THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS
Prejudice sum
Prejudice. That’s what this book is about. 70 years ago, the holocaust, a man named Hitler thought that he didn't like the Jews. He made a concentration camp to kill them. In this story, a boy named Bruno goes to live on the other side of the camp because his dad is a soldier and works in the Nazi party. Bruno walks along the fence and finds a boy that is imprisoned in the concentration camp. Bruno envies Shmuel, the boy in the camp, because there are more people and kids on the other side.
Gratefulness
It’s weird how 2 lives can be so different. Bruno and Shmuel share the same birth date, the same age. They both were obliged to live at Out-With. However, they both have completely different lives. Bruno wasn't grateful for what he had and maybe if he had been, the story wouldn't have ended like it did. Though of course, it’s just a story told by the author.
Why A Tragic Ending?
Why did the author end it in such a sad way? In the end, Bruno decides to sneak on the other side of the fence. The soldiers say it’s time to march. They take the prisoners to a place and kill all of the Jewish people but, hidden from the soliders, Bruno was with them. I think the author put that tragic ending to make us see how sad the time in history really was and how people, not just adults, got killed because of their religion. I think it’s not fair.
Child’s Point Of View
The author wrote this story in the child’s point of view mostly to show that people didn't understand what was going on around them during the Holocaust. I think the author wrote the point of view through a naive child to show the reader that before the event, everybody’s lives were just the same as ours. Also to show that even 9 year old kids were involved.
Foreshadowing
The author foreshadowed a lot!! In the titles, he would summarize the chapter into one small sentence. For example,'Bruno Tells A Perfectly Reasonable Lie'. I think the author could have added a bit more imagination to the titles, though I really liked the last chapter title, 'The Last Chapter'. It really brings an end and the reader can feel that something will end the story, whether it's good or bad. In the few last pages of the book you can really predict what's going to happen. Bruno is being taken away with the Jews because he was on the other side and is going on a 'march'. I predicted that their lives were going to end. I was right.
Symbols
You can find many symbols in this book but I found one that was big. The fence. It symbolizes divisions that shouldn't have been made. Hitler decided that the Jewish are different from us. But what exactly is 'us'? We are no different from Jewish people.The fence can also symbolize 'no freedom'. The camp prevents the Jews from having their freedom and the fence keeps them from having their will.
Inferring
In this book you have to know some facts about the Holocaust and the reader has to infer. At the end when Bruno, Shmuel and other Jewish people go in this room and it goes black and Bruno's family can't find their little boy anymore, you have to infer that he, with the prisoners, got killed by poisonous gas. Or when Shmuel's father was sent to work and wasn't found again you have to think about what happened in a concentration camp.
Contrast
The reader views 2 lives that couldn't be more opposite even if they share the same ending. Bruno is worried about what kind of cake to give to Shmuel while Shmuel is worried about getting killed. Bruno believes that he and his friend couldn't be more the same.
Connection
This book is set in World War 2. It is a reminder of the rights with have in a democratic society. In the 20th century, the Jews were slowly deprived of their rights. At first, there were rumours in the radio and the news papers that the Jewish were thieves and that. Then they had to put the Star of David on their shirts to show that they were different. After that they were deprived of their jobs. Then they were sent to work camps to get murdered. All of that reminds me of last spring, when the Quebec government made a rule that groups couldn’t protest peacefully. Our right to protest was modified. It's important to protect democratic rights such as free speech, the right to vote, the right to an education.
This book is set in World War 2. It is a reminder of the rights with have in a democratic society. In the 20th century, the Jews were slowly deprived of their rights. At first, there were rumours in the radio and the news papers that the Jewish were thieves and that. Then they had to put the Star of David on their shirts to show that they were different. After that they were deprived of their jobs. Then they were sent to work camps to get murdered. All of that reminds me of last spring, when the Quebec government made a rule that groups couldn’t protest peacefully. Our right to protest was modified. It's important to protect democratic rights such as free speech, the right to vote, the right to an education.
Remember
Fences like the one in the book still exist to remember the dark events. We should remember Bruno’s and Shmuel’s story for there is many more stories that are similar to this one. The lost stories must be retold to represent the people who couldn’t live and tell the story themselves.
-Malorie Dion
1 comment:
This response is very deep...you have grasped the important messages of this book, and understood it's relevance to the world of today. This poignant book portrays a bittersweet relationship that ends in tragedy...not an easy thing for an eleven year old to read and describe!
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