The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ and ‘the Book Thief’

The book “The Book Thief” is a story narrated by death. It is about a girl named Liesel who is nine years old and German. She was given up to Rosa and Hans Hubermann who live in Molching, Germany. The story is taken place in 1939 right after World War II. While Liesel was on the train to Molching she lost her younger brother, this event was very traumatizing for Liesel and scarred her emotionally. In Molching she meets Rudy who falls in love with her. Rosa and Hans house a Jew named Max, but then he

The Book Thief is set in the time of World War 2 where the Holocaust is present and disaster is everywhere. Throughout the story, Liesel, the main character, learns that words are extremely powerful and hold the ability for people to use them for good or for evil. Among the disaster and altercations, Liesel uses her literature to comfort her and make herself more powerful due to her knowledge, which demonstrates the theme of the story, the comfort and power of literature and words softens the pain of loss.

The Book Thief, directed by Brian Percival, and The Boy in Striped Pyjamas, directed by Mark Herman, are both films that share similar themes and are focused on the time of war during Hitler’s reign of power. In both films, the idea of innocence is portrayed and corrupted through the friendship of child protagonists, influence of father figures, characterisation of children in war and the narrative perspectives. Symbolism, motifs and themes in these two films are explored to emphasise how innocence is portrayed and corrupted throughout the texts. The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas reflects on the horrifying events of the holocaust where the protagonist,

Friendship is a basic human need, especially for nine year old boys living their childhood. For Bruno who is lonely, bored out of his mind and could not find friends his age to play with and Shmuel a Jewish boy entrapped in a brutal concentration camp, their friendship is one of the only things that can spark a little happiness and lighten up their spirit. The boys meet in the least possible place – the periphery of Auschwitz concentration camp, where one is imprisoned and the other is the son of the Nazi commandant in charge. Although they are meant to see each other as enemies as a Jew and Nazi, there is no hatred between Bruno and Shmuel. They simply see each other as another kid to talk to out of the loneliness of Auschwitz. As the book

Markus Zusak’s historical fiction novel, The Book Thief, tells the story of the Hubermanns living in Germany during World War II. The novel focuses on a young, adopted girl, Liesel, as she grows up and must survive in difficult times. Liesel keeps her morale high during the hard times she faces through her love and friendships with Max, a Jew that the Hubermanns secretly hide in their basement, and Hans, her stepdad.

You hear the sirens. They warn you to run into your basement that is crammed with other people. You look next to you and see a grown man crying. You’re being bombed. Told by the view of death, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a story about Liesel Meminger who is taken to live with foster parents after her parents are deemed unfit to take care of her. Liesel is now living in Molching, Germany during World War II and is learning the miraculous ways of people and death. Because Liesel lives during World War II, she transforms into a fierce girl, a curious child, and an extreme bookworm.

In the Book Thief, Markus Zusak makes it easy to picture the soul crushing era of the holocaust, and all its horrors. The Book Thief is a delicate, painful, and intricately structured piece of writing narrated by Death itself and takes place in Nazi Germany. Throughout the story Zusak makes it clear that the power of words and relationships impact people's lives, and those surrounding them. The story itself falls under historical and dramatic writing, making it nonfiction for anyone interested those genres.

As a child, we are focused on the small aspects of life. We worry about eating ice cream on a hot summer day or when we will get the opportunity to go out on a cold snowy day and go sled riding with our friends and drink hot chocolate. We are fully focused on such basic childlike desires that we are completely unaware of serious events happening around us or in this case right next-door. As a nine-year-old boy, Bruno has no idea that his father was running a mass concentration camp right next door to his house and exterminating Jews including his new friend Shmuel. Instead, Bruno acquired an irreproachable friendship due to his innocent way of thinking that allowed for him to ignore society’s prejudices against his Jewish friend Shmuel. This essay will provide information regarding the Holocaust and hash treatment of the Jews within the German concentration camp “Auschwitz”. This essay will then offer a brief summary of the events within The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. Finally, this essay will analyze the paradox of innocence depicted within the story, in order to explain how innocence supplied both disadvantages and advantages for Bruno and Shmuel. While this innocence led to the death of Bruno and Shmuel due to their ignorance of the dangers of the Holocaust, it also allowed for the boys to live their lives unaware of

The act of defiance against the Nazi’s regime brings her to her own realisation about the power of words and her own ability to wield words; also providing the reader with knowledge that a girl like Liesel, desperate to learn and read, can change lives. Liesel, along with the many children surrounded by war, violence, and famine, are placed in a situation that no child should expect to have to encounter. Zusak progresses her characterisation to show the further loss of innocence as Liesel and Rudy start to steal food from neighboring farms, "they had no qualms about stealing, but they needed to be told. They liked to be told, and Viktor Chemmel liked to be the teller". Similar to “Lord of the Flies”, “The Book Thief” shows the loss of innocence of the main characters in a way that engages the reader, disallowing any assumption about the characters due to their situation or context. In “Lord of the Flies”, when the plane goes down and the boys are left stranded on the island, they all are placed in a situation that no child should expect to have to encounter. The boys are used to having their parents accommodate their needs, and the ongoing war is probably quite foreign to most of them. When they have to make do with no adult supervision or instruction, they have already begun their sudden transition into adulthood whether they like it or not. The killings, beatings, torture and other activities that later occur only add to their greater loss of innocence. Golding has placed these children in an allegory and metaphor for civilisation. The composer makes an effort to take the “inhumane” things in society such as: destruction, violence, jealousy, power, chaos, greed, anger - and applies this to the origin

“The Boy In the Striped Pyjamas” is written in the third person omniscient view, allowing us to compare the thoughts of Bruno and Shmuel. It is shown that Bruno thinks that Shmuel is the same, and Shmuel considers Bruno the same as well, showing that all men are equal. Even though literary techniques may not shape and

Bruno and Shmuel’s friendship can represent hope for the future, since it cuts through religious distinctions, social differences and historical conditions. Their friendship is an unmistakable portrayal that differences do not divide. Although Bruno and Shmuel were raised to be enemies, they became ‘best friend(s) for life’. This quote was at the end of the novel, when fear and terror overcame them both, but is a reminder to how real their friendship was. Both these boys feel a mutual desire for companionship and thus forgives each other, when one has made a mistake. An example of this is when Bruno caused Shmuel to be punished but knew that he was forgiven when Shmuel simply ‘smiled and nodded’ immediately after Bruno’s sincere apology. This occurred because Shmuel didn't want to lose his only friend, during the difficult and lonely time. Another display of their friendship is meeting at the fence every day, showing commitment. Even with the limited time together, they shared one of the strongest bonds and ultimately, marched to death, hand in hand. However the novel, instead of focusing on the atrocities of the Holocaust itself, it focuses on the intimate relationship between Bruno and Shmuel, making the message at the end more

This essay will argue that an important theme in this novel is that innocent people shouldn’t be punished. John Boyne shows this theme with Pavel, the Jews being treated horribly in the concentration camps and Shmuel and Bruno. The most effective way the theme of innocent people shouldn’t be punished is shown with Shmuel and Bruno being killed. Bruno and Shmuel had become best friends over the months Bruno was living in Auschwitz, even though they were different races. Bruno and Shmuel are taken into the gas chambers in the concentration camp and when the text states “Bruno found that he was still holding Shmuel

I have read many books in my lifetime. One of the main books that I have enjoyed is The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. The book is about the friendship of two nine-year-old boys, Shmuel, who is Jewish, and Bruno, a German, that share the same birthday in 1940s Nazi Germany. In this paper, I will talk about what this Holocaust genre novel is about and the symbolism that is latent in this documented horror, seen through a child’s eyes.

“The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas written by John Boyne” is a story about a nine year old German boy named Bruno, who moves with his family from Berlin to a house next to Auschwitz, concentration camp that his father runs. Bruno develops a relationship with a Jewish boy of the same age called Shmuel, who is imprisoned in the concentration camp. The various settings in this book parallel Bruno’s (the narrator) growing awareness of what is happening to the Jews in the concentration camp. Bruno’s growing awareness can be paralleled with the changes in setting – Bruno’s change of house, the change in social status of Jews during the war time, and Bruno’s awareness of how the Jews are living as seen through his relationship with Shmuel.

I have read many books in my lifetime. One of the main books that I have enjoyed is The boy in the Striped Pyjamas. The book is about the friendship of two 8 years old kids sharing their birthdate in 1940s Nazi Germany, Shmuel and Bruno, a jewish and a german. In this paper I will talk about what this Holocaust novel about, and the symbolism that are latent in this documented horror, viewed throught the innocence of a chid eyes.