The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas
John Boyne
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
In the book The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, we are introduced to a young boy named Bruno. He lives in Germany in the early 1940’s. One day he walks home into his room to find their maid Maria packing his belongings into boxes, “even things he'd hidden at the back [of his wardrobe] that belonged to him and were nobody else’s business” (5). After staring confusingly at his room, he turns around to see his mom. Then after asking questions and arguing, he storms upstairs. When they arrive at the new house, Bruno is stunned by how much he hates it. After spending the two minutes exploring the house, his sister Gretel and Bruno look out the window to find a camp. They guess and guess about what it is and give up. As every child would, Bruno became really bored at his new, small house. So he decides to make a tyre swing and fell off and cut himself. Pavel, the jewish cook comes to help. When his mom comes home she said that she helped Bruno. Later, he goes exploring outside down the fence of the camp. He finds a boy sitting on the other side of the fence. They introduce themselves and the boy, whose name is Shmuel, tells Bruno how he got there.
Characterization of Bruno
Bruno is the main character in the story. He can be described as a friendly and curious young boy, who likes to explore his surroundings. He does this because he wants to become an explorer. He doesn't like the subject history, instead he likes acting in his grandmothers plays and reading adventure books. Bruno looks up to his father even though he doesn't really know what his Dad has to do at work. Bruno infers he is an important person. Bruno, due to his age, doesn't understand what is happening at the time and makes it difficult for him to make sense of their move, his Father’s job, and the people at the other side of the fence.