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The Boy in Striped Pajamas is a historical fiction book which details the life of Bruno, a German boy whose father is a Commander for the Third Reich. He lives in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust but has a very sheltered life such that he is not fully aware of world events. , Bruno becomes friends with Shmuel, a Jewish boy who is a prisoner at the concentration camp Auschwitz. Amidst a society governed by prejudice and discrimination, Braun and Shmuel are able to share a friendship that is molded by their childlike innocence.
Braun’s friendship with Shmuel is a powerful and moving theme in this book. Despite Braun being the son of a German commandment and Shmuel being a Jewish prisoner at a concentration camp, their devotion and friendship towards one another persists despite the grievous circumstances they go throguh. Their worlds are completely diverse and apart but they both share the same desire for friendship and are able to cultivate a meaningful one.
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Their friendship gradually develops as the book progresses. In the beginning, Bruno encounters Shmuel at the fence and they immediately become friends and find things in common with each other as Bruno stated “I don't mean I don't believe you Because my birthday is April the fifteenth too. And I was born in nineteen thirty-four.' Finding things in common with Shmuel bridged the gap between the two children whose lives were so distinctly different. The theme of friendship is further exemplified when Bruno aids Shmuel in finding his father.
He is able to discard his fear of the German soldiers to aid his friend which is indicative of his friendship with Shmuel. In their final moments, Bruno declares “You're my best friend, Shmuel ..my best friend for life”. Bruno’s peaceful yet sadly poetic final words echo their trust and friendship toward one another amidst their sorrowful deaths in the gas chamber. All in all, Bruno and Shmuel are able to form a friendship in which they are able to trust each other easily despite their differences. Additionally, although Bruno is German and Shmuel is Jewish, their ethnicities were not a barrier towards their friendship.
Bruno’s innocence and his inability to understand the tragedy of the world around him is a central theme of this book. This innocence acts as a barrier that prevents him from fully understanding why the Jews were persecuted as well as the fate, he was going to experience with Shmuel in the gas chamber. Bruno is ignorant of the political situation as he refers to Hitler as the “Fury” instead of his justified title “Fuhrer”. Furthermore, Bruno was unaware of what was occurring in concentration camps as he viewed the camps filled with people that wore “striped pajamas' '. Early on in the book, Bruno said to Shmuel “It's so unfair. I don’t see why I should be stuck on this side of the fence where there’s no one to talk to and no one to play with, and you get to have dozens of friends and are probably playing for hours every day. It is evident he is completely unaware of the severity of the Holocaust. Additionally, his innocence is reflected as he is unaware of why his family has to leave Berlin and the details of his father’s occupation. Bruno’s innocence is further depicted as him and Jewish prisoners march towards the gas chamber and he thinks “I wanted to whisper to them that everything was all right, that Father was the Commandant, and if this was the kind of thing that he wanted the people to do then it must be all right.” He is unaware of the persecution and punishments that the Jews faced and fails to recognize that what his father wants for the Jews is truly not right. Bruno’s faith in his father who was instrumental in bringing forth the death of so many Jews is tragic and is a marker of innocence. In conclusion, Bruno’s childhood innocence clouded him from understanding the Holocaust and what was actually occurring but also enabled him to be empathetic towards Shmuel and the Jews.
The book, The Boy in Striped Pajamas, conveys the sheer cruelty of human nature through prejudice and discrimination. The Germans view the Jews as subhuman and fail to acknowledge them as their equals. Bruno’s father said to Bruno about the Jews that 'They're nothing to do with you. You have nothing whatsoever in common with them.' It was evident that he rejected the idea that Jews and Germans could be comparable or have things in common. Prejudice is further depicted when Bruno waits to board a train and he sees that the train that he is boarding is starkly distinct from the train the Jews were boarding which looked older and uncomfortable. Another instance is when Lieutenant Kotler beats Pavel for spilling the wine and no one stepped in to aid him. Bruno’s father refused to help because he viewed Jews, which Pavel was, as a scapegoat for Germany’s problems and heavily discriminated against them. Gretel, Bruno’s sister, does not aid Pavel because she is becoming indoctrinated to the ideology that Jews are subhuman and not their equals and Bruno’s mother refused to help to avoid a conflict with her husband.
Bruno’s innocence and friendship with Shmuel despite the acts of violence and discrimination occurring around him depicts the sad beauty of this story. The final scene tragically concludes Bruno and Shmuel’s friendship. With Bruno as a German walking hand in hand with Shmuel to the gas chamber, it was evident that the children’s innocence and purity enabled them to generate a strong sense of trust and friendship. Ultimately Bruno and Shmuel’s deaths at the gas chamber reveal that German Society indoctrinates citizens to be racist against Jews and by having childlike innocence like Bruno such prejudice and discrimination can be overcome.
The Boy In The Striped Pajamas Reflection. (2024, Feb 02). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/the-boy-in-the-striped-pajamas-reflection-essay
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