The Boy In The Stripped Pyjamas

 The Holocaust. A horrific time in history that can never be talked about enough. The story tells the life of nine year old Bruno who is too innocent to understand the situation around him. his father is the commander of Autzwitch and so when Bruno and his family are forced to move for his fathers work, Bruno is not impressed. However, he soon makes a friend from across the fence, Shmuel. 

One thing I loved about the novel is the way it was wrote. John Boyne wrote the novel through the mind of Bruno which allowed us as readers to capture the innocence of nine year old Bruno which interestingly showed the vulnerability of both Bruno and Shmuel. The way that John Boyne strongly captured the childlike mind and perspective of Bruno enhanced the novel completely as it magnified and heightened the emotion of the story even more. Despite the story being fictional there is a strong element of truth behind it. The truth is that children like Bruno and Shmuel at this time would have had no knowledge or understanding to the situation around them which is heartbreaking. Majority of them would have had everything taken from them and they never knew why. The two young boys only wanted to play with each other. They were determined to let this happen eventually. The heartbreaking part of this is the fact neither Bruno or Shmuel understood why they could not play with each other or cross the fence to see each other. Their friendship was private incase they got into trouble. They were aware of this however they had no understanding as to why. 

Bruno wasn't happy with his situation. He did not like his new home or area and he was miserable. Yet he managed to make the best out of a bad situation. He managed to simply accept things for how they are and rather than complaining about it he eventually made an effort to better his circumstances hence how he met Shmuel. This is inspiring. As people we can be so closed minded to situations, we accept things for how they are yet we do not attempt to better our situations. You could be stuck in a dead end job that you despise and do not enjoy, rather than being miserable in that Jon, accept that it may take time but attempt to find somewhere new. You could hate your studies, change them. You could be unhappy for multiple reasons which is okay but only if you make an effort to better yourself and your circumstances just like Bruno did. 

The ending of the book is one I do not want to spoil but I will talk about it and warn you that tissues are needed. The ending of the novel can really teach us a lot. It highlights that a lot can come from risk taking, it can go one way or the other but there will only ever be one way to find out and that is to take the risk. It can also be taken into account that no matter your age, you can have a dream, you can feel inspired and you can stand for what you believe in. Age should never be something in which you are belittled for who looked down upon for. I wanted to keep this blog short and simple as the topic can be quite heavy and upsetting and so I will draw this blog to a close with a quote from the incredible novel. 'Despite the mayhem that followed, Bruno found that he was still holding Shmuel's hand in his own and nothing in the world would have persuaded him to let go.'