Year 1943, age 9 years old as I was born on the 15th april 1934.
Day one of strange happenings:
Today I came home from school and maria was in my bedroom going through MY things - Even my secret things. She is just a servant but I tried to be polite when I asked what she thought she was doing. Maria never takes all my private things out, she puts things away like she’s supposed too.
I asked mother why maria is packing my things but she won’t answer me properly. She just keeps saying we are all going away because of father’s job. She said I’ll have to say goodbye to my friends, my best long life friends. I don’t want to say goodbye to my friends because of father’s job. I know he’s important but why can’t father go …show more content…
The protagonist of the story, Bruno, comes home from school one day to find his belongings packed and told to say goodbye to his friends due to his dads promotion. Mourning his old home Bruno sets out exploring areas he shouldn’t – his naivety and inquisitive innocence, lead him to the outskirts of a concentration camp, where he befriends a boy just like himself, albeit religious boundaries. It is this friendship between two young boys that leads to a cruel twist of fate. The hamartia of bruno, in this case his innocence, leads to his downfall. It is somewhat ironic, that the innocence and accepting nature of a child is essentially a weakness that leads to a cruel fate, whilst those that deserve misfortune are without tragedy. It also conveys a moral, classifying this book as a fable. In relation, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare share the same themes as the boy in the striped pyjamas. Innocent characters lose their lives unnecessarily because of events that are out of their control, caused by prejudice and discrimination. Another similar feature between the two novels is that Shakespeare uses dynasties/houses to create differences and segregation between parties. In correspondence, the author of the boy in the striped pyjamas, uses clothes to create differences and symbolise their status in society. For example, the striped pyjamas indicates inferiority, weakness and suffering of the jews, whilst the uniforms of the soldiers uphold authority, cruelty and dominance. As opposed to Shakespeare, what makes this book so despairing and emotive is the reality of it. It is not a romantic, fictional play based on lust and fate – it is representative of real events where horrific tragedy’s took thousands of innocent lives for reasons due to nothing but social status, discrimination and