Making Unexpected Friends in The Boy with the Striped Pajamas

In the beginning, Bruno was a young boy who came from a Nazi household. Even though he didn’t quite understand everything at the time, he had dreamed of becoming a soldier just like his father. Shmuel was a young boy as well, who happened to be Jewish. Although the two came from rather different backgrounds, they both had a few things in common: They were born on the same day, they were very lonely, and they were forced to leave behind everything they had ever known. As they had gotten to know each other, they learned that they weren’t so different after all. Bruno had started to realize that he had more in common with Shmuel than he ever did with his old friends back in Berlin. Eventually, the fence between them had started to disappear as the two came together, despite any differences they ever

About a year later Bruno’s mom decided that moving there was not the best decision and she wanted to move back to their old house in Berlin. Bruno was devastated by that idea and the thought of leaving his new friend. That is when he finds out that Shmuel’s father had gone missing and he needs to find him. Just then he tells Bruno about it. Bruno then agrees that he will sneak into the camp to help him find Shmuel’s father.

After that day, Bruno goes to the forest every day to find Shmuel. One day, Bruno saw Shmuel in his house polishing the glasses for his father’s birthday. He holds Shmuel’s hand and said "Our hands, they 're so different. Look!"(167). When Bruno holds Shmuel’s hands, immediately he noticed the differences between them. One is healthy, fat hands but certainly not fat for a nine year old and the other hands just talk about other stories,that is about how hard of a Jewish people at Auschwitz.At Auschwitz,Jews live in a really rough living condition,they need to live in a confined space.Despite their visible differences, Bruno still accepts Shmuel as a friend. However, although they accept each other’s different physical features, but there are more struggles waiting in this friendship.

He is in a concentration camp close to where a boy name Bruno lives. The brave thing that he does is that he made a friend with Bruno, in which he was outside of concentration camp, and what makes it braver is that Bruno was son of a Nazi soldier. In the story it says “‘No sir he gave it to me.’ said Shmuel, tears welling up in his eyes as he threw a sideways glance at Bruno.’He's my friend,’ he added” This shows how Shmuel was Brave enough to tell the lieutenant that Bruno is his friend.

The fence that surrounds the concentration camp is a very important symbol. On one side of the fence, life is great, while on the other side, the most unpleasant things occur. The fence is a symbol as it separates two very different worlds. "There was a huge wire fence that ran along the length of the house and turned in at the top, extending further along in either direction, further than she could possibly see." (Page 31). At the end of the book, Bruno decides to crawl under the fence to help Shmuel find his father. The fence is overcome when Bruno crawls under. This symbolises that the fence and people's disagreements could be overcome if they tried. Once on the other side of the fence, Bruno starts to realise how different it is from his side of the fence. He becomes scared and wants to go home. This shows how easily one fence can separate two completely different worlds. Another major symbol is the striped pyjamas. The detention centre uniforms are what divide the Jews from the Germans. This is overcome in the book as Bruno decides to put on the uniform, therefore making him equal to every Jew in the centre. When Bruno is dressed in the pyjamas, he, Shmuel and every other person in the uniform are seen as the same. This symbolises that there are no major differences between Jews and Germans. Every human being should be seen as equal and given the same

At the end of the book, Bruno snuck into the concentration camp to play with Shmuel but they got caught up in a march. This march led them into the gas chambers and then Bruno sensed something bad about to happen. Once he heard the doors click shut, Bruno said, “‘You’re my best friend, Shmuel,’ he said. ‘My best friend for life’”(Boyne 213) This quote shows how strong Bruno and Shmuel’s friendship is. Even though Shmuel was Jewish and Bruno was German and they were not supposed to like each other, their friendship kept them together. The society was supposed to separate them but they stayed together all the way until the

The soldier treated the Jews, including Shmuel who was only 9 years old, very harsh. This builds a frightening mood for the reader. When Bruno and Shmuel are in the concentration camp they are starting to realize that their plan was a terrible idea. They are becoming nervous and don’t know what to do. They are sensing danger. “Don’t worry Shmuel. No matter what happens you will always be my best friend. Then he had the urge to squeeze his tiny hand. They hugged each other and started to cry” (page 212). This is important because it builds a mood that makes the reader want to cry. When they are holding hands in the gas chamber, Bruno and Shmuel were talking in a tone that made the reader understand exactly how they were feeling. They were in a terrifying moment which made the reader nervous for them. The writer made it very suspenseful. In The Boy And The Striped Pajamas, John Boyne was able to use narrative techniques to make the story more interesting add to the add emotion behind it. One way he did that was by using the tone of the build to build a mood for the

Bruno was very oblivious to the things that were taking place around him. Although he was oblivious to the big picture he still had a feeling that he should not communicate with Shmuel, which is why he denied knowing him. Yet he was brave enough to sneak out of the house to visit Shmuel at what he believed was a “Farm.” In reality, this

I choose to analyze the relationship between the two main characters, Bruno and Shmuel. Bruno was a rich child that came from a Nazi military family, and Shmuel was a poor Jewish kid who was locked up in a concentration camp. The friendship between them was admirable and real, and they avoid the conflict that Nazis and Jewish people couldn’t get along together.

Friendship is a basic human need, especially for nine year old boys living their childhood. For Bruno who is lonely, bored out of his mind and could not find friends his age to play with and Shmuel a Jewish boy entrapped in a brutal concentration camp, their friendship is one of the only things that can spark a little happiness and lighten up their spirit. The boys meet in the least possible place – the periphery of Auschwitz concentration camp, where one is imprisoned and the other is the son of the Nazi commandant in charge. Although they are meant to see each other as enemies as a Jew and Nazi, there is no hatred between Bruno and Shmuel. They simply see each other as another kid to talk to out of the loneliness of Auschwitz. As the book

Bruno was the son of a Nazi commandant, but he had no idea of the horrors of the Holocaust. He was told not to go near the death camp his father was in charge of, but he did anyway. Bruno meet a Jewish boy named Shmuel at the camp and continued to visit him. They enjoyed each other’s company even though there was a fence in between them. One day Shmuel told Bruno that his dad went missing. Neither of the boys knew that he was actually murdered. They came up with a plan to sneak Bruno into the camp to help Shmuel find his dad. After Bruno gets into the camp they begin to search when alarms go off. The boys and other Jewish men get pushed into a room and ordered to take their clothes off. No one knows what’s going on. They are ordered into another room where they are gassed and die. Because of hate and intolerance against Jews, Shmuel was blocked off from the rest of the world and his friend. Bruno fought against that hate and intolerance by sneaking into a place where no one should be, to help a

The next day where its raining and extremely muddy Bruno went to meetup with Shmuel at the fence to go on the search for Shmuel’s father . Finally Bruno was on the opposite side of the fence , as he was sneaking around trying to blend in with other people he never saw nothing like that seeing everyone looking miserable and skinny.

We are shown one of many examples of Bruno's innocence, or childhood innocence in general, when he is completely unaware that Pavel and the Jews had lives before working on the "farm". This ignorance is perpetuated by his parents but most of all his father, who want to keep him ignorant of what is truly happening on the "farm". I think that Bruno can be used as a symbol to represent the entire German population in several ways. For the most both him and the German citizens were kept in the dark of what was being done to the Jews. Both Bruno and German citizens would be told that Jews aren't really people. Both Bruno and the German citizens for the most part just want to go about their daily lives. Bruno is shown to be very free-spirited and that he can think for himself, which ultimately leads him to learning the truth, even if he can't put all the pieces together. He comes to befriend both Pavel and a boy named, Shmuel. Through these first hand experience with Jews, he comes to realize that they are not what his father or his tutor make him believe they are.

I think he wanted people to get the moral of the story. Also, to give it different from a German’s perspective instead of a Jews. Describe the relationship between Bruno and Gretel? What kind of characters is each of them? (40 pts.)

They say that ignorance is bliss. That is somewhat true, as not understanding the atrocities in our world would surely make a happier person. However, innocence can also lead to calamity. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne, is a coming of age story about Bruno, the son of a Nazi Commandant under Adolf Hitler. Bruno was initially very ignorant of what was happening in the world and was very immature about moving from Berlin. As the days went by, he got used to his new home and his thoughts were maturing, as he started thinking with logic and rationale. Bruno finally understands that he has to be a good person to everyone regardless what others might think. His character has strongly developed. Despite Bruno being unaware of his situation and his father being a Nazi, he matures from being childish and unsatisfied for moving to finally finding purpose in life by being a good human being.