The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Before I respond to some of your posts, I want to tell you some of my impressions about the book.

It is written in the style of a children's fable to me because of the simplicity of the language and especially the repeating and repeating of phrases....like the big bad wolf " I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in". I just love that.

And I just love the use of "The Fury" and "Out with" misunderstanding and then the repeating and repeating. We do that in our family...when a younger one miss-says a word, it sticks with all of us and we adults and older kids start using the miss-spoken word.

And I think that Bruno represents the naive German citizen who 'didn't know' that the Holocost was happening right next door. Or chose not to know. Also I think that a 9 year old German boy might have really been more naive in those times than today.

I do think this is an appropriate book for middle school students and should be read and discussed by kids with teachers and parents.
- posted on Happy Bookers by Zorro

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Boy In the Striped Pyjamas
First edition cover
Author	John Boyne
Country	Ireland
Language	English
Series	Andrew Wilson
Genre(s)	Children, Historical, Tragicomedy
Publisher	David Fickling Books
Publication date	5 January 2006
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	224 pp
ISBN	ISBN 0-385-60940-X

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (ISBN 0-385-60940-X) (The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas in USA) is a 2006 novel by John Boyne. This is the first Boyne book written for children.^[1][2].

Unlike the months of planning Boyne had for his other books, he said that he wrote the entire first draft of Boy in two and a half days, barely sleeping until he got to the end.^[3]

Plot

This book is a story about a nine year old boy trying to understand what is happening around him in (Out-With) Auschwitz during World War II.

The nine year-old boy Bruno, is the son of strict commander of a Nazi concentration camp. He has a strong headed sister, Gretel (the Hopeless Case). They live in a five story mansion, but are one day suddenly moved to a place called Out-With (Auschwitz).^[4] Bruno, angered and confused by his father's decision to move to Out-With, and desperate to go home, spends his time in his room, with no friends to play with. He misses their old five-story mansion, as with such a small space, there isn't any room for exploration (a hobby of Bruno's), misses sliding down the banister in their old house, and misses his friends.

From his bedroom window, Bruno spots a fence behind which he sees many people in 'striped pajamas'. These are the Jews, and they are in a concentration camp. One day his parents come to an agreement that both Bruno and Gretel (his sister) need a tutor for their education so they hire Herr Liszt. To Bruno, Herr Liszt is the most boring teacher one could ever have - because he teaches science (such as geography and history), instead of reading and arts, which Bruno prefers. So, in boredom and confusion he wonders what is going on at Out-With and why people are always dressed in striped pajamas there. On the afternoon he goes exploring. What he finds is a boy, a Jewish boy called Shmuel, a name Bruno has never heard of before but apparently is quite common among Shmuel's own people. He soon becomes Bruno's friend and Bruno goes to see him every afternoon to talk. Bruno is told by his sister that the people in the striped pyjamas on the other side of the fence are Jews and that he and his family are "the opposite". Shortly after this, Bruno and Gretel get a bad case of lice and Bruno has to have his head shaved. This makes him look a lot more like his friend Shmuel and he finds himself thinking that it is as if "they weren't all that different, really."

The story ends with Bruno about to leave Out-With and return to his previous home with his mother and sister. As a final adventure, he agrees to dress in a set of striped pyjamas and climb under a loose wire in the fence to help Shmuel find his father, who has gone missing in the camp. They are unable to find him, and just as it starts to rain and Bruno decides he would like to go home, the people in the area of the camp which the boys are in must go on a 'march'. Neither boy knows where this march will lead. However, they are crowded into a gas chamber, and the author leaves the story with Bruno pondering, yet unafraid, in the dark.

The book ends with the effects of Bruno's disappearance on his family and his father discovering his clothes outside the fence, and realising the implications of this.

Film

A Miramax film adaptation of the novel was shot in Budapest between April and June 2007. The film will be released September 12, 2008 in Ireland and the UK, on September 17, 2008 in China and Japan, and on October 3, 2008 in Finland.^[5]

Awards

The novel has been shortlisted for many literary awards including:

• In Ireland, shortlisted for 3 Irish Book Awards^[6]: the Novel of the Year^[7], the People's Choice Book of the Year, and the Children's Book of the Year^[7]. It won 2 awards.
• In England, shortlisted for The Hampshire Book Awards 2008
• In the UK, shortlisted for the British Children's Book of the Year, Ottakar's Children's Book Prize^[3][6][8], the Berkshire Book Award^[6], and the Sheffield Children's Book Prize^[6].
• In the UK, it was longlisted for the 2006 Carnegie Medal.^[6]
• In Italy, shortlisted for the Paolo Ungari Literary Award.^[6]
• In the USA, shortlisted for the Border's Original Voices Award.^[6]
• In 2007, Miramax started shooting a film adaptation in Budapest.^[9]

There are several covers available:

• striped in a dull blue and white, reminiscent of the striped pyjamas of the title.^[2]
• an old looking cover with a picture of part of a boy in the pyjamas, but the picture only in greyscale
• a picture of part of two boys in the pyjamas, side by side, maybe lining up for inspection.

Reflecting the author's view that books should be read without foreknowledge of the contents, there is no 'blurb' on the book jacket.^[2][10] In fact, Boyne was angry when The Guardian revealed the ending in their review.^[2]

When Boyne finished his first draft, he gave it to his agent, Simon Trewin at PFD, saying, "I’ve written this book, it’s very different to anything I’ve done before. I think it may be a children’s book but I think adults might like it too."^[3]

Ed Wright of The Age noted that the subject matter (the Holocaust) may lead parents to "find [themselves] needing to explain the Holocaust."^[1] However, Kathryn Hughes of The Guardian felt that because the book is at a slow enough pace children can learn all about the events at that time.^[4]

The cautionary tale is about two boys, one the son of a commandant in Hitler’s army and the other a Jew, who come face-to-face at a barbed wire fence that separates, and eventually intertwines their lives.

Set during the Holocaust, Bruno is only nine-years-old when his father, a commandant in Hitler’s army, is transferred from Berlin to Auschwitz. The house at “Out-With,” as Bruno calls it, is small, dark, and strange. He spends long days gazing out the window of his new bedroom, where he notices people dressed in striped pajamas and rows of barracks surrounded by a barbed wire fence. Bored and lonely, and not really understanding the circumstance of his new existence, Bruno sets out to explore the area and discovers Shmuel, a very thin Jewish boy who lives on the other side of the fence. An unlikely friendship develops between the two boys, but when Bruno learns that his mother plans to take her children back to Berlin, he makes a last effort to explore the forbidden territory where the boy in the striped pajamas lives.

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1. Discuss the relationship between Bruno and Gretel. Why does Bruno seem younger than nine? In a traditional fable, characters are usually one-sided. How might Bruno and Gretel be considered one-dimensional?

In a fable there is often a simpleton who just doesn't 'get it' til the big, bad wolf 'brings it on'. I think Bruno represents that character in this fable. For example 2 of the 3 Little Pigs are naive and think they can live in houses of sticks or straw and still be safe; Little Red Riding Hood can't recognize the Big Bad Wolf and thinks he is her grandmother. Bruno represents that naive character, I think. He represents the naive German.

Gretel is older and more worldly wise and would be like the 3rd Little Pig who has enough maturity to understand what is happening, and could warn Bruno but she doesn't really want to tell him what is going on in the world that they live in. She represents the German who knows, but chooses not to 'see'.

2. At age 12, Gretel is the proper age for membership in the League of Young Girls, a branch of Hitler’s Youth Organization. Why do you think she is not a member, especially since her father is a high-ranking officer in Hitler's army?

3. What is it about the house at Out-With that makes Bruno feel “cold and unsafe”? How is this feeling perpetuated as he encounters people like Pavel, Maria, Lt. Kotler, and Shmuel?

4. Describe his reaction when he first sees the people in the striped pajamas. What does Gretel mean when she says, “Something about the way [Bruno] was watching made her feel suddenly nervous”? (p. 28) How does this statement foreshadow Bruno’s ultimate demise?

5. Bruno asks his father about the people outside their house at Auschwitz. His father answers, “They’re not people at all Bruno.” (p. 53) Discuss the horror of this attitude. How does his father’s statement make Bruno more curious about Out-With?

6. Explain what Bruno’s mother means when she says, “We don’t have the luxury of thinking.” (p. 13) Identify scenes from the novel that Bruno’s mother isn’t happy about their life at Out-With. Debate whether she is unhappy being away from Berlin, or whether she is angry about her husband’s position. How does Bruno’s grandmother react to her son’s military role?

7. When Bruno and his family board the train for Auschwitz, he notices an over-crowded train headed in the same direction. How does he later make the connection between Shmuel and that train? How are both trains symbolic of each boy’s final journey?

8. Bruno issues a protest about leaving Berlin. His father responds, “Do you think that I would have made such a success of my life if I hadn’t learned when to argue and when to keep my mouth shut and follow orders?” (p. 49) What question might Bruno’s father ask at the end of the novel?

9. A pun is most often seen as humorous. But, in this novel the narrator uses dark or solemn puns like Out-With and Fury to convey certain meanings. Bruno is simply mispronouncing the real words, but the author is clearly asking the reader to consider a double meaning to these words. Discuss the use of this wordplay as a literary device. What is the narrator trying to convey to the reader? How do these words further communicate the horror of the situation?

10. When Bruno dresses in the filthy striped pajamas, he remembers something his grandmother once said. “You wear the right outfit and you feel like the person you’re pretending to be.” (p, 205) How is this true for Bruno? What about his father? What does this statement contribute to the overall meaning of the story?

11. Discuss the moral or message of the novel. What new insights and understandings does John Boyne want the reader to gain from reading this story?

12. Ask students to discuss the differences in a fable, an allegory, and a proverb. How might this story fit into each genre?