Month: April 2020

For the fourth and final blog post, I will be reading about the topic of connections in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas with other readings we have studied in this unit. Recently in English class, we have been studying a book called Night by Elie Wiesel. I believe that Night and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas connect very well. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas follows the 2 main characters, one being the son of a German officer, and the other being a young boy inside the camps. On the other hand, Night highlights one main character, Eliezer, who is a Jewish boy who got taken from his home and put into a camp with many others. The books have many similarities because they are both covering the same topic and it shows the harsh realities of it. One key difference is that the two books are coming from different perspectives. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is mainly giving us the perspective of the German side, even though Bruno doesn’t like what he sees the Germans doing. Night is giving us the pure perspective of life inside the camps, with Eliezer and his father. Another reading that is connected to The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is the reading called What did the World Know? This reading is to see how much the rest of the world knew about what was going on, and what was happening to the Jewish population. In the beginning of this happening, other countries didn’t know what was happening. This is connected to Bruno in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas because in the beginning he didn’t know what was happening on the other side of the fence and why Schmuel was the way he was. After reading these it gave me insight into the harsh realities of this time period. Knowing about this sad moment in history makes me feel very sad knowing what people had to go through, and that all of this is real, and not in a fiction story.

For my third independent reading book blog post, I will be writing about theme topics in the book The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. I think so far the main theme in the book is innocence and naivety in Bruno. In this portion of the book, Bruno explores and meets Shmuel on the other side of the fence. Bruno does realize that Shmuel is wearing the same uniform and outfit that he has seen the others on that side of the fence wearing, but Bruno thinks none of it. They exchange names, birthdays, etc. Bruno tells Shmuel how he doesn’t like the life he has on his side of the fence, not knowing that Shmuel’s is many many times worse.  When Shmuel tells his story to Bruno, Bruno relates what Shmuel’s saying to something that happened to him, but still not knowing that Shmuel’s experiences are far worse. An example of this is that Bruno asked Shmuel whether he had any friends, and Shmuel replies by saying there are many boys on his side of the fence. Bruno responds by saying that Shmuel is lucky and complains about how boring it is on his side of the fence because there is no one to play with. Another example that shows innocence in Bruno is when Shmuel tells him that he is from Poland. Bruno says that he doesn’t believe that Poland is as good a country as Germany is. He says that he thinks this because he hears his father saying that Germany is superior. That shows how innocent Bruno is because saying that to a person in Shmuel’s circumstance would really hurt him. A direct quote from the text that can support the theme of innocence and naivety is a quote from when Shmuel is describing how he got to “Out-With”. The quote is, “‘All of us’, said Shmuel, nodding his head. ‘Eleven in total’. Bruno opened his mouth to contradict him again – he didn’t really believe that 11 people could live in the same room together.” This quote shows that Bruno is very innocent and doesn’t realize that there were 11 of them together in the same room, not by choice, but because they were forced to. Those are some examples of the theme topic of innocence and naivety from Bruno.

For the second independent reading book blog post, I chose to write about different quotes in the book The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. The first quote I found in the section that I read this week, is from Bruno’s father. Bruno is talking to his father about how he doesn’t like their new house and how he wants to go back to Berlin. After asking his father when they will go back to Berlin and their old home, his father says this, “A home is not a building or a street or a city or something so artificial as bricks and mortar. A home is where one’s family is, isn’t that right” Boyne(47). This quote is important because the father is trying to make Bruno comfortable with the new home because he knows that there’s no chance they’re going back to Berlin any time soon. This quote is an attempt to make Bruno accept the new home because his family is there.

Another quote that is important in the book is also from Bruno’s father. Bruno is asking him many questions about the new place they are in. One of the questions he asked is about the people who Bruno sees outside his window. Bruno has noticed that they are all dressed in the same outfits and Bruno asks his father about them. His father responds by saying, ‘Ah, those people’, said Father, nodding his head and smiling slightly. ‘Those people … well, they’re not people at all, Bruno’ Boyne(53). This quote is very important in the book because it shows Bruno’s father’s view on the people in the camps, who are Jews. His father displays his Nazi personality and shows no sympathy for the people in the camps who are going to be killed, saying that they are not even people.