THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS
The Mystery of the Other Side of the Fence
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, written by John Boyne in 2006, is a historical dramatic novel which is set during the Second World War when Hitler, the Fuehrer, dominated Germany and created concentration camps all over Europe to exterminate Jews, considered inferior to the rest of the human beings. In other words, this clearly is a book on the victims of the Holocaust, which uses imaginary people to represent the atrocities that happened during the Second World War, by showing the reader two points of view (a Jewish one and a German one).
Bruno (the protagonist of the story) is a young boy, aged nine, who lives with his mother, father and sister Gretel in Berlin. Suddenly, because of his dad’s job (which is unknown at the beginning of the story) they have to move to Poland. Their new house, “Out-with” is not very nice, but there is something out of Bruno’s bedroom window which is very intriguing, something on the other side of the fence: he can see some soldiers, who are laughing and having fun and many children who are all standing close together with their heads facing the floor. All of them have something in common: they all seem to wear the same striped pyjamas. The soldiers’ behaviour show dominance and importance, whilst the children are passive and oppressed, they don’t seem to have confidence.
Throughout the story, Bruno meets a Jewish boy named Shmuel (aged just like him) who comes from the other side of the fence. The two kids become friends and every afternoon they meet, they sit down and they talk. Though the barbed-wire fence of the camp separates them, the boys begin a forbidden friendship. Bruno doesn’t know that Shmuel is a prisoner of the concentration camp he can see from his bedroom (Auschwitz) and that his father is a commandant of the camp, and that he works every day for Hitler.
Bruno and Shmuel had always wanted to play together but, because of the fence that separated them, they never really manged to. So one day, Bruno, who loves exploring, decides to help Shmuel to find his Papa, who has suddenly disappeared. He goes on the other side of the fence, where he can actually see Shmuel without any physical separation between them.
What will happen in the concentration camp? Will Bruno totally understand what is going on and who his father really is? Will he manage to get back home?
Bruno, a very curious boy who likes exploring, is an interesting character because of the friendship he develops with Shmuel, the way in which he directly disobeys his parents, and the way in which he changes from a naïve and innocent child to a more understanding and understanding friend.
The second main character might be Shmuel, maybe because he is Bruno’s new best friend. He is a very mature boy for his age, even if he hides his real destiny in the concentration camp not to terrify his friend who doesn’t know anything about the extermination of the Jews.
Father is another important character. He is a commandant of Auschwitz and he works for Hitler (who actually came to dinner at his house in Poland). He is a cold man who is proud of his job of being a soldier and he doesn’t want to tell Bruno about it. He dresses as a soldier and he makes the people around him feel insecure, oppressed and passive. He is not actually considered the antagonist of the story because he loves his children and he doesn’t want them to know about his terrifying job.
Gretel, Bruno’s older sister, is considered the “Hapless case” because of her annoying behaviour and by her way of feeling better than her brother because she is older than him. Even if she is described as a spoilt girl, and she nearly always quarrels with Bruno, she has feelings and she actually loves her brother very much.
Some rhetorical devices used by Boyne are:
- Foreshadowing (already indicating a future event that is going to happen in the story) – Bruno has just moved house and his bedroom is facing a concentration camp and he doesn’t know where he is and why. The author will then explain everything throughout the story.
- Repetition (repeating the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer) – the author uses it to emphasise and remind some things. This also gives the idea of being a parable or a story for children.
- Third person limited POV – Boyne writes in third person, so out of the story, but, because Bruno is the main character, the writer concentrates and has more relevance on Bruno’s points of view.
- Cliff-hangers (keeps the reader with bated breath, so he wants to know what is going to happen in the next chapter) – at the end of chapter two, the author leaves suspense by not letting the reader understand what Bruno and his sister are going to see.
I personally think that this historical novel is a very good book for everyone to read because it is simple so even children can easily understand it.
Even if it uses a simple story, it expresses deep meanings.
So, I like Boyne’s book because I find it interesting and it hooks the reader straight away.
My favourite part is understanding the friendship between Shmuel and Bruno, I particularly like how Shmuel tries to hide the horrible truth from his friend not to make him feel upset and sorry for the people in the camp who are suffering also because of his father. It is as if the two boys are brothers thanks to their young but true friendship.
In conclusion, I highly recommend this book to every kind of audience because it talks about a sad truth through a simple and childlike story. It makes you reflect about the atrocities which happened in that period and why they shouldn’t happen again.