The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas PDF

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THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS Chapter 1 Why did the family have to move? Bruno’s father’s new job was the reason why the whole family have to move from their home in Berlin. It was Bruno’s mother who explained about this to him and she was convinced that Bruno knew how important it was for his father. She also pointed out that it was a job which needed a very special man like Bruno’s father but the nature of the job that he would acquire was neither obvious for him nor for the rest of the family. (The job was further than a mile away) What kind of person do you imagine Bruno´s father to be? I consider him as a very handsome, intelligent man and he seems to be responsible. He is a good father with a lot of kindness in his soul and really wants to create a good future to his family although they didn’t not like his decision, especially Bruno. I think he is even a big role model for both his family and for the people around him. (A man to watch in the book) Chapter 2 Describe Bruno´s old house in Berlin. The old house in Berlin was stunning. It was enormous, spacious and consisted of 5 floors including the basement where Cook made all the food while Maria and Lars argued with each other. And the little room in the top of the house with inclined windows where Bruno could see right across Berlin. The house had a banister which stretched from the 5th floor down to the ground floor, (in front of 2 big oak doors). Bruno’s parents ‘room and rather big bathroom were on the 4 th floor. Down to the next floor, there were 2 bedrooms, the one was his own and the other one was Gretel’s room. And a smaller bathroom as well. Bruno’s father had an office on the ground floor opposite to sitting room. The house was close to his grandparents and accessible to his three good friends. (The banister was the best thing about the house) Describe Bruno´s new house. Bruno’s new house (he described) was the opposite of their old home. Firstly, it was located on desolate place, where there were no houses around unlike the house in Berlin which had other streets of large houses all around. Secondly, the new house was also very big but it had only 3 floors. All 3 sleeping rooms were on the top floor as well as one bathroom. The kitchen, the dining room and father’s new office were on the 1 th floor. Bruno’s father had an office on the ground floor like the old one in Berlin. It was even a basement in the new house where the servants slept. There were definitely no shops or stalls,

no other streets around the new house, no people strolling along or rushing around as it was in Berlin. Chapter 3 Describe Gretel, Bruno´s sister. She appeared to be like a bothersome girl given that Bruno considers that she merely creates trouble. In several occasions, she has been described as ‘’Trouble from day one’’. Gretel was three years older than Bruno and he doesn’t like to acknowledge that he was a little bit scared of her. Gretel had some hideous habits for example she always spent a lot of time in the bathroom in the mornings for one thing and she didn’t seem to mind if Bruno was left outside. She also had a large collection of dolls positioned on shelves around her room. She had some unpleasant friends who always made fun of Bruno and offended him by saying mean things whenever mother or Maria were out of sight. What is the name of their new house? The name of the new house was Out-With (it stands for Auschwitz but Bruno pronounced it wrong) Chapter 4 What does the view from Bruno´s window look like? It was a different view from Bruno's window. Directly beneath his window there was a garden with lot of flowers. Past the flowers there was a very pleasant pavement with a wooden bench on it. He saw even a plaque attached on the top of the bench. But the view changed approximately twenty feet further along the bench/ from the garden. Instead, he saw a tremendous wire fence. The fence was very high (even higher than the house) and was set along the house’s length. (When Gretel and Bruno looked through the window they saw small boys and big boys, fathers, and grandfathers and perhaps a few uncles too.) The only thing that Gretel could see through the window was the forest which looked a little dark. Chapter5 Describe Bruno’s mother. Support your answer with examples from the novel. Bruno's mother is upset and reluctant to leave the house. She begins to cry which indicates that she is upset. The assertion ’’ We should never have let the fury come to dinner. Some people and their determination to go ahead ’’ which has been said by her reinforces the fact that her thoughts are mixed and that she is suffering of uncertainty future. But as soon as she sees a glimpse of Mary, she gathers her up not to show her sorrow. It is a sign that she does not want that her anxiety influence the others as she knows that they are already worried.

It is also a statement where she says '' Let's just hope we get to come back here someday when all this is over '' Here I think also that her expectations of getting back to the old house are really too small as she is aware of the dangers that her husband's job involves. How would you depict the relationship between Bruno’s parents? Bruno's mother and father have a somewhat distant relationship because of the fact that his mother has a very submissive relationship to her husband. Why does Bruno go in to his father’s study? Bruno approaches the father's office cautiously, since he has been told it is ‘’Out of bounds at all times and no exceptions’’. Bruno felt sad about that his father came home from Berlin after one of his trips to there without saying as much as a hello to his son, so he wanted to go down and check on his father, and then he also wanted to ask some questions about why they had to move from Berlin to Out With. Chapter 6 Does Bruno have a lot of respect for his father? Explain. I suppose that Bruno pays much homage towards his dad although he doesn’t think very highly of his father’s decision. When Bruno was alone in his room, he behaved disrespectfully behind his father's back by criticizing and saying mean things about him. Actually, I don’t think that his words gave evidence or pointed out that he doesn’t love his father or doesn’t show respect to him. It was just a way of expressing his emotions which were negative in that time. The main reason why he expressed himself in unsuitable way was that he was upset as he has been forced to move to the new house which was very tedious as well as he leaved his friends and memories in his hometown. The conversation between Bruno and Maria made him to realize that the picture of his father he has at that moment in his mind doesn’t matched his father’s real image. Maria tried to persuade Bruno to not convey his negative thoughts about his father or judge him without any justified reasons. After that she revealed what Bruno’s father has done for her; for instance he employed her as a maid in his house. She brought several other examples of his charity which contributed that Bruno changed his mind (rather proud) about his father. As a conclusion I think he respects his father like a parent and like a soldier. Chapter7 How does Bruno keep himself busy/occupied when he is not studying?

Herr Roller was a man of about the same age as Bruno’s father. He had a major head injury while serving in war. He frequently wandered up and down at all

hours of the day while having conversations with himself. He occasionally could get Bruno to laugh with his strange acts. He made a swing to amuse himself. He had single-handedly found rope, but he could not obtain a tire. It solved out in the end. Pavel took Bruno to the storage shed at the back of the main house where he chose a tire. Finally Bruno could assemble his swing when he had acquired all the material. Chapter 8 Describe Bruno´s grandparents. They lived together in a small flat near the stalls (fruit/vegetable). His grandmother was 62 years old and the grandfather was almost 73 when Bruno left Berlin and moved to Out-with. Bruno’s grandfather’s name was Matthias and he had spent his entire life running a restaurant in the centre of the town. His grandfather frequently spent most of his days there (at the restaurant). Matthias sat at the bar during the afternoons and talked to the costumers, ate his meals there in the evenings and stayed until the closing time. His grandmother’s name was Nathalie and seemed pretty young in comparison to the other grandmothers. She was a great singer and liked to play piano. Parties at Bruno’s house were usually dominated by Nathalie’s singing. (She had long red hair, and green eyes) (Grandmother had met grandfather as a young woman after one of her concerts and somehow, he had persuaded to marry him). Chapter 9 What makes Bruno decide to go exploring? A few weeks later, Bruno gets the urge to go exploring, something he used to love to do before coming to Out-With. He has been watching the people on the other side of the fence from his bedroom window, wondering why they were so different from him. Although he sometimes sees the soldiers on that side of the fence, he never sees the people in the striped pyjamas on his side of it. So Bruno ventures out and decides to walk along the fence as far as he can. Before he heads off, he examines the bench on the pavement outside his house. There is a plaque on it that marks that which has been presented on the opening of Out-With, in June of 1940. Then he begins to walk along the fence, although Mother and Father have told him many times that exploration is banned at OutWith.

Chapter 10 Describe the boy Bruno meets. The boy Bruno met was Shmuel (9years). He looked unhappy/sad and was very skinny in Bruno’s eyes. The boy was smaller than Bruno and had a forlorn expression. He wasn’t wearing neither any shoe nor any socks and with that fact his feet were quite dirty. However, Shmuel was dressed in same striped pyjamas like the other people on that side of the fence and he had a striped cloth on his head too. Besides that, he wore an armband with a star on it. He could speak German because his mother has taught him (mom is teacher in Shmuel’s school). His eyes were very large and they were brown. Largely; Shmuel was a nice guy and was cautious with what he said in front of Bruno. Chapter 11 The Fury – What is he like? Who is he, really? Bruno's father is a Nazi military officer who comes home one night and announces that they will be having a very important guest Thursday night; it is the only night the Fury can come, so they must change any plans to accommodate him. Bruno asks his father a logical, nine-year-old question: "'Who's the Fury?'" Bruno's father tells his son he is pronouncing it incorrectly and tries to help Bruno get it right; Bruno tries, but fails, to get it right. This is our first clue--Fury is not the correct pronunciation, but it must sound kind of the same. When Bruno asks who the Fury is, his father is incredulous (not wanting or not able to believe something, and usually showing this :) and his older sister mocks him for not knowing that the Fury "runs the country. "This is our second clue: Bruno's family lives in Berlin, Germany, and the leader of that country during this time period is, of course, Adolph Hitler, known by his title, Führer (which means leader). The Fury was shorter than Bruno’s father. He had dark hair and it was also quite short. The Fury had even a tiny moustache. Chapter 12 What differences do you notice between Bruno and Shmuel? I immediately noticed that Shmuel differed much from Bruno. Above all, I understood that both lived 2 separate lives. Shmuel was a Jewish boy and came from Poland. He told that his family had been forced to move to a different part of Cracow where the soldiers had built wall (no reason) but Bruno knew that they moved due to his father’s job. Shmuel had much tougher life, as his family lived in one room together with other families and they was forced to do such things as wearing an armband with the Jewish sign on.

Instead, Bruno was a German (nazy boy), lived in a big house with just his family and had a better life (economically) in comparison to Shmuel. Bruno wasn’t forced to wear such armband as Shmuel but he would like to try to wear one as his dad wore. Shmuel had many friends considering that it was several kids in his side of the fence which certainly had similar background as him. It was something positive with Shmuel but Bruno was always complaining about the house and that he didn’t have any friends to play with. After reading this chapter I even noticed that Shmuel was quite afraid of being caught certainly by the soldiers and get into trouble while Bruno liked to step forward and explore things. (He wanted to crawl under the fence) (Samuel’s father spent for example much more time with his family. They ate their breakfast together and spent a lot of happy times unlike Bruno’s dad who always worked. ) Chapter 13 Describe the friendship the boys have. Their relationship was inevitable. It was strong and true. They, despite the circumstances of inequalities, had kept together. They met at the fence each day, like it was a commitment. The importance of their friendship is displayed when we see both Bruno and Shmuel helping each other unselfishly. When Bruno sneaks little bits of food into his bag and then delivers them to Shmuel, it shows his act of kindness and consideration. Shmuel accepts the food but not only he is glad to have something hearty to eat, he also seems grateful to have someone who looks out for him and this shows that Bruno is helping Shmuel get through his life living at the camp. Their bond was definitely strong. Chapter 14 What does Bruno ask Shmuel every day? Every day Bruno asked Shmuel whether he could crawl beneath the wire so that they could play together on the other side of the fence. (Each time he replied by saying “NO” as he taught that it wasn’t a great idea. Shmuel didn’t know why Bruno was so eager to come to the side of Shmuel: he mentioned that it wasn’t very nice there) What does Bruno have to say about the striped pajamas? Bruno also asked “ He said with irony that he didn’t like stripes, although he knew that it wasn’t the truth. In fact he liked the striped pajamas, he was bit fed up of wearing trousers and shirts that were tight for him, when Shmuel and his friends wore striped pajamas all day long.

Shmuel explained that they got the striped pajamas when they got there and the soldiers took their common clothes. After that Bruno become curious and asked “But don’t you ever wake up in the morning and feel like wearing something else. He reflected further and pointed out that there must be something else in Shmuel wardrobe.

Chapter 15 Bruno´s mother is spending a lot of time with Lieutenant Kotler. What examples of this are given? Because his father’s party was coming up soon and although he said he didn’t wanted a fuss, his wife arranged a party for all the officers serving at Out-With and every time she sat down to make more plans for the party, Lieutenant Kotler was there beside her to help and they made more lists than they ever possibly needed. I think that the party was arranged so she would have more opportunities to meet him and that her husband would not be suspicious about their relationship with each other. Another example is on the afternoon before the birthday party Bruno was in his room with the door open when he heard then Lieutenant Kotler arriving at the house and speaking to his mother. Lieutenant Kotler tried to talk more with Bruno and asked him about his sister Gretel and also about if he was excited for the party because he didn’t wanted to let Bruno feel something but in fact Bruno had already noticed the strange behaviour and the mystic things that he was doing towards him. When his mother stepped out of the kitchen and saw Bruno standing together with Lieutenant Kotler she became very scared and afraid if Bruno knew about that she was talking to him and maybe if he would be telling his father. In order to not to let him notice anything she told him to go to the kitchen because she needed a private word with biggest love. • She was with him for a great deal time as she planned father's birthday party. • She would sit and laugh at his jokes in the living room. • When father was away he would stay over.

Chapter 16 How has Gretel changed since the story began? Gretel's character develops further in Chapter Sixteen, and now she has arrived on the other side of childhood. She has replaced her collection of dolls with

maps of Europe given to her by Father, which she updates using the newspapers each day as she reads about developments in the war. Her transition out of childhood is clearly represented in her correction of Bruno's mispronunciation of "Out-With." It was she who first told him the name of the place, but now she corrects him. Her behaviour towards Bruno has also changed. She didn’t tease him or bully him as much as she used to. Chapter 17 Bruno says his mother is unhappy at Out‐With. Why? In my opinion one of the reasons why she was sad is that she felt herself alone even though she had a husband who was always busy and didn’t provide any support when she needed. The only person whom she could talk with was Lieutenant Kotler. Additionally, I think that she realized how dangerous his husband’s job was, which could lead to negative consequences both for him and the whole family. She knew that every single mistake made by her husband could be very crucial as it might influence family members (physically and psychologically). I guess that she even had a feeling of insecurity in that town. Chapter 18 Why wasn´t Shmuel at the fence for two days? Shmuel wasn’t at the fence for 2 days because his father disappeared after going on a work duty and he couldn’t find him. His father was with other men on that work duty but unfortunately none of them came back. Chapter 19 What happens to the boys at the end of the chapter? Bruno went out for his last visit with Shmuel. Finally, he came to the other side of the fence (after getting the pajamas and cap by Shmuel) and he was with his best friend. Bruno and Shmuel walked toward the camp and Bruno was astonished over how it really looked there. They searched for Shmuel’s father without luck and just when Bruno was about to leave, a group of soldiers surrounded them. The whistles blew and the crowd (group of people) marched slowly together. They arrived to a warm room/airtight room (it was a gas chamber, but they didn’t have idea about it) which Bruno thought was built to protect themselves against the rain. Inside the chamber, Bruno held Shmuel’s hand and told him that he was the best friend. The door suddenly closed, and the room turned dark. And we can only assume that everyone was dead.

Chapter 20 Do you like/dislike the ending? Explain and motivate why. To be honest I both like and dislike the ending. Without a doubt, it was very hurtful to know that Bruno, Shmuel and the other Jews died in such an inhuman/terrible way. What happened in the end of the book was woefully and such a horrible things should never occur anymore. As reader I prefer the happy ending even though this book is based on the events which have happened during the 2 world war and it is evident that it reveals/depicts the sorrowful historical experiences. Another reason why I dislike the ending is that Bruno who was an innocent child as well as Shmuel became victims of circumstances. It appears to that Bruno becomes responsible for his father’s mistakes. On the other side I think that it was good ending because Bruno’s father acquired a valuable “lesson” after his son’s dead. Everything lost its value for him and he realized that he couldn’t change anything. It encourages us to think about the consequences before we plan to perform something and that’s why the ending can be useful for the readers in order to realize that one single mistake can be crucial for someone’s life. 

In the novel there is an incident where a servant is being beaten and verbally abused. Who is the servant? Try to describe both the incident as well as Bruno’s reaction to it. Can you relate this incident to your own life, being a bystander and not intervening w...