The boy in striped pajamas
Written by:John Boyne
Text type: Book
Read by: last year
Brief plot overview
During world war 2, 8 year old Bruno and his family move from Berlin To live near a concentration camp where his father has just become commandant. Bruno is told by his parents to not go through the gate that leads to the back of the house. Bruno decides that he wants to explore what’s behind the gate as he has become very lonely and bored. He wonders through the woods and stumbles upon an electric barb wire fence. He notices that everyone behind the fence is wearing striped pajamas. Bruno meets a jewish boy around the same age called Shmuel on the other side of the fence and goes back there whenever he can and feeds him food. They grow a forbidden friendship, Unmindful of the nature of their surroundings.
Character I found interesting and why?
I found Bruno the most interesting character as he is very adventurous and brave. Bruno has to make lots of discussions throughout the story. He didn’t want to move and leave his friends behind. When they moved he went on adventures to find something to do as he was very bored and lonely as his big sister had better things to do then hangout with Bruno. When Bruno meets Shmuel he finally feels like he’s made a friend, but doesnt know why he’s behind a fence and not allowed out. Throughout the book Shmuel explains to Bruno that his Grandfather is missing, Knowing Bruno’s personality he was worried and wanted to help as much as he could.
Message you got from the text
A message that I got from the text is that Children and adults alike should know the horrors of the holocaust, and never forget. The holocaust was a horrible time. Bruno wanted to be friends with Shmuel, He thought that Shmuel was a normal boy and he was. It was just the fact that he was behind a fence at the start of the book. Throughout the book it shows how committed Bruno is to their friendship. Anyone should be able to be friends with anyone but Bruno was told by his family to not be friends with children behind “the fence.” He didn’t have much knowledge behind why not. He started getting lessons with his sister to learn more about the holocaust. Bruno kept meeting up with Shmuel, everyday he smelt the horrid smell from the chimneys in the concentration camp. The message that this book gives is very important.
Challenges that characters had to deal with and my response to these
Bruno had lots of challenges, The most important one was making the decision to help Shmuel find his Grandfather. This was important as he didnt know the risks of going into the camp. He had to pick to either help his friend as he could see how worried Shmuel was or to let Shmuel look at himself. Bruno decided to help, they organised to get a pair of pajamas and look together throughout the camp. This did not end well. Bruno and Shmuel get caught up in a large group of people and are made to “take a shower” and “undress.” At the very end of the book Bruno and Shmuel die in the gas chambers. If Bruno didn’t go into the camp to help Shmuel then Bruno wouldn’t have died but Bruno was being a kind friend and wanted to help which was very brave of him. Bruno’s Mother and Father both faced many challenges. They argued a lot about where they lived and the smells they has to smell everyday. They knew that their children would start asking questions about what the smell was as they didn’t yet know. Another challenge was trying to keep Bruno entertained. Bruno’s Mother saw Bruno go through the gate near the start of the book and told Bruno that he “cannot go behind the gate to play.” She tried to keep him away from finding the concentration camp.
Who would you recommend this to and why?
I would recommend this book to 14+ as it is very emotional and may be disturbing to some viewers. The book goes into a lot of detail and tells the reader every bit of detail that is going on. It makes you really feel for the people that were sent to concentration camps.