- Setting and Mood – Describe a scene in which the setting and mood are particularly effective. What language made them effective? Be specific.
In the resolution of the book The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne, the setting and the mood are most effective in the final scene. In this scene, Bruno helps Schmuel look for his “lost” father. Right before Bruno is about to go back home, there is a loud whistle and Bruno and Schmuel are caught up with the others in a “march.” When Bruno asks Schmuel if the march will “…go on for long,” Shmuel answers, “I never see the people after they’ve gone on a march. But I wouldn’t imagine it does.” (Boyne 211) This is the first clue we get a a reader that something very bad may happen to them. It creates suspense, but it also creates a sad mood because it hints that people march to their deaths. It is confirmed when the author describes their new setting, “….his feet brought him up a set of steps, and as he marched on he found there was no more rain coming down any more because they were all piling into a long room that was surprisingly warm and must have been securely built because no rain was getting in anywhere.” (page 211) The words which make the mood even more effective are “piling,” “long room,” “surprisingly warm,” and “securely built.” These words are full of imagery, and the reader can “see” the crematorium. Bruno continues to describe the room as “completely airtight.” But even more effective in the end are the words Bruno says, ” ‘Well, that’s something”, he said, glad to be out of the storm for a few minutes at least. ‘I expect we’ll have to wait here till it eases off and then I’ll get to go home.'” (page 212) It is very sad at this point because the reader knows that he is not going home. In the last scene of book, it says that Bruno never heard Schmuel’s words “…because at that moment there was a loud gasp from all the marchers who had filled the room, as the door at the front was suddenly closed and a loud metallic sound rang through the outside.” (page 213) The use of the word “loud” twice and the word “metallic sound” add to the already intense scene. The mood of the resolution is very sad, but at the same time the reader feels the love between Bruno and Schmuel, “….Bruno found that he was still holding Schmuel’s hand in his own and nothing in the world would have persuaded him to let it go.” (page 213)