The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Review

John Boyne is an Irish novelist who was born on April 30th, 1971 in Dublin, Ireland. He has published eight novels, six for adults, and two for younger readers. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is his first novel for children which is published in 2006. This novel has been given awards such as Irish Book Award: People's Choice Award Book of the Year, Irish Book Award: Children's Book of the Year, and CBI Bisto Children's Book of the Year. The book’s cover is simple enough; it is just covered by the striped cover, just like the pattern of pajamas. And the colors are light blue and dark blue which mean the colors of pajamas that the boy in this novel wears. This is a fable –a story to teach a moral lesson. It tells about a naïve boy who finds something precious when he does exploring.

John Boyne is using the third person in this novel. The use of language in this book is not too heavy, other than that this novel is aimed to the young readers. But because the story is told by the perspective of a child who is aged 9 years old, so the reader must understand what he tells. For example, Out-With and the Fury, because of naivety and his mis-pronunciation, ultimately the reader must understand the meaning of his words. Boyne also said that this novel is a novel of misunderstandings and misperceptions.

The plot of this story starts with exposition. It is introduced when Bruno, a nine 9 years old young man, comes home from school; he sees Maria, his house maid, packs his wardrobe. He is confused about that, and then he asks what she has done with his stuffs. Suddenly Mother comes and answers Bruno’s question that is intended to Maria, Mother says that they will move somewhere soon because Father has obtained a new job which is very important to him, and actually Bruno does not know what kind of job. From this part, the narrator has introduced the characters and the situation.

The rising action is the event that makes tension. It occurs when Bruno actually cannot stand living in Out-With, and he really wants to go back to his old house in Berlin. He always argues with Father and Mother about that. And he suddenly remembers that he has not done exploring the Out-With yet, then he does it by himself. Finally, he meets a little boy, named Shmuel, who has the same age like Bruno. But there is something that differentiates them because they share their story each other with wire fence that border them. But that is not a problem for Bruno because he is happy enough when he can find a friend in Out-With finally.

After Bruno makes friend with Shmuel for a month, Shmuel says that his Papa has lost. Then, Bruno offers to help him, as well as exploring what happens actually in that fence. One way to get into the fence is Bruno must wear the same clothes like Shmuel and the other men wear. He does it before he is back to Berlin, and this is his last adventure too. Actually, this is climax, which is the greatest conflict of this story because after Bruno enters the camp, the soldiers forces the people who wear clothes like pajamas, including Bruno, go into a room, which is a gas chamber.

The falling action of this story is when the narrator says that Bruno and Shmuel are in the gas chamber with the last touching conversation at that moment. The narrator tells that Bruno does not what happens after he chats with Shmuel; he just says that Bruno hears a loud gasp from all the people who are with him in the room. Suddenly the room goes dark, and Bruno still holds Shmuel’s hand. From that words which the narrator says, we can conclude that Bruno, Shmuel, and the other men in that room are dead.

In this story, the resolution is when Bruno’s family does not know where he is. And it just reveals after many years when his father do exploring just like Bruno usually does previously. Once again, the narrator does not explain clearly that Bruno is really dead.

There are some characters in Boyne’s novel. Bruno is the main character in this novel; he is a naive boy because maybe he is just 9 years old, so he still does not know what happens to him and the environment surrounding him. He never knows his father's job; even when he and his friends while in Berlin talk about their fathers’ job, Bruno is the only one who cannot give an answer, all he can say is that his father is a man to watch, and Father thinks that The Fury has a big role in his mind. And he adds that his father has a very fantastic uniform too. Bruno says like that because when he asks his mother, she just says that Father’s job is a very important job that needs a very special man to do it. So far, he only knows that his father is a commandant because every soldier who comes to his house always calls his father commandant.

He has flat character because from the first of the story until the end, he is still naive. In his mind, there are just playing and exploring. He does not know how dangerous out there. Even at the end of the story, he does not know what the soldiers will do to him, and he also does not know who Father really is.

The other main character is Shmuel, a young Polish Jew who is found by Bruno when he explores outside his house in Out-With. Shmuel has the same age like Bruno. And when they share their story each other, Bruno shocks because they have the same birth date; that is on April 15th, 1934. Bruno thinks that they are like twins, but they are physically different, Bruno is bigger than Shmuel.

Even though Bruno and Shmuel have the same age, but Shmuel thought is more mature than Bruno. Shmuel can understand the situation around him because he and his family are taken from his hometown in Poland and treated inhumanly by the soldiers. And even though he knows that Bruno is the son of the Commandant who has imprisoned the Jews in the concentration camp, he still wants to be a good friend for Bruno. A few days after they are often met, Bruno find Shmuel was wiping a glass in his kitchen, Bruno is happy, but when he knows that Lieutenant Kotler does not like if Bruno is close to Shmuel, so Bruno does not admit that they do not know each other. Even so, Shmuel remain friendly and kind to Bruno. He does not grudge and anger against Bruno because he understands what Bruno feels.

Bruno is accompanied by his mother, his father, and Gretel. Mother is a faithful wife. She is a wife who is obedient to her husband because he was faithful to accompany her husband when assigned to another place. Even though she seems not too indifferent with her children, but actually she is a loving mother. Father is an assertive man because he is a commandant. Even though he is assertive, he still good to his family. Gretel is Bruno’s sister. She is 3 years older than Bruno. Bruno always calls her a Hopeless Case. She is a sister who is very annoying for Bruno because she is always bothers him. But, in fact she loves him very much because at end of the story, she cries when Bruno missing.

The setting of this story sets when the World War II in progress in approximately 1939 until the end of the World War II in 1945. Actually, World War II was a global military conflict. But in this novel, it happened in Germany when the Nazis controlled the country. Nazis believed that the supreme power was from Aryan and claimed that Germans represent the most pure Aryan nation. Besides that, Nazi also claimed that Jews were the greatest threat to the German race and Aryan nation, and Hitler believed that the Jews were a nation who caused the fall of Germany in World War I, and he also wanted to revenge to them by executing Jews in various ways, including sent them to the concentration camp to be drudged and gassed.

First, the setting sets in Bruno’s house in Berlin. The house in Berlin stands in a quiet street and beside the road, and then there are several big houses like his own. The situation is very pleasant if see the houses that are similar to his house with the other children, his playmate or his enemy, who live in it. This house is an enormous house, and there are nooks and crannies that he has not finished exploring yet. It has 5 floors if basement and a small room at the top floor are counted. There are also several shops, stalls, and any numbers of cafes.

After his father gets a new position that is given by the Fury, Bruno and his family move to the new house which is called Out-With, the house for their foreseeable future. Bruno wonders why that place is named like that, and the mother explains that it means the place that they live now. Even though Mother has explained about what Out-With means, but he is still curious about it because his house in Berlin does not have a name, and it is only called number 4. Finally, he asks Gretel, and she expects that the Out-With is "Out with the people who lived here before them". She adds that someone did not do a very good job and someone said out with him and let’s get a man in who can do it right. And that man is Father. He hates to live at his new house because it is opposite of his old house.

In around his house, there is a concentration camp to imprison the Jews. Actually, this is the true Out-With. There are a few shacks as a settlement of the Jews, and there is also a gas chamber to kill them. I can imagine that this place is really horrible, and full of sorrow. Even though the writer does not explain it clearly, but the readers will be able to imagine certainly the situation that happens there.

Actually since the beginning, Bruno has mis-pronunciation in utter Auschwitz as Out-With. Auschwitz is a concentration camp which is as a place to imprison the Jews. It is located in Poland. This is the place where the Bruno and Shmuel meet each other. Beside Out-With, he is also wrong to pronounce der führer as the Fury. Der führer means the leader in German. And at that time, the leader in Germany is Adolf Hitler.

This story actually teaches us that we should not treat others badly, because karma exists. For example, in this story, Father as a Nazi Commandant treat people as inhumanely, and finally he rewarded with Bruno’s death in which he kills the people who are innocent. Other than that, we should not select to make friends because friendship is not seen from the physical or economic class, but from the sincerity.