Essay on 'The Boy In The Striped Pajamas’: Book Review

Major themes: The major themes that occurred in the story, The Boy In The Striped Pajamas, written by John Boyne, was the desire for friendship, boundaries, and the innocence of childhood. Firstly, the author of the powerful story introduced the theme of friendship by having Bruno, a nine-year-old boy, roam the large forest located in Auschwitz. After exploring the woods for endless hours, Bruno encountered something he had never seen before; a camp with people wearing the same blue-striped pajamas in it. As Bruno went closer to the campgrounds, he noticed that the fence was electrical. To his surprise, he saw a skinny, small boy sitting on the other side of it. Bruno and the unknown boy named Shmuel discovered that they were the same age and enjoyed many of the same activities. Shmuel was a Polish Jewish that had been jailed at Auschwitz with his family. This was a significant and dangerous problem, as Bruno was German. The two boys’ desire for friendship was so strong that they ignored the fence that was separating them. Furthermore, the story explored the theme, of boundaries, when Bruno and Shmuel were separated by a fence. This portrayed that they could never play or explore together. The German Nazi’s strict rules forbade Germans to be friends with Jews, Poles, and other nationalities who had been persecuted by Adolf Hilter. Lastly, the story was successfully written from the perspective of a young child, Brunos. This demonstrated the innocence of his childhood, as he was unaware that his father was a Nazi commandant. Bruno did not know that he was living on the property of a death camp and had met Adolf Hilter. Shmuel, a guiltless prisoner in the camp, did not understand the severity of his situation. When his father went missing, he did not comprehend that he had been forced into the gas chambers to meet his death sentence.

Basic overview of the plot: The story was introduced by Bruno, a nine-year-old German boy living in Berlin, Germany, in 1943 with his family. Due to their father's job, their family was forced to move from their delightful home to a new house in an unknown place called 'Out-With.' Knowing Bruno had an adventurous spirit, his parents informed him that there were certain places that were 'Out Of Bounds At All Times And No Exceptions.' Being unable to follow his parent’s only rule, Bruno’s curiosity led him into the unknown parts of “Out-With”.

After exploring the massive forest that was located outside his backyard, he noticed a narrow dirt trail which he followed and soon led him to a large campground. Bruno was in awe, as it was his first time encountering something like that. He followed an electrical fence until he surprisingly saw a young boy sitting on the other side of it. The shoeless boy was dressed in dirty striped pajamas and a ripped cloth cap. Bruno quickly noticed that the boy was wearing an armband that had a star on it. The unknown boy informed Bruno that his name was Shmuel, and they instantly became friends. Their friendship grew stronger as they exchanged family stories and realized that they even shared the same birthday. As Bruno got ready to return back home, he asked Shmuel why he and an incredible amount of people were on the opposite side of the fence and the reason for them being there. Shortly after, Bruno's father invited some guests to their house, a man whose name was 'the Fury' and his date, Eva. His sister Gretel, which he only referred to as 'the Hopeless Case,' had caught feelings for “the Fury”, as she found him charming and polite. Bruno was disgusted by his sister's behavior towards the soldier and their upcoming romance.

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Due to his young age and innocent mind, Bruno misinterpreted the words 'Auschwitz' as 'Out-With,' and 'the Führer' as 'the Fury.' He did not comprehend why there was a camp near his house and did not understand the danger he could get himself into. He began to find himself visiting and spending time with his only friend, Shmuel, every day. He noticed his friend’s malnutrition and decided to steal food from his house to provide for Shmuel. The two friends were heartbroken by the fact that they could not play together or see each other without having a fence blocking their view. As Bruno and his friend were discussing the activities that they enjoyed performing, Shmuel began to cry and confessed to Bruno that he was unable to find his father. He was worried that he left the campgrounds and got lost while going on a walk. Bruno felt his friend's pain and sorrow that he promised to help Shmuel look for his father. Due to the fence that was separating the boys, Bruno found his options and ideas very limited. After trying to find multiple solutions, Shmuel announced that he would get Bruno a pair of pajamas from the storage bin in order to blend in on his side of the fence. The two friends agreed on the plan and vowed to meet each other the following day.

The night had passed, and Bruno sprinted through the woods to see his friend. When he reached the fence, Bruno secretly took off his clothes and put on the dirty, striped pajamas that were given to him. He snuck onto Shmuel's side of the fence through a discrete hole that had been previously dug up the day they discussed their plan. The search for Shmuel's father ended quickly and abruptly. The loud, mean German soldiers ordered all the prisoners who were left on the campgrounds to remove their pajamas and speedily walk to the main building for a shower. Prisoners were crying and getting hurt by the Soldiers. Bruno and Shmuel found themselves standing in the same line, frightened and nervous about the unknown. Holding hands, the two boys got pushed together into a large shower room, which was known as the gas chambers, where they devastatingly died as best friends.

Novel study response: The response question that I decided to reply to is, “what did you learn about after reading the story you chose?” After reading the overwhelming and powerful story, I have learned about human nature and the purity of children. The author incorporated two nationalities that strongly disliked each other, a German with a Jewish boy. The two young boys were unaware of their religion, causing harm to anyone, as they just wanted to be friends and play games. The two boys did not comprehend what was happening, as they did not see Auschwitz as a death camp. Additionally, despite Bruno being the son of a nazi commandment, Bruno did not partake in the war crimes his father committed against the innocent Jewish prisoners in the concentration camp. This showed the purity of children and human nature.

Reflection: The genre of this disturbing and incredible story was historical fiction. This book was written based on a dream that the author had one night. His interesting dream consisted of two boys sitting on different sides of an electrical fence. The fence reminded him of the Holocaust, and this inspired him to write an informative story about how horrible Jewish people were treated. Three examples that I have found from the story that lead me in thinking the book was fiction was, if a prisoner were to be talking to someone that was located on the opposite side of the fence as them, they would get caught and would be severely punished. This strongly relates to the story as Bruno would sit on the other side of Shmuel, a prisoner, and talk to him every day. Secondly, the soldiers would instantly kill someone if they attempted to dig a hole underneath the electrical fence. I can connect this to the book as Bruno dug up a hole under the fence in order to successfully help his worried friend. Finally, the story was told from the perspective of Bruno’s family and did not explain how people in the concentration camp were treated. I believe in order to effectively teach people about a server topic, it is very important to explain both sides of the story, as opinions can vary from different people. I would recommend this book to people who are interested in reading stories that are based on the Holocaust. It is very important for everyone to understand and acknowledge the horrors of Jewish people’s history, and to treat everyone with respect. I would absolutely reread a book that consists of this genre again because I enjoy reading about other religions’ history, as it is interesting and educational. A text-to-text connection that I constructed was the story “The Boy In The Striped Pajamas” to “The Boy At The Top Of The Mountain,” written by John Boyne. In the story “The Boy At The Top Of The Mountain,” the main character who was named Pierrot, was forced to leave his house in Paris with his Aunt Beatrix in 1935. Beatrix was happy as she quickly received a job as a servant in a house located at the top of the German Mountains. The story began to escalate as she soon realized the house belonged to Adolf Hitler. The similarity between the two stories was Bruno and Pierrot were both forced to move from their lovely home to a new house. The two boys had both met Adolf Hitler without realizing it, and their family members had been working for him.