the boy in the striped pyjamas essay

“The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” Essay

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Introduction

Film review, the good points in the movie, the bad points in the movie, historical accuracy of the movie, works cited.

Most individuals prefer watching movies as a way of entrainment or killing time especially the youth. Movies entail different themes that might range from historical experiences to current day-to-day experiences. However, some movies and television shows purporting to highlight some historical issues may lack historical validity and accurateness. This paper is a review and historical analysis of the film, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

The film is founded on a novel with the same title. John Boyne authored the novel. The film’s director is Mark Herman, and it was released in 2008. The main actor is Bruno, who is eight years of age living in the countryside with his family after his father receives a promotion in the workplace. Bruno’s dad is a commandant of an extermination camp, which borders their homestead, but it separated by a barbed wire electric fence.

At one point, Bruno decides to disobey the rules forbidding him from accessing the back garden. Curiosity leads him to the fence surrounding the extermination camp. Bruno meets Shmuel, who is a Jewish inmate at the camp, and befriends him. Bruno speculates the striped uniform that Shmuel is wearing to resemble pajamas, thus hinting to the viewers about the origin of the film’s title. The pair organizes regular meetings where they are involved in playing board games together, and Bruno sneaks food to his friend during such occasions.

One day, Bruno’s mother discovers the assignment of his husband following some insights from a junior commissioned officer often called Lieutenant concerning the black smoke emanating from the chimneys of the camp. Apparently, the smoke comes from the burning of the Jews who are perceived as lesser humans in the Nazi Germany. Bruno’s mother becomes agitated and heartbroken, and thus she confronts her husband. Later on at a dinner in Bruno’s home, the lieutenant pronounces how his biological father had moved to Switzerland and left his family.

Bruno’s father accuses the Lieutenant of neglect of duty and recklessness by not informing the concerned authorities about his father’s eminent disagreements with the prevailing political regime. Therefore, to prove his ultimate support for the political regime and cover his embarrassment, Lieutenant Kotler beats to death the Jewish inmate who was a servant at Bruno’s house so that he could show his undeterred support to the political system.

Later on, by coincidence, Shmuel replaces the murdered servant. Due to amusement, Bruno decides to offer him a cake. Unfortunately, the lieutenant sees Shmuel chewing and immediately accuses him of theft. Shmuel explains that the cake was duly offered to him, but Bruno denies the claims out of fear. Bruno decides to go and apologize to Shmuel. However, the servant cannot be found. Bruno keeps on going back to the same venue at the camp, but he is never fortunate to meet his friend until one moment when Shmuel reappears at the fence. During the reunion, Bruno expresses his ultimate apologies to his friend who forgives him before rekindled their friendship ( The Boy in the Striped Pajamas ).

Towards the end of the movie, Bruno endeavors to help Shmuel’s find his father who is missing after failing to return to the camp after a march. Consequently, he disappears from their house by digging a hole under the barbed wire fence to access the camp where Shmuel is residing. Later, his mother and sister discover that Bruno is missing. They inform the father who launches an immediate search together with his men. However, the search is unfruitful because the prohibited friendship between Bruno and Shmuel becomes a tragedy.

In the film, the aspect of true friendship is evident as demonstrated by Bruno and his ultimate affection to Shmuel, who is an inmate and a Jew. The audience often observes the deep relationship expressed through their conversation in the various meetings. Bruno breaks the confines of his family rules of not visiting the back garden just for the sake of friendship. The viewers also witness Bruno’s chances by sneaking food to his friend. At some point, he apologizes to Shmuel for denying that he offered him the cake. Lastly, Bruno’s decides to help Shmuel trace his father who has disappeared after a match.

Bruno’s mother is observed to oppose the dictatorial regime by expressing her anguish and dissatisfaction on the matter of anti-Semitism. She is heartbroken after discovering that the black smoke emanating from the camp chimneys is from the burning of Jewish corpses. She also confronts her husband after learning about his assignment in the camp, thus proving to viewers that she is not contended with the way that the current regime disregards the Jews.

The aspect of dictatorship is evident in the film. Characters such as Bruno’s father, who shows ultimate support to the current regime, demonstrate the feature. At times, he accuses the lieutenant of not demonstrating his loyalty to the political regime by not reporting to the relevant authorities the disappearance of his father to Switzerland. The viewers also witness the killing the Jew servant by the lieutenant illegitimately to prove his support for Semitism.

Racism is also a bad point as depicted in the different scenarios. The discrimination against the Jews is profound in this movie as evidenced by the rules prohibiting Bruno from engaging in friendship with Shmuel. The lieutenant also murders the servant simply because he is a Jew. The black smoke from the Jews’ burning corpses additionally proves how the political regime disregarded the life of the Jews.

The movie, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, is historically accurate. First, it was set during the World War II period from 1939 to 1945. The movie is relevant because it underscores the infamous Holocaust, which happened under the watch of Adolf Hitler’s tyrannical regime in the Nazi Germany. During this period, around six million Jews were murdered. The extermination camps as the one demonstrated in the movie were used in the systematic murder of the Jews.

The predominant ways of terminating life included gassing whereby the Jew inmates in the camps were packed in gas chambers, and then Carbon Monoxide or Zyklon B was used to suffocate them to death. The Jews were also killed by subjection to strenuous work under severe hunger conditions. The movie is historically correct due to the presence of death camps located beside Bruno’s home. The evidence provided by Bruno’s effort to sneak food to Shmuel and his vivid eyewitness of weak and malnourished Jews paints a picture of the situation during the Jews’ condition in the Nazi Germany.

The movie is also historically accurate because it portrays the element of dictatorship that characterized Adolf Halter’s political regime. The tutor employed to educate Bruno and his sister Gretel demonstrates the dictatorship. The tutor often campaigns for nationalist propaganda, which is a key element in a despotic regime. Gretel gradually develops an overwhelming support for Third Reich, which was the historical period between 1933 and 1945 when Hitler’s dictatorship was evident. Gretel even decides to cover her bedroom with posters encompassing the Nazi propaganda, thus painting a full picture of how the dictatorial government controlled all the aspects of the people’s lifestyles.

The movie also portrays its historical accuracy due to its vivid description of significant instances of anti-Semitism. This term underscores hatred, non-preference, and discrimination against the Jews based on their ethnicity, religious, or racial affiliation (Goldstein 28). During the Holocaust in the World War II, the Nazi regime discriminated the Jews leading to their death. This historical occurrence stands out clearly in the movie given the way Jews are treated. Additionally, the prejudice is evident after the lieutenant terminates the life of the Jew servant illegitimately so that he can demonstrate his allegiance and loyalty to the ruling regime.

Movies have different themes that they ultimately aim to communicate to the viewers. Most information may be historical while other films concentrate on the emerging issues around the globe. The movie, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, gives the audience a clear image of what conspired during the World War II in the Nazi Germany. Some of the themes that have been evident include the Nazi propaganda, the dictatorship under Adolf Hitler, and anti-Semitism. The movie is historically accurateness because its themes and occurrences coincide with those of the Second World War from which it derives its setting.

Goldstein, Phyllis. A Convenient Hatred: The History of Antisemitism , Brookline: Facing History and Ourselves, 2011. Print.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas . Dir. Mark Herman. New York: Miramax Home Entertainment. 2009. Film.

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The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Essay

John Boyne’s novel, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, concerns human brutality. Courage, loyalty and love, however, are more important as themes in the novel. Do you agree? John Boyne’s novel, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, is a touching story, based on real events that have happened in the past. Although it concerns aspects of human brutality, in the end it shows us that courage, loyalty and love are far more important themes in this story. In this novel , examples of courage, loyalty and love are common throughout, emphasizing that these themes override the theme of brutality. Courage is displayed by the two protagonists of this story – Bruno, the son of a Nazi commander and Shmuel, a young Jewish boy who is sent to a concentration camp. …show more content…

Here, human brutality is shown through the eyes of an innocent young child. In this scene, Lieutenant Kotler abuses Pavel, but in what way, we do not know. This part of the story is told indirectly through the eyes of Bruno and although almost every important character has witnessed it, including Father, Mother, Bruno and Gretel, no details are given, shrouding it in mystery. As the book describes ‘Lieutenant Kotler grew very angry with Pavel and no one stepped in to stop him doing what he did next, even though none of them could watch’. Here, it is clear that Pavel has been treated cruelly by Kotler. Although this is not strictly written in first person, it is angled towards the point of view of the others who are watching this scene unfurl. By writing this scene this way, the last phrase, ‘even though none of them could watch’ evokes a sense of hopelessness and inability to do anything about it – from Gretel, from Bruno, from Mother, and even from Bruno’s father, who is possibly the most important and commanding figure in this novel. By letting even Bruno’s father appear hopeless in this situation suggests that he is not entirely happy about the position of his job and what it involves. This scene leaves the reader with the mixed feelings of horror, pity and understanding, as well as resentment towards Lieutenant Kotler and the brutality that he has shown. In this novel, love is perhaps the most important theme that dominates over the evil and brutality of the

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The innocence of Bruno is portrayed through the stylistic device, dramatic irony, such as ‘Not fair, me stuck by my own and you have all your friends in there.’ The innocent friendship between the two boys leads them to their deaths in the ending scene, mise en scene comes into place as the scene shows the empty room with only the clothes and boots that were left after the boys and other Jews got gassed. In this scene, there is a form of diegetic music being played and the film finishes with a fading camera shot, that creates a heart-breaking tone to the film and the audience is able to feel the loss of innocence after the boys’ death. With a similar end of war scene in The Book Thief, after the bombings that occurred, Liesel lost the boy she loved which is another way that the idea of innocence has been corrupted. Within this scene the director uses a bird’s eye view angle of the death of Rudy and mise en scene is also used in this text, placing Liesel sitting with Rudy in the middle of the ruins of their street, leaving the audience to feel heartbroken just as The Boy in Striped Pyjamas does with the death of both boys. Although, the friendship between child protagonists in The Book Thief, Liesel and Rudy, starts as an innocent friendship and remains that way through most of the film, their friendship is explored through playful love whereas the friendship between Bruno and Shmuel is explored through boundaries

Narrative Techniques in the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Essay examples

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a novel by John Boyne. This novel is set during World War 2 and explores themes such as prejudice, racism, war, innocence and friendship. What sets it apart from other novels is that it uses a third person limited point of view, and mostly depicts events as they are seen by a young and naïve boy. This was one of the main narrative conventions that engaged me in this novel.

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‘The boy in the striped pyjamas’ written by John Boyne and directed by Mark Herman tells the disastrous story of a young boy Bruno and his family in Nazi Germany; the family move to the countryside when his Nazi officer dad got a promotion at a concentration camp less than a mile away from their house. Bruno meets a new boy who later becomes friends in a wild friendship. Gretel, Bruno’s sister, gets influenced by a Nazi soldier and by her teacher, which makes her drastically change into a young Nazi woman. The changes progress when looking at the five shots from the film and studying mise-en-scene.

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The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a novel by John Boyne that has recently been turned into a film. It tells the story of a young German boy (Bruno), and a Jewish boy (Shmuel)’s “forbidden” friendship. Bruno, located on the opposite side of a huge barbed-wire fence that guards the concentration camp where Shmuel is confined, has never had a friend he can’t play with. Throughout the novel, their friendship grows and both boys learn very important lessons. When the novel was made into a film, a few things were changed, some were

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“The Boy In the Striped Pyjamas” by John Boyne gives an insight to the holocaust and the rule of Nazi Germany in WW2, Boyne’s novel demonstrates Friendship through protagonist Bruno. Boyne writes about the an inhumane period, even if his book is a fable it still is based on the hardship that the jewish people suffered during this dark time. Throughout the Novel Bruno’s perspective on Friendship changes, he realises that you shouldn’t judge a friend by there appearance. The characters show intricate acts of friendship for life, friendship between young and old. Mateship between four “best friends for life” (karl, Daniel, Martin and Bruno) and the protagonist, Bruno, “crossing the fence” by entering an concentration and extermination camp for his jewish friend, Shmuel. The book is set on the German Polish border in about the year 1942 in the middle of Nazi Germany.

Examples Of Childhood Innocence In The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas

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An Unlikely Friendship Grows in John Boyne's The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

• 1 Works Cited

John Boyne’s book “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas” is set in the area bordering Nazi Germany and Poland in the 1940s. The story concern a young German boy named Bruno, his family and the unlikely friendship he has between another boy named Schmuel, imprisoned in Auschwitz.

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas Essay Friendship

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.

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas Literary Analysis

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• The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

by John Boyne

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Summary

T he Boy in the Striped Pajamas  is a novel about Bruno, the young son of a Nazi officer, who befriends a Jewish boy named Shmuel during World War II.

• Bruno’s family moves to a house in the countryside near Auschwitz, where Bruno’s father works. 
• Through a fence, Bruno encounters a Jewish boy named Shmuel, who is imprisoned in the concentration camp. The two boys become friends.
• One day, Shmuel asks for Bruno’s help in finding his father. Bruno disguises himself as one of the prisoners and enters the camp.
• The two boys are killed in the gas chambers.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Study Tools

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Introduction

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a fictional tale of the unlikeliest of friends: the son of a Nazi commandant and a Jewish concentration camp inmate. Written by John Boyne and published in 2006 by David Fickling Books, the story was made into a major motion picture in 2008.  The Boy in the Striped Pajamas  explores the beauty of a child’s innocence in a time of war, the common desire we all have for friendship, and the fences—both literal and figurative—that we must all navigate and choose whether or not to break down.

The novel is told from the perspective of nine-year-old Bruno, the son of a Nazi commandant. Bruno arrives home from school one day to find the family’s maid packing their things. Unbeknownst to Bruno, his father has been selected to oversee operations at Auschwitz (which Bruno hears as “Out-With”) and the family will be joining him. Bruno is devastated to leave his home, his friends, and his grandparents in Berlin. The situation becomes even worse when the family arrives at their new home, which is stark and isolated. Bruno is instructed by his parents that there are certain areas that are “Out Of Bounds At All Times And No Exceptions.” This includes the vast property behind the house, which seems to beckon Bruno. With no idea what is happening just behind his home, Bruno laments the lack of children his age and fun activities in “Out-With.”

Bruno’s twelve-year-old sister, Gretel, is an all-too-eager believer in the Nazi rhetoric being espoused to German youth. Her zeal for Nazi ideology increases when the family moves to Auschwitz and she develops a crush on a Nazi soldier, Lieutenant Kotler, who is a frequent visitor to the family’s home. Bruno instantly dislikes Kotler, who patronizes him. Gretel is also a student of Herr Liszt, the tutor hired by the children’s father to homeschool them. He unabashedly promotes Nazi propaganda and anti-Semitism, of which Bruno is skeptical.

From his bedroom window, Bruno can see hundreds if not thousands of people wearing pajamas working on what Bruno believes to be a farm. When Bruno’s desire to explore gets the best of him, he embarks on an adventure that leads him to an endlessly long fence. Bruno follows the fence, and after walking for quite a while, he sees a boy sitting by the fence. Bruno approaches him and notices that he is wearing the same pajamas as everyone else on that side of the fence along and a striped cloth cap. Bruno makes note of the boy’s filthy feet, which are bare. Bruno is struck by the boy’s sad eyes and ashen skin. Shmuel, the boy, introduces himself, and the two strike up a conversation. They soon discover that they share the same birthday: April 15, 1934. Bruno realizes how lonely he has been since the family moved to “Out-With.” He misses his friends from school, Martin, Karl, and Daniel.

Shmuel tells Bruno how there are many boys his age on his side of the fence, and Bruno instantly deems this unfair; he plans to speak to his father about how he wants to be able to play with the boys on the other side of the fence. Bruno tells Shmuel he is from Berlin, and Shmuel reveals that he is from Poland; neither has ever heard of the other’s home. Bruno suggests that Germany is better than Poland because the Germans are “superior,” remembering what he has learned in his geography lessons with his tutor, Herr Liszt. The two boys continue their discussion, and Bruno finally works up to courage to ask Shmuel why there are so many people on his side of the fence and what they are doing there.

Bruno continues to visit Shmuel, often bringing him food. Each and every day, Bruno suggests that he climb under the fence so that he can play with Shmuel. Knowingly, Shmuel tells Bruno that it would be a bad idea. One day, Shmuel appears in Bruno’s home as a servant whose fingers are small enough to clear some crystal glasses. He begs Bruno for some food, which he provides, but when Lieutenant Kotler catches Shmuel eating, he accuses him of stealing the food. Bruno does not stand up for him, and Shmuel is summarily beaten.

When the Führer (which Bruno hears as “the Fury”), Adolf Hitler, and his girlfriend, Eva Braun, come to dinner, Bruno has no idea who they are aside from the fact that the man is his father’s boss, and he takes an instant dislike to them. This scene speaks to the fact that children are excellent judges of character.

Bruno’s mother faces the difficult task of supporting her husband and shielding her children from what he does. When she learns that prisoners are being put to death at his command, she demands that she move back to Berlin with the children because Auschwitz is clearly not a good place to raise the children. Ironically, whereas Bruno at one time was desperate to return to Berlin, he is reluctant to leave because of his friendship with Shmuel. Bruno feels terrible about having to tell Shmuel that he is going to be leaving, so he tries to make it up to him by promising to help Shmuel locate his missing father. The two hatch a plan that has dire consequences beyond anything they could imagine.

Bruno returns the next day with a shovel, and Shmuel meets him at the fence with a spare set of pajamas. Bruno digs enough of a hole that he can shimmy under the fence in the hopes of helping find Shmuel’s father. Initially, the two friends are thrilled that they are finally on the same side of the fence, and each boy fights the urge to hug the other.

Bruno takes in the scene on the other side of the fence: emaciated, shaven-headed figures looking sad, soldiers shooting prisoners, and a distinct lack of the fruit and vegetable stands and cafes he had expected. Bruno says to Shmuel, “I don’t think I like it here,” to which Shmuel responds, “Neither do I.” Bruno decides that he should go home, but it is too late. The boys are herded into a line with hundreds of other prisoners, taken to a room, forced to undress, and sent to their deaths in a gas chamber. Throughout the quick ordeal, Shmuel and Bruno hold hands, clinging to one another and to their friendship until the very end.

Bruno’s family searches for him for several days until a Nazi soldier finds a pile of his clothes near the hole in the fence. Eventually, Bruno’s mother returns to Berlin with Gretel and Bruno’s father disappears with a group of fellow soldiers.

The story ends with the caveat: “of course all this happened a long time ago and nothing like that could ever happen again. Not in this day and age.” This is clearly a loaded statement that is intended to make readers think about all of the instances of persecution in the years since the Holocaust. Readers are left to consider how an act of kindness—or hatred—no matter how small can affect others.

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Chapter Summaries

Home — Essay Samples — Entertainment — The Boy in The Striped Pajamas — Analysis of the Themes in The Boy in The Striped Pajamas

Analysis of The Themes in The Boy in The Striped Pajamas

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Published: Jun 29, 2018

Words: 869 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Prompt Examples for "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" Essay

• Innocence and Ignorance: Discuss how the themes of innocence and ignorance are portrayed in the novel and how they are central to the story's impact.
• The Holocaust and Inhumanity: Analyze how the novel explores the theme of the Holocaust and its inhumane atrocities, and how it portrays the consequences of hatred and prejudice.
• Friendship and Compassion: Examine the theme of friendship and compassion as depicted through the unlikely friendship between Bruno and Shmuel, and how it transcends the boundaries created by their circumstances.
• Parent-Child Relationships: Discuss the theme of parent-child relationships, focusing on the dynamics between Bruno and his parents, and how these relationships evolve throughout the novel.
• Moral Dilemmas and Consequences: Explore the moral dilemmas faced by characters in the story and how their choices lead to profound consequences, highlighting the ethical questions raised by the narrative.

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Literary Devices in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - Literary Module

Subject: English

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Lesson (complete)

Last updated

7 August 2024

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This module contains questions and colourful plates explaining the literary devices used in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

From cause and effect, to visualisation , this module offers 25 questions consisting of multiple-choice, and long and short written answers, to help students discover the literary devices John Boyne used in his book to deliver his message to his readers. Follow up the Module with the included Assessment: 15 questions asking which literary device is being referred to in the coloured image.

THIS MODULE CONTAINS:

1 x Google Form - Literary Module - 25 questions (multiple-choice,and long and short written answer requirement) c/w answers. 1 x Google Form - Assessment - 15 multiple-choice questions c/w answers. 2 x Google Slideshows containing the images from the Module and the Assessment.

For those educators who prefer not to use Google Docs, we have provided the following for ease of use:

4 x PDFs of the Module and the Assessment (2 x student versions with no answers, 2 x teacher versions with answers). 2 x PDFs of the ‘posters’ in the Google Slideshows.

WHAT IS A LITERARY MODULE?

A Literary Module is a set of interactive lessons or activities that explore various elements of literary analysis based upon a book, a movie, or both, using well-known and respected Ed Tech (Educational Technology) applications like Google Forms, Kahoot! and Quizalize.

Our Literary Modules are built using the Google Drive platform, which offers 100% customisation, giving you the flexibility to mix and match modules, move things, delete, add new or edit existing questions, remove activities, or just share certain parts with your students. Our modules offer the educator a complete lesson with little to no set up required on their part. With built-in answers, our modules allow the educator to see the students who need help with their studies and those who are understanding the work.

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Is ‘The Boy In The Striped Pajamas’ Based On A True Story?

Where to stream:.

• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
• World War II

Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Commandant’s Shadow’ on Max, an Extraordinary Documentary About the Lingering Fallout From Auschwitz

Stream it or skip it: ‘one life’ on paramount+, in which anthony hopkins brings his a-game to an otherwise ordinary historical drama, stream it or skip it: ‘hitler and the nazis: evil on trial’ on netflix, a docuseries about the rise and fall of the nazis and the nuremberg trials, stream it or skip it: ‘the ministry of ungentlemanly warfare’ on vod, in which guy ritchie directs a fictional spin on a real-life wwii era secret spy mission.

The 2008 historical drama The Boy in the Striped Pajamas follows Bruno ( Asa Butterfield ), an 8-year-old German boy whose father ( David Thewlis ) is a Nazi, and moves him and his family to live near Auschwitz, a concentration camp during World War II. While there, Bruno meets Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), a Jewish boy who is the same age that’s being held captive in the concentration camp.

The two boys become friends, despite the barbed wire fence between them, and remain unaware of the genocidal war going on around them. Based on John Boyne’s 2006 novel of the same name , the tear-jerking film brings a story of youth and innocence into a historical period of mass violence and division.

Is The Boy in the Striped Pajamas based on a true story ? Read on to learn more.

Is The Boy In The Striped Pajamas based on a true story?

No. Despite its historical setting, both the film and novel are works of fiction. In fact, while some praise the story as a tale of morality that simultaneously introduces children to the subject of the Holocaust, others have critiqued the manner in which the story has been commonly used in classrooms to teach students about the Holocaust, as many students have fallen under the misconception that it is based on a true story.

A report conducted by University College London’s Centre for Holocaust Education featured in The Guardian in January 2022 stated the following: “While most young people who took part in the study recognised the narrative as a work of fiction and many were able to identify and critique its most glaring implausibilities and historical inaccuracies, they nonetheless overwhelmingly characterised it as ‘realistic’ and/or ‘truthful.”

The study found that 84.4% of students surveyed who said they had seen a film about the Holocaust had been referring to The Boy in the Striped Pajamas , and that it was both the most read novel and most-watched film about the Holocaust among English students.

The report noted that students who studied the story often came to conclusions that “contributed significantly to one of the most powerful and problematic misconceptions of this history, that ‘ordinary Germans’ held little responsibility and were by and large ‘brainwashed’ or otherwise entirely ignorant of the unfolding atrocities.”

Others have defended Boyne’s right to create works of fiction, including Boyne himself, who said that “fiction cannot be factually inaccurate” per the Irish Mirror . He told The Guardian , “As a novelist, I believe that fiction can play a valuable role in introducing difficult subjects to young readers, but it is the job of the teacher to impress upon their students that there is legitimate space between imagination and reality.”

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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Trying themes of 'the boy in the striped pajamas' anonymous college.

John Boyne’s most famous novel, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, is an intricate story about two boys that meet at a concentration camp during the Second World War. In this novel, several themes are made evident, such as the innocence of childhood, prejudices, fear, regret, and boundaries. However, perhaps the most interesting, yet subtle, theme is that of silence.

Silence, stillness, and secrets are all interconnected throughout this literary work. As the protagonist’s father is the “Commandment” of the German army, the majority of his duties are hidden from his family. This is taken to such extremes that the family moves to Poland, without telling the children where they are moving to or the reason behind it. There is an overall silence throughout the family, particularly when it comes to the work of the father. The children are taught at an early age to simply respect his duties and to not question his decisions.

As the story continues, Bruno develops a close friendship with a refugee named Shmuel. Shmuel is the Hebrew equivalent of the name Samuel, meaning strong. This fact is quite interesting in relation to Shmuel’s role in the story, particularly in his role in the friendship between the two boys. Due to the differences...

GradeSaver provides access to 2312 study guide PDFs and quizzes, 10989 literature essays, 2751 sample college application essays, 911 lesson plans, and ad-free surfing in this premium content, “Members Only” section of the site! Membership includes a 10% discount on all editing orders.

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