the camps actually were and wished he hadn’t come. Even with these feelings he still wants to help his friend, which eventually leads to his demise.
An excellent book night written by Elie Wiesel and the great movie the boy in the stripped pyjamas directed by Mark Herman portrayed many themes that are in common. The book Night is about the Jews who were forced to let go of their house and belongings and taken to the concentration camps and tortured by the Germans. The movie, the boy in the stripped pyjamas, is about two eight year old boys, Bruno and Shmuel and their friendship, and how their friendship took shape in different forms such as support and hope. Unfortunately, they are not supposed to be friends because Bruno is the son of the German officer, who is responsible for giving the officers the command. Shmuel was a Jew who had to suffer from what Bruno’s father had commanded and decided to do with the Jews.
mature. When Bruno first discovers the fence, a boy called Shmuel faces him. The use of
We are born to believe that we are all created equally. We soon find out that many things keep that from being accurate: race, religion, wealth, and politics. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a movie that is based off the Holocaust. It demonstrates that people who are created equal aren’t always treated that way because of how they are perceived by others. The two boys from the movie, Bruno and Shmuel, had some similarities, but they also had major differences during their time period.
One day when Shmuel gets sent to shine glasses at his house him and Bruno start talking. A soldier see them and Bruno told him he didn’t know who he was, and the soldier beats the boy, Bruno feels terrible and want to make it up to Shmuel. Bruno wants to understand why the life behind the fence is so awful and why Shmuel isn’t happy. Bruno thinks it’s not better, but interesting because there are other kids to play with. They form a strong bond that can't be broken by anything and it makes him realize that his friends in Berlin weren't as special as Shmuel is and their friendship. The two boys have been talking and have been friends for about a year and decide that Bruno wants to go on the other side of the fence to see what its like and help him find his papa.
In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne, a young naive boy, Bruno, tells from his perspective how the occurrences in the Holocaust took place. In 1943, the beginning of the story, Bruno’s father, a commandant in Hitler’s army, is promoted and moves to Oswiecim with his family. Oswiecim is home to the hideous Auschwitz Concentration Camp. While Bruno is out playing near a fence at the edge of Auschwitz Concentration Camp, against his father’s orders, he becomes friends with a young Jewis...
The films The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and Schindler 's List recall a dark and devastating time in history known as the Holocaust. Amid the barbaric German Nazi invasions, are where we find the main characters of these two films. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas tells the story of Bruno, a son of German Nazi soldier who befriends an inmate at a nearby concentration camp. For weeks, Bruno shares stories, food, and comforts the inmate, Shmuel, despite his parent’s orders and German upbringing. Bruno has grown up exposed to the Nazi propaganda, however his German upbringing does not create hostility or resentment toward this Jewish boy, but instead compassion. Similarly, Oskar Schindler, a German business man saved the lives of thousands of Jewish prisoners by arranging them to work in his factory. Both Oskar Schindler and Bruno did not allow neither their collective identity as Germans nor their pro-Nazi culture, to become central to their own individual identity and morals. They did not allow the constraints or “expectations of others”, in a German sense, to make them act
... a perfect example of a truly innocent person (Shmuel) and an arguably unsympathetic character (Bruno) whom can be portrayed as denying the truth meeting the same fate. As we can see by Lennie’s death and Bruno’s death, ignorance and innocence lead to the same fate in the end.
Thus, through the various distortions posed throughout The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, John Boyne reveals many aspects of truth. Such distortions allow the author to evoke the audience’s emotion, portray the Holocaust to younger readers and communicate humans’ capacity for brutality and apathy. This is achieved by Boyne through the exaggeration of the innocence of Bruno, the misrepresented content of the novel as well as the distinctive voice of youth. Narrative, in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne, is therefore presented as a device that distorts aspects of truth in order to reveal. However, in the end, it is the choice of the reader as to whether they will consider the narrative to be a ‘fable’ which reveals a message or an actual source of knowledge and truth.
Friendship is not something that has adapted overtime. The desire to seek out and surround us with other human beings, our friends, is in our nature. Philosophers such as Aristotle infer that friendship is a kind of virtue, or implies virtue, and is necessary for living. Nobody would ever choose to live without friends even if we had all the other good things. The relationship between two very different young boys, Bruno and Shmuel’s in the film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is an example of the everlasting bond of a perfect friendship based upon the goodness of each other. This film portrays one of humanity’s greatest modern tragedies, through heartache and transgression, reflecting various themes through out the movie. Beyond the minor themes some seem to argue as more important in the film, the theme of friendship and love is widely signified and found to be fundamental in understanding the true meaning behind The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
Imagine waking up on a normal day, in your normal house, in your normal room. Imagine if you knew that that day, you would be taken away from your normal life, and forced to a life of death, sickness, and violence. Imagine seeing your parents taken away from you. Imagine watching your family walk into their certain death. Imagine being a survivor. Just think of the nightmares that linger in your mind. You are stuck with emotional pain gnawing at your sanity. These scenerios are just some of the horrific things that went on between 1933-1945, the time of the Holocaust. This tragic and terrifying event has been written about many times. However, this is about one particularly fascinating story called The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne.
Bruno's imaginative journey is a flight from reality. It is a classic example of the psychological "fight or flight" syndrome experienced by all animals (including humans) when they are confronted by something of which they are unsure or afraid - something which challenges their current reality. What Boyne does in this story is to use Bruno to show how either approach can be totally destructive: the critical lesson is that we must acknowledge reality and do what we can to remove the fences that would destroy not only ?us? but our entire world.
The reason he went to the other side of the fence was his loyalty and friendship to Shmuel. After, Bruno does not stand up to Lieutenant Kotler. He is ashamed. “‘I’m very sorry, Shmuel… I can’t believe I didn’t tell him the truth I’ve never let a friend down like that before. Shmuel, I’m ashamed of myself.’”
To begin, the two boys’ relationship relates to Knapp’s stages of relational development. First, the first two stages, initiation and experimentation, can be seen when Bruno first meets Shmuel. The two introduce themselves and Bruno notices the number on Shmuel’s uniform. They also both find out that they are eight-years-old. Next, the relationship also demonstrates the intensifying stage. Particularly, it shows the separation test. Even though Bruno and Shmuel are not able to play together, Bruno still thinks about Shmuel. Furthermore, the integration stage is also shown.
Bruno, an eight year old boy at the time of the war, is completely oblivious to the atrocities of the war around him - even with a father who is a Nazi commandant. The title of the book is evidence to this - Bruno perceives the concentration camp uniforms as "striped pajamas." Further evidence is the misnomers "the Fury," (the Furher) and "Out-With" (Auschwitz). Bruno and Shmuel, the boy he meets from Auschwitz, share a great deal in common but perhaps what is most striking is the childhood innocence which characterizes both boys. Bruno is unaware that his father is a Nazi commandant and that his home is on ther periphery of Auschwitz. Shmuel, imprisoned in the camp, seems not to understand the severity of his situation. When his father goes missing, Shmuel does not understand that he has gone to the gas chamber.