...Fredrick Nietzsche, a renowned German philosopher, believed that one of the strongest governing drives that humans possess, is their desire for power. Essentially when we closely examine the idea of power in literature, we see that much of the conflict in novels is about power; the struggle to gain, maintain or redress the balance of power. The need for power is a reality of life; to use or abuse, to claim or deny, own or disown, to marginalize or empower. This theme is omnipresent throughout literature about the Holocaust. Hitler and his struggle for power and dominance are infamous. Novels and films set in World War II often examine the issues of power in terms of race, age, gender and social class. One such novel is The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne. An Irish novelist, Boyne is acutely aware of the issues of power and dominance as he grew up during the time of The Troubles between the Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. Boyne uses the narrative conventions of style and characterisation in his poignant and moving novel to explore and expose the power relationships of race, gender, age, social status and politics in the novel. Body Paragraph 1 Topic Sentence: • Style - Point of view eg. Boyne uses third person limited point of view to expose the power relationships of in the novel. Point of view Expansion: • As we see the world through the eyes of innocence and we as readers are positioned through the use of the limited point of view to...
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...“The boy in the striped pyjamas” by John Boyne is a book about a nine year old boy called Bruno who is growing up in Berlin during World War II. He lives a very comfortable life in a large house with his parents and his sister, not forgetting the maid and the cook. But this all changes very soon when his father who is a very high-ranking soldier is promoted to “Commandant” and to Bruno’s sadness the family have to move to a place which Bruno refers to as out-with. Bruno immediately becomes very homesick for many reasons. He misses his grandparents, his house, his three best friends for life and of course his adventures. Bruno is a very curious boy and while looking out of his window one day he noticed that there were other people, lots of people. It isn’t long before Bruno decides to ask his father about these people but his father tells him that they are not people at all. It turns out that it is the extermination camp Auschwitz and due to Bruno’s curiosity and boredom he decides to explore and it is here at the fence that he meets and befriends a young boy called Shmuel. Almost every day he meets Shmuel and they talk by the fence both on separate sides but they are both desperate to play with each other and conveniently Shmuel’s father goes missing and he needs Bruno’s help to find him. They make a gap in the fence just big enough for a small boy to fit through and Bruno goes into the camp with a pair of striped pyjamas and it is then that something unimaginable happens. In...
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...My interest for movies cannot be simply explained. Films are genuinely unique, odd, engaging and quite enjoyable. One film that I came across recently that also displays the horrific themes from the holocaust is “Boy in stripped Pyjamas”. ‘Boy in stripped Pyjamas’ is essentially ‘Night’ but from a different perspective. For example, ‘Night’ is from a Jewish boy perspective, while ‘Boy in Stripped Pyjamas’ is set from a German boy perspective, during the Holocaust. The main character “Bruno” a German boy, is clueless about the holocaust and Jews. After leaving the city, Bruno and his family live in a quiet, country, cottage. Exploring the remote areas, Bruno stumbles across a concentration camp and tries to make new friends. Clueless about the...
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...Dani Hicks The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Chapter 17 - 20 Situational Irony Activity Situational irony happens when there is a discrepancy between what is expected and what actually happens. |Page Number |The Actual Situation |What We Would Expect to Happen | | | | | |195 |Bruno asks Shmuel if he would like him to talk to |We would expect for Bruno to ask this because he doesn’t | | |Father about Shmuel’s father missing, but Bruno |understand the power his father has and he doesn’t | | |doesn’t understand that it could have been Bruno’s |understand that he can’t just ask his father because of what| | |father that killed him. |he does for a living. Plus Bruno doesn’t want Father | | | |finding out about Shmuel. | | | | | | |Shmuel and Bruno plan out their last time together |Bruno leaves from his visit to Shmuel with high hopes for | |199 |and decide that Bruno would explore the other side of|their...
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...Analytical For Boy In The Striped Pyjamas How has “The boy in the striped pyjamas” helped shape your understanding of belonging? Perceptions and ideas of belonging, or of not belonging, vary. These perceptions are shaped within personal, cultural, historical and social contexts. A sense of belonging can emerge from the connections made with people, places, groups, communities and the larger world. People may consider aspects of belonging in terms of experiences and notions of identity, relationships, acceptance and understanding. Through Boyne’s novel, The boy in the striped pyjamas it reveals how belonging can enrich our identity and relationships. This would subsequently portray how acceptance and understanding may be obtained through the enrichment of ones identity. The character of Bruno has been established by Boyne to enable the audience to understand and build an image of an 8-year-old boy whom through his innocence is confronting a plethora of different approaches towards belonging. Bruno shifts from his home at Is this essay helpful? Join OPPapers to read more and access more than 550,000 just like it! get better grades Berlin where he feels secure as he had developed a strong connection towards it. His sense of connection is due to his “three best friends for life” and his loving grandparents live there. Hence Bruno’s life alters as he leaves his warm and loving neigbourhood where he had grown up, to “outwit”, a house in the middle of no where, that...
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...beneath him but standing, leaning against the fence. "Hello Bruno" he said when he saw his friend approaching. "Hello Shmuel", said Bruno. "I wasn't sure if we'd see each other again—with the rain and everything", said Shmuel. "Did you bring the pyjamas?" said Bruno. Shmuel nodded and handed Bruno the pyjamas through the fence. Bruno undressed himself and put on the filthy striped pyjamas, picked up the shovel and started to dig a hole under the fence. Shmuel and Bruno looked at each other in the eye and smiled for the first time without a fence in between them. "Okay. Let's go and find your Papa", said Bruno. The two boys ran off, and headed to the cabins to find Shmuel's Papa, hoping they might be able to find him in there. "Papa?" Shmuel exclaimed scaling his eyes around the room, before a loud whistle goes off huddling all of the people out of the cabin towards the gas chamber. The Nazis jammed all of the Jews into the gas chamber. Bruno covered his mouth, and stood at the back of the room. He tucked the collar of his new striped pyjamas over his nose, and turned towards the door. The room was tightly sealed, but Bruno felt as if he could open the door if he tried hard enough. He tugged on the sleeve of Shmuel's pyjamas and pointed. He nodded. Shmuel looked even more pale than he had when he walked in. Leaning against the door, Bruno remembered those things in the back of his closet that were his, and were none of anyone else's business. He was sure that Gretel...
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...The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas – Chapter Summaries Chapter 1: Bruno makes a discovery Being the first chapter, this introduces most of the main characters and introduces the complication (Bruno's family moving because his father got a new job). Bruno comes home one day to find that his things are being packed to move. He argues with his mother about it, and hears her arguing with his father. This chapter hints at when it is set with things like "we have to turn all the lights off at night now". Chapter 2: The New House Bruno arrives at the new house and is thoroughly disappointed by its size and remoteness. He argues with Mother some more. Lieutenant Kotler is introduced, but not named. Chapter 3: The Hopeless Case Bruno's relationship with Gretel is described in this chapter via an argument in his room. Bruno first sees the Striped Pyjama People in this chapter, although they aren't described properly until later on. Chapter 4: What They Saw Through The Window: Bruno and Gretel try to work out where they are, and who the Striped Pyjama People are. Gretel is disgusted by their appearance, but Bruno is intrigued. 'I'm going back to my room to arrange my dolls. The view is decidedly nicer from there' -Gretel, page 38 Chapter 5: Out Of Bounds At All Times With No Exceptions This chapter starts with Bruno recounting the departure from Berlin. Bruno, who hasn't seen his Father since arriving at 'Out-With,' decides to ask him why he took the family to such a horrible place...
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...In the book “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas”, I believe that the character Bruno inquisitive nature leads to his own downfall. Throughout the book the writer Boyne shows Bruno’s inquisitive nature through the use of dialogue, Bruno’s asks many questions because he’s still a kid and doesn’t know very much. We also know him to be very adventurous because he used to explore his old house. He also said when he was older he wanted to be an explorer. If it was not for his need to explore he would have never found Shmuel at the fence. And his need to find out what happened to Shmuel’s family that lead him to go over the fence and eventually get himself killed. Therefore, I think that Bruno’s need to find an answer to what was happening is what got...
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...THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS – Novel Response The book of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas starts out simply with things we can all relate to. Bruno’s almost-teenaged sister, Greta, is a ‘Hopeless Case’ moving from scary dolls to fussing over boys. He’s moving house and gets in scrapes; he misses his grandparents and best friends, which are problems we can all relate to. They’re mundane (everyday) problems, though to nine-year old Bruno, they’re rocking the centre of his world. We feel for him - as we all were nine once, less wise and less able to cope. We might have nine-year old brothers or sisters. He seems very innocent and vulnerable. He has no control over the elements in his life. In short, it seems like an everyday book. If you read the blurb though, there’s a disturbing mood even before you start reading. We’re told we’ll go on a ‘journey with a nine-year old’ but that this ‘isn’t a book for nine-year olds’ - as if it’s not suitable, or too scary. What’s horrible about this is that the boy in it is nine, which makes us afraid that his life is too scary for him. John Boyne builds up the mystery from the start. The blurb says ‘we think it’s important that you start to read without knowing what it’s about.’ Not knowing is unsettling. The first scenes of the film of the novel clearly show Nazi flags, and soldiers in a town. But in the book, there are no clues at first. Because we don’t know their true identity, we’re lulled us into a false sense of security. We think...
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...Analytical Essay Boy in the Striped Pyjamas January 13th, 2010 Nathan Harder Shaving Bruno’s hair is a focal point in the novel and a main contribution to his death at the end of the book. It also illustrates how we are, ultimately, all humans. Through Bruno, we improve our understanding of just how equivalent and identical we truly are. When Bruno is infected with lice from nearby Auschwitz, his father shaves his son’s head, much like the prisoners must undergo upon entrance. “It turned out that both Gretel and Bruno had lice in their hair,…..then Father decided that the best thing was for him to start afresh and he got a razor and shaved all Bruno’s hair off, which made Bruno cry.” (p.183) “…there were crowds of people sitting together in groups….they all had one thing in common….they all had shaved heads, which Bruno thought must have meant there had been an outbreak of lice here too.” (p.206) Not only does this make Bruno resemble the prisoners, but it condemns him to his ultimate demise when, upon entering the camp, he is mistaken for a prisoner. He would have been easily recognized by his full head of hair and would have been returned to his father. Perhaps, had his father been more attentive towards his son, Bruno may have escaped his horrible fate. Bruno’s shaven head contributed in making him look like all the other children in the camp. This...
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...The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas – Chapter Summaries Chapter 1: Bruno makes a discovery Being the first chapter, this introduces most of the main characters and introduces the complication (Bruno's family moving because his father got a new job). Bruno comes home one day to find that his things are being packed to move. He argues with his mother about it, and hears her arguing with his father. This chapter hints at when it is set with things like "we have to turn all the lights off at night now". Chapter 2: The New House Bruno arrives at the new house and is thoroughly disappointed by its size and remoteness. He argues with Mother some more. Lieutenant Kotler is introduced, but not named. Chapter 3: The Hopeless Case Bruno's relationship with Gretel is described in this chapter via an argument in his room. Bruno first sees the Striped Pyjama People in this chapter, although they aren't described properly until later on. Chapter 4: What They Saw Through The Window: Bruno and Gretel try to work out where they are, and who the Striped Pyjama People are. Gretel is disgusted by their appearance, but Bruno is intrigued. 'I'm going back to my room to arrange my dolls. The view is decidedly nicer from there' -Gretel, page 38 Chapter 5: Out Of Bounds At All Times With No Exceptions This chapter starts with Bruno recounting the departure from Berlin. Bruno, who hasn't seen his Father since arriving at 'Out-With,' decides to ask him why he took the family to such a horrible place...
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...The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas is a novel from the point of view of a 9 year old boy called Bruno growing up in world war 2. He lived in Berlin with his parents and sister, Gretel. After his father visits Adolf Hitler he gets promoted to Commandant and his family has to move to a place called Out-With. Bruno feels homesick and wants to move back to his old home so he see his friends again. Bruno is lonely and has no one to play with, but one day he looked at his window to strangely see a group of people wearing striped pyjamas, as a curious boy Bruno asks his sister who they are, she didn’t know so he asked his father, he told him that they are not people at all and are Jews. Bruno is not allowed to leave the house but one day he decides to go down to the people in the striped pyjamas and finds another boy called Shmuel around the same age as him. After some time Bruno and Shmuel become best friends. Shmuel asked Bruno if he could help him find his father, Bruno says ok and goes into the concentration camp to help find him, but they get mixed into a group of Jews about to get taken to the gas chambers, the boys don’t know where they are going and go along with it, they get lead into a gas chamber thinking they are gonna have a shower but get gassed and killed. The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas is set during world war 2 in Berlin and soon after in a place called Out-With which is where the Auschwitz concentration camp was. The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas follows the normal...
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...The Boy at the Top of the Mountain is a story of lost innocence in the face of terrible evil. It's a tale of innocence corrupted as Pieter's personal devotion to Hitler changes him from a kind 7-year-old with a Jewish best friend into a self-important bully who betrays his friends and is proud and boastful of his membership in the Hitler Youth. Back in 2006, same author John Boyne had introduced us to Bruno, the 9-year-old whose father is Commandant at Auschwitz where the boy becomes friends with the Jewish hostage Shmuel after whom The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is titled. Reflecting that title, the authors new novel seems to be like a sequel but it's more an assistant piece telling an entirely new story through the eyes of Pierrot, a French/German...
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...Examine the ways in which two boys are presented in ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ There are two boys in the story called Bruno and Shmuel they are both 8 years old and were both born on the 15 April 1934. The story is called ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ Bruno is the son of the Commandant and he is a very intelligent young boy with a very strong imagination. This can be seen by his curiosity to investigate the ‘farm’ Shmuel is Jewish; he has been put in Auschwitz. Bruno has a unique name and Shmuels is common. “I’ve never met anyone named Bruno……I think I might be the only one’ “there are dozens of Shmuels”….. (p109) all though to Bruno it is a very unusual name lots of Jews and polish people in the camp. It can be seen how the two boys, although very different from one another, they have hidden similarities. Firstly, they have both been forced to leave the family homes. They both don’t like it there but the two young boys think the other is living a better life. Bruno invites Shmuel to dinner not realising he’s in prisoned ‘you’re on the wrong side of the fence though’ said Shmuel. Although living very different lives the two boys develop an unexpected friendship “you’re my best friend shmuel….my best friend for life” (page) Bruno is at one side of the fence and shmuel is at the other. Why is that? Because germens don’t like...
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...true friend is a good listener – one with whom you can share your thoughts and feelings without worrying whether they will judge you or tell other people about you. You should be able to trust a friend, particularly when you are in need of someone to share your problems with. In “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas” by John Boyne, Bruno, the main character is in need of a good friend. He is unhappy, having been forced to move away from his home in Berlin and ‘his three best friends for life’ because his father has a new job. Bruno, his mother and sister accompany the new commandant to the new house at “Out-With,” as Bruno calls it. This new house is small, dark, and strange. Bruno spends long days gazing out the window of his new bedroom, where he notices people dressed in striped pyjamas and rows of barracks surrounded by a barbed wire fence. With nobody except his sister ‘The Hopeless Case’ to talk to, bored and lonely, and not really understanding the circumstance of his new existence, Bruno sets out to explore the area, despite being forbidden to do so by his parents. He discovers Shmuel, a very thin Jewish boy who lives on the other side of the fence and an unlikely friendship between the two boys is formed. Over the next few months the two children swap life stories through the wire fence. Shmuel explains how he and his family have been transported here from a ghetto in Poland. Unable to comprehend the gravity of Shmuel’s situation, Bruno is simply content to have found a playmate...
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