Boy in the Striped Pajamas Study Guide PDF

**Boy In the Striped Pajamas Study Guide** [Symbolism in** *The Boy in the Striped Pajamas***] **The fence**---The fence represents a physical boundary, keeping prisoners in confinement, but it also represents the boundary between what the Nazis believed to be human and non-human. Bruno and Shmue...

**Boy In the Striped Pajamas Study Guide** [Symbolism in** *The Boy in the Striped Pajamas***] **The fence**---The fence represents a physical boundary, keeping prisoners in confinement, but it also represents the boundary between what the Nazis believed to be human and non-human. Bruno and Shmuel came to the fence daily to blur those lines and learn about each other. **The striped pajamas**---Just as the yellow star identified Jews in the ghetto, the striped pajamas identify Jewish prisoners and their status in the eyes of their captors. Bruno finds this difference a curiosity. **Children\'s mispronunciations**---The mispronunciation of words, like \"Out-With\" for Auschwitz, and \"Fury\" for Fuhrer, show the innocence of children. It also speaks to the way they process and work through the events around them. [Themes in** *The Boy in the Striped Pajamas***] In our reading so far, we have discussed four common themes: **family, friendship, innocence, and warfare.** **Family**---In the story, both Bruno and Shmuel\'s families are torn apart. Shmuel\'s family is Jewish, and they have been either killed or forced into labor camps. Bruno\'s family is also torn apart. The turmoil in Bruno\'s well-off, well-connected family compared to Shmuel\'s persecuted one shows that no families were untouched by the war or Nazi policies. **Friendship**---The adults in Bruno\'s life would have forbidden his and Shmuel\'s friendship. However, Bruno is left largely on his own, and the friendship thrives despite the boundaries adults have set for them. Their friendship is tested and survives Bruno\'s betrayal. **Innocence**---Bruno is nine years old. He would not have joined the Nazi Youth organization till about age ten. He is ignorant of the fact that he is supposed to hate Jews and Shmuel. **Warfare**---The story uses World War II as a backdrop, but it fades into the background. Bruno and Shmuel both know that their lives have changed. They are surrounded by soldiers, but they are not fighting a battle. These soldiers are cruel without reason. This confuses Bruno, but it also increases his curiosity about the people beyond the fence. The war causes issues that do not add up in Bruno\'s mind. He doesn\'t have the maturity yet to process the effects of the war. He only knows how the war has changed his small world. **Things to Consider/Think About:** - What do you think life in a concentration camp would be like? - How would you feel if you and your family were sent to a concentration camp? - Do you think the children or spouses of officers in charge of concentration camps were guilty of the same crimes? Why or why not? - What is Bruno\'s reaction to the people he sees behind the barbed wire? - What is Gretel\'s reaction? How are they the same and different? - What does Bruno\'s father\'s response that \'they\'re not people at all\' mean? - Bruno\'s father tells him not to concern himself with these people. Do you think he\'ll listen? Why or why not? - What do Bruno and Shmuel have in common? - How are Bruno and Shmuel different? - Why doesn\'t Bruno tell his sister about Shmuel? - Why does Bruno deny knowing Shmuel? What would you have done? - What happened to Shmuel because of Bruno\'s lie? - Why do you think Shmuel forgives Bruno? - How does his Grandmother's objections to father's job affect Bruno's family? Does is affect it at all? **[Characters to Know]** **[Vocabulary Words to Know]** You need to know the **[definition/meaning of]** **AND** how to **[correctly spell]** these words. Prejudice Presume -------------- -------------- Racism Conviction axsBias Decidedly Malleable Emerging Muster Huddled Chaos Lowly Dismissive Peered Banister Lunged Surveyed Clamber Telegraph Insolent Holocaust Discard Foreseeable Deliberate Desolate Peckish Exasperation Obliged Indicate Incredulous Plaque Escapade Lacquer Diversion Splendor Rummage Despair Frenzied Forlorn Muttered Clenched Pension Discarding Reverberated Enforced Dilettante Megalomaniac Aristocracy Putsch Contemptuous Propaganda Panache Bourgeois Autarky Fatuity Commandant **Why is it significant that Bruno and Gretel adapted so well to their new life at Out-With?** The quick adaptation Bruno and Gretel made to their new life is significant because it underscores how impressionable children and young adults can be, both for good and for ill. Despite resisting their family's sudden departure from Berlin and suffering through weeks of isolation from other children, both Bruno and Gretel ended up adjusting rather well to life at Out-With (Auschwitz). The lessons they took with Herr Liszt in the mornings and early afternoons provided their days with much-needed structure, and in the afternoons, each sibling found new ways to stay entertained. Significantly, the particular activities that Bruno and Gretel undertook led to very different kinds of adaptation. In Bruno's case, his blossoming friendship with Shmuel provided an additional anchor in his daily life since he went out to meet Shmuel at the fence almost every day. Their friendship helped Bruno feel more at home at Out-With, and it enabled him to grow in important ways, like learning how to be a good friend. In this sense, Bruno's method for adapting to his new life also helped him develop a more open mind. Whereas Bruno adapted to Out-With by cultivating a new relationship, Gretel adapted by retreating into herself and taking an interest in the war. This interest came following a difficult period in which she felt frustrated with her isolation at Out-With. Gretel managed her frustration by getting rid of her extensive doll collection and adopting the more adult habit of reading the news every day. From her Father, she got a collection of maps of Europe and push-pins that she used to track the movements of the armies that she learned about in her daily reading. In contrast to Bruno, who grew more open-minded and less aligned with Father's authoritative perspective, Gretel increasingly adopted Father's opinions and political biases. The siblings' diverging perspectives came into focus when Gretel tried to impart these biases to Bruno. She explained the need to keep Jews and Germans separate. But because she herself didn't fully understand why, Bruno also failed to understand the logic of her explanation. Though both siblings found ways to adapt to life at Out-With, they did so in ways that took them down very different paths. **What did Mother mean in Chapter 2 when she told Bruno, "We don't have the luxury of thinking"?** When Mother told Bruno that they didn't have the luxury of thinking, her main goal was to convince Bruno to stop complaining about the family's move to Out-With (Auschwitz). However, her statement also had a deeper meaning that related to her own feelings of powerlessness. Like Bruno, Mother had reservations about the family's move. Unlike Bruno, however, she understood the immense power wielded by Father's employer "the Fury." Although she had some power to influence her husband regarding family matters, Mother felt completely powerless to resist the forces of politics. She felt keenly aware of the danger involved in speaking out against the ruling ideology of Germany's Nazi Party. This danger becomes clear in Chapter 5. Bruno recalled how Mother stood in the hallway of the emptied Berlin house and said to herself, "We should never have let the Fury come to dinner." These words expressed her disapproval of the Fury and the way his politics had affected her family. When she realized that Maria had overheard her comment, Mother immediately grew fearful that the maid would report her for treason. Based on her own experience of powerlessness and fear, Mother encouraged Bruno not to think too much about their new situation and simply to accept it. In this regard, Mother's comment about not having "the luxury of thinking" foreshadows similar comments that Maria makes to Bruno in Chapter 6. Despite Bruno's repeated attempts to get Maria to complain about the family's move, she refused to do so. Father had shown her kindness and provided much-needed help in times of crisis, and she would not speak against him or any of his decisions. Instead, she planned to keep her head down and wait until their uncomfortable situation came to an end. Maria's strategy for dealing with life at Out-With bears a strong resemblance to Mother's, and helps to explain Mother's comment further. Like Maria, Mother encouraged Bruno to will himself into a state of ignorance rather than fight against a power he could not hope to influence. **Why did Lieutenant Kotler beat up Pavel?** From Bruno's naïve perspective, Lieutenant Kotler appeared to beat up Pavel because the old man dropped a bottle of wine in his lap. However, Lieutenant Kotler's violent behavior came in response to a different provocation. Although the dropped wine bottle gave the soldier an excuse to express his rage, his anger actually had its roots in fear. In Chapter 13, Lieutenant Kotler let it slip over dinner that he'd lost touch with his father after the man moved to Switzerland. This detail sparked Father's interest, and he asked Lieutenant Kotler a series of questions in a way that resembled an interrogation. Father found it disturbing that the lieutenant's father had left Germany just before the beginning of the war. Father also felt suspicious that the man fled to Switzerland, a European country that remained politically neutral and accepted many Jewish refugees. Bruno noticed that Lieutenant Kotler grew increasingly anxious as Father asked him more and more questions. Though Bruno didn't fully comprehend why the interrogation sparked such anxiety, the reader perceives the danger Lieutenant Kotler suddenly found himself in. That is, Father suspected that Lieutenant Kotler's father had fled Germany because he was a Jew. And if his father was a Jew, then Lieutenant Kotler himself was a Jew. The soldier could guess the thoughts going through Father's head. Initially, he attempted to calm Father's suspicions by explaining that his father had merely disagreed with some of the German government's policies. However, seeing that Father continued to distrust him, fear took hold, and he desperately sought a chance to prove his loyalty to the Nazi Party. When Pavel dropped the wine bottle, it provided just such an opportunity. Lieutenant Kotler therefore beat up a Jewish man in an attempt to convince Father that he himself was not a Jew. **[Questions to Consider (chapter by chapter)]** **Chapter 1** 1\. How do we know Bruno's family are rich? 2\. What is Maria (the maid) doing as the story begins? 3\. How does his mother look on this occasion? 4\. Why do the family have to move? 5\. Why does Bruno not want to leave? 6\. What kind of person do you imagine Bruno's father to be **Chapter 2** 1\. Describe Bruno's old house in Berlin. 2\. Describe Bruno's new house. 3\. What does Bruno think of his father's job? 4\. Describe the young soldier Bruno sees on the stairs. **Chapter 3** 1\. Describe Gretel, Bruno's sister. 2\. How well do Bruno and Gretel get on? 3\. What is the name of their new house? **Chapter 4** 1\. Describe the view from Bruno's window. 2\. Where does Gretel think they are? Explain your answer. 3\. Describe the people in the camp. **Chapter 5** 1\. Was Bruno's mother happy to leave Berlin? Explain. 2\. Describe Bruno's father. 3\. Why does Bruno go in to his father's study? 4\. What is really going on in the story, that Bruno is not aware of? **Chapter 6** 1\. How well is Bruno settling in to his new home? 2\. Describe Maria, the family's maid. 3\. Does Bruno have a lot of respect for his father? Explain. 4\. 'Bruno and Gretel treat Maria differently.' Explain this statement. 5\. How do Bruno and Gretel treat their father differently? **Chapter 7** 1\. Describe the one person Bruno knew to be mad. 2\. What does Bruno do to entertain himself? 3\. What is Bruno's opinion of Lieutenant Kotler? 4\. How does Gretel act around Lieutenant Kotler? 5\. How does Lieutenant Kotler treat Bruno? 6\. How does Lieutenant Kotler treat Pavel? 7\. How does Bruno feel when Lieutenant Kotler treats Pavel like this? 8\. How does Bruno injure himself? 9\. Describe Bruno's injury. 10\. Who looks after him and what do they do? 11\. What do we learn about Pavel's past? 12\. Why does Pavel's behavior change when Bruno's mother arrives? 13\. How does she treat Pavel? 14\. Why won't she tell Bruno's father what happened? 15\. Does Bruno understand the situation here at Out-With? **Chapter 8** 1\. Describe Bruno's grandparents. 2\. How did his grandmother spend time with the children? 3\. Why was Bruno's grandmother disappointed when Bruno's father became Commandant? **Chapter 9** 1\. What change happens at Out-With? 2\. Describe Herr Liszt. 3\. What makes Bruno decide to go exploring? 4\. What does Bruno see happening in the camp? 5\. What does Bruno try not to think about as he goes exploring? **Chapter 10** 1\. Describe Bruno's walk along the fence. 2\. Why does he almost turn back? 3\. Describe the boy Bruno meets. 4\. What are Bruno's first impressions of the boy? 5\. What is unusual about Shmuel's birthday? 6\. Does Shmuel have many friends? 7\. What does Bruno say about Germany and how does he feel once he says it? 8\. What does Bruno discover about Out-With? 9\. What does Shmuel say about where he comes from? **Chapter 11** 1\. How did Bruno's mother react when his father said the Fury was coming to dinner? 2\. How do the children dress for this important dinner? 3\. What rules apply during the Fury's visit? 4\. Describe the Fury. 5\. What does Bruno think of the Fury's manners? 6\. Describe Eva **Chapter 12** 1\. Where did Shmuel live before the camp? 2\. How did life change for Shmuel before he was brought to the camp? 3\. What different attitudes do the boys have to the armbands? 4\. "Bruno opened his mouth to contradict him." Why doesn't Bruno believe Shmuel's story? 5\. What happened when "the soldiers all came with huge trucks"? 6\. What differences do you notice between Bruno and Shmuel? 7\. Why does Bruno decide not to tell his family about his new friend? **Chapter 13** 1\. Why isn't Bruno feeling quite so unhappy about his new life? 2\. What does Bruno ask Maria about Pavel? 3\. What jobs do the boys want when they grow up? 4\. What is Shmuel's opinion of soldiers? 5\. Describe the friendship the boys have. 6\. How does Bruno feel when he looks at Pavel? 7\. How has Pavel's appearance changed since Bruno met him? 8\. What complaints does Bruno make about Herr Liszt? 9\. What mistake does Lieutenant Kotler make in conversation? 10\. What view does Bruno's father have of people who left Germany in 1938? 11\. "What happened then was both unexpected and extremely unpleasant." What happens when Pavel spills wine on Kotler? 12\. What does Bruno decide he had better do in future? **Chapter 14** 1\. When Shmuel has a black eye, what does Bruno think happened? 2\. What does Bruno ask Shmuel every day? 3\. What does Bruno have to say about the striped pajamas? 4\. What does Bruno let slip to Gretel? 5\. How does he try to get out of it? 6\. Why is Gretel sarcastic to Bruno? 7\. What did Shmuel say about his Grandfather? **Chapter 15** 1\. What prevented Bruno and Shmuel from seeing each other? 2\. Why is Bruno worried about his friend? 3\. Bruno's mother is spending a lot of time with Lieutenant Kotler. What examples of this are we given? 4\. What reasons does Bruno have for disliking Lieutenant Kotler? 5\. How does Lieutenant Kotler treat Bruno? 6\. Why is Shmuel in the kitchen? 7\. Describe Shmuel's hand. 8\. Why is Shmuel afraid to eat the chicken? 9\. Why does Bruno deny knowing Shmuel? 10\. What would you have done in Bruno's position? **Chapter 16** 1\. How do we know a lot of time has passed since the novel began? 2\. What has happened to Lieutenant Kotler? 3\. Why does Bruno think his friendship with Shmuel is strange? 4\. How has Gretel changed since the story began? 5. What does Bruno ask Gretel? 6\. What explanation does Gretel give? 7\. Why does Gretel scream and how do their parents deal with this problem? **Chapter 17** 1\. Bruno says his mother is unhappy at Out-With. Why do you think this is? 2\. What do Bruno's parents argue about? 3\. How is his mother behaving? 4\. What decision does Bruno's father make? **Chapter 18** 1\. Why wasn't Shmuel at the fence for two days? 2\. What regrets do the boys have about their friendship? 3\. What plan do the boys make? **Chapter 19** 1\. What almost ruins their plan on Friday? 2\. What does Bruno do with his clothes? 3\. How do the boys feel when they're finally on the same side of the fence? 4\. How did Bruno imagine the camp? 5\. What does Bruno see in the camp? 6\. What two types of people are there in the camp? 7\. What does Bruno tell Shmuel after they march? 8\. What happens to the boys at the end of the chapter? **Chapter 20** 1\. What do Bruno's family do after he disappears? 2\. Do you like the ending? Explain. 3\. How do you feel at the end? Explain. 4\. Do you feel sorry for Bruno's father? Explain