Charlie Friesen

Charlie Friesen
The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas
John Boyne
Historical Fiction
Holiday
228-Finished

1. In the book, there is a boy named Bruno, and he is nine years old. He lived in Berlin during World War II. But then, his father, who works in the army as a "Commandant" has been relocated to a place called "Out-With". Bruno did not want to move at all, and when he did move, he hated it at "Out-With". It was in the middle of nowhere, and there were no other boys for Bruno to play with. All he had was his sister and his parents. Then, when he needed to start school, he was home schooled, because there were no schools for miles around. He did not like his teacher at all. But there was something that fascinated Bruno; right behind his house, there was a huge town. This town had many small, single-story huts, and smokestacks in the distance. But what fascinated Bruno the most, was that everyone that lived in the town wore blue and white stripped "pajamas" and they were separated from Bruno's family by a large fence. So one day, Bruno decides to go exploring along the fence, and after walking for about and hour, he meets this boy, Shmuel, sitting in the dirt by the fence. Bruno and Shmuel become great friends, until one day, when Bruno's curiosity got the better of him, and he came over the Shmuel's side of the fence, where he was rounded up by some soldiers, and sent into a large, airtight room, where he was never heard of again.

2. I thought that this book was very good. I have not read many books on the Holocaust, but this is the most unique of all of them. Most of the other books follow a Jewish family through their experiences, and they are very descriptive about all the hardships that the Jews faced. The novels blatantly tell reader about everything that is happening. But in The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas, the story follows a German boy, and there is almost no description whatsoever about what happens in the concentration camps. But I did not like the way it was written that much. The reading was pretty easy, but the book was 200 pages long, so I thought that I could quickly read it and then read another, more challenging book. Overall though, I thought it was a great book.

3. The most dominant theme in the book was by far, ignorance. When I was recapping the book in question 1, I used the word "Out -With". It is probably easy to tell that this actually means Auschwitz, the concentration camp. But Boyne uses other incorrect pronunciations, like the "Fury", instead of Fuhrer, to talk about Adolf Hitler. But Fury is probably a better word to describe him than Fuhrer. All these words are how Bruno thinks they are pronounced, and their true meaning is never revealed in the book, but it is easy in the end to tell what these words represent. But Bruno is also ignorant about his whole surroundings. He has no idea why there is a concentration camp, or even why those people are kept inside of it. He had no idea of what happened to the Jews who lived there, until he got gassed himself. Bruno had no idea what was going on around him the whole book.

4. My favorite character would have to be Shmuel. He is the boy who becomes Bruno's friend. Shmuel is why the book was written, he is just as much a main character as Bruno, and they are quite similar. Bruno is completely oblivious to the horror going on in the concentration camps, but Shmuel manages to hide his pain from Bruno. This also makes the book more interesting. If Shmuel told Bruno about all the horrible things the soldiers did to them would have in a way, spoiled the book. But Shmuel kept quiet, and Bruno stayed ignorant. It also seems as if Bruno and Shmuel live through each other, they were both lonely before, but now that they have each other, it makes them feel better again. In the end, Shmuel's effect on Bruno is immense, he changes how Bruno thought about "Out-With" and about the people in the stripped pajamas.

5. My least favorite character is Lieutenant Kolter. He is not a main character, but he is the face of the average German soldier working at the concentration camps. Not only does he beat and kill Jews, but he is also quite mean to Bruno himself. He always addresses Bruno as "little man" and flirts with Bruno's sister, Gretel. Bruno is very jealous of this and that makes him, and me, dislike him all the more. As well, he walks into Bruno's home as if he owns it, and he is very arrogant all the time. I do not like arrogant people. Also, Lieutenant Kolter is overall not a nice person, he is one of Hitler's devout follower, and would walk off a bridge if he told him to. He is a very evil person.

6. Even though I have finished the book, I will still provide what I think will happen to Bruno's family after the story ends. Bruno was killed in the concentration camp when he went exploring in it with Shmuel, and Boyne gave a glimpse of what happened to the rest of the family after Bruno disappeared. The whole family will mourn Bruno's death, and his father had a hunch as to what might have happened to him. Bruno's father will lose interest in his work, and consequences might follow that, he will probably be fired, and shamed. But for the rest of the family, they will probably miss Bruno very much, but after a while, they will not show it anymore. They will all continue on with their lives, each secretly wondering what happened to Bruno, and mourning his loss.