The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Quiz
Please write using complete sentence and use your own words for each answer. Be sure to check grammar and spelling. You may write on the quiz sheet, but it is recommended you use own paper for writing answers.

1. Why are Bruno (Asa Butterfield) and Shmuel (Jack) drawn to each other, despite their opposing circumstances?
Bruno and Shmuel are drawn to each other simply because they are two kids of similar age that don’t have any friends where they reside. Despite their “political” differences, they were able to relate to one another by playing games and just getting a sense of each other’s daily lives and activities

2. Gretel (Amber Beattie) believes Father (David Thewlis) and his peers in their viewpoints on the persecution of Jews. Through Bruno is even younger than her, why does he question these viewpoints while Gretel does not?
Gretel seems to believe in his Father’s viewpoints because she has the mindset of a realist. She backs up her views, along with the viewpoints of her father’s peers with the propaganda that she reads along with her professor’s teachings. Bruno, on the other hand, is more ignorant and naïve, which is very understandable for someone his age. His attitude towards the persecution of Jews is an unbiased one, and that the treatment that they receive is unjust and cruel. He doesn’t really grasp the magnitude of political differences that the Jews and Nazi’s have.

3. Contrast Father with Lieutenant Kotler (Rupert Friend). Both are Nazi officers who commit evil acts, but what compels or motivates them to commit these acts?
It seemed as if Father and Lieutenant Kotler were fueled for different reasons to commit evil acts. Father, who was portrayed a “heroic” throughout the movie, seemed as if his motivation for his malicious acts stemmed from pure hatred and disgust toward Jews. Lieutenant Kotler, on the other hand, seemed as if his motivations were to protect his country by any means necessary.

4. To what extent is Elsa (Vera Farmiga), Bruno’s mother, aware of the true nature of the camp? And to what extent is she morally responsible for what happens in the story?
Elsa’s knowledge of the camp and its purpose were vague at first. All she knew was that the people who resided there were different from her. It’s not until Lieutenant Kotler gave her a hint of what was taking place at the “camp” was when she began to make sense of what actually happened at the camp, and what her husband was actually doing to serve his country. Ultimately, she is responsible for the tragedy that occurs at the end of the story. The extent of her responsibilities is very slight. She could never imagine anything would alter her world for the worse and determine the demise of her son. Anything and everything she did for Bruno was of his best interests and safety. Not once did it cross her mind that the day they would make the transition of moving would be the last day she would see her son. Unfortunately, it was her initial views of Jews that eventually led to the murder of Bruno.

5. What happens to the boys at the end of the film, and how is the conclusion significant?
The boys eventually meet their demise at the end of the film. Shmuel, who began to express concern about the whereabouts of his father to Bruno, influenced him to see if they can find him. Bruno only looked at it as an adventure where he would go into the camp incognito and find Shmuel’s father, and at the same time make up for his betrayal when Lieutenant Kotler confronted him. They get caught in a crowd of Jews and were led to a room where all thought it was for a shower when in actuality was the incinerators where the boys were burned and met their end. The conclusion is significant because it made even the heartless in men, being Father, sympathize for the burning of people who committed no crime and deserved no part in a death of that nature.