Introduction of Literary Terms "The boy in the striped pyjamas

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• Middelbare school
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• Leerjaar 5

Introduction of Literary Terms:

 The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Author: John Boyne

A Fable

What is a fable?

A fable is a story with a moral lesson.

Why is this book considered a fable?

Because it talks about the Holocaust, and the moral lesson behind it. 

Characters

Major Characters:

The term character refers to a person or an animal in a story, play or other literary work.​

Major characters are almost always round, or three dimensional. They have good and bad qualities. Their goals, ambitions and values change as a result of what happens to him or her. A character who changes as a result of the events of the story is referred to as DYNAMIC.​

Protagonist: (Bruno and Shmuel)

The main character in the story. 'Good guy' or 'hero'.

Antagonist: (German Nazis - Father, Lieutenant Kotler)

'Bad guy' who usually creates conflict for the main character (protagonist).

Minor Characters: (Nazis / prisoners)

Almost always flat or two-dimensional characters. ​

They are usually all good or all bad. Such characters lack depth.​

Plot

Plot is the sequence of events that happen in a story. ​

A Plot has five basic points:​

1. Exposition is the beginning of the story.​
   
2. Rising action is when something starts to happen.​
   
3. Climax is the high point of the action.​
   
4. Falling action is the action following the climax, a cool down.​
   
5. Resolution is the conclusion of the action when everything comes together.
   

Plot

Plot is the sequence of events that happen in a story. ​

A Plot has five basic points:​

1. Exposition: Bruno moves to his new house in Poland.
   
2. Rising action: Bruno meets Shmuel at the fence of the concentration camp.
   
3. Climax: Bruno disguises himself as a prisoner and joins Shmuel to find his father.
   
4. Falling action: Bruno and Shmuel die in a gas chamber.
   
5. Resolution: Bruno's family mourn his death with only an idea of what happened to him.
   

Conflict

Conflict is a struggle between opposing characters or opposing forces.​

Every story must have a conflict, i.e. a challenge or problem around which the plot is based. Without conflict, the story will have no purpose or trajectory. 

1. The individual versus society.

2. One individual versus another.

3. The individual versus circumstances.

4. The individual versus himself.

Theme

​The theme is the idea, belief, moral, lesson or insight​.

It’s the central argument that the author is trying to make the reader understand. The theme is the “why” of the story.

There are four ways to express theme:​

1. Feelings of the main character​

2. Thoughts and conversations ​

3. What the main character learns​

4. Actions and event

Ask yourself?

What is the text about? What is the author's message?

The message of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is that we are all more alike than we are different. The innocent friendship of the Jewish boy Shmuel and the Nazi's son Bruno, set against the horrific backdrop of the Holocaust, highlights the fact that divisions between people are arbitrary. 

Some of the main themes: 

innocence, friendship, obedience and conformity, prejudice and discrimination

Setting

Where and when is the story set? 

Setting represents both the physical location (where) but also the time (when) i.e. past, present, future - and the social and cultural conditions in which the characters exist.

The book's plot takes the main character, Bruno, and his family to Auschwitz 'Out-With' during WWII. The remainder of the story takes place in and around the Auschwitz camp. The Auschwitz concentration camp was located in the southern part of Poland.

Point of view is the vantage point from which a story is told.

Through whose eyes do you see the story? 

First-person narrator: You get to hear the thoughts of the narrator and see the world depicted through his/her eyes.

Third-person narrator: (point-of-view of an outsider) 

* omniscient (all-knowing)

* limited narration

This book makes use of the third person limited point of view is where the narrator tells the story from the perspective of a single protagonist (Bruno). The narrator can only see inside the mind of the protagonist.

 

Bruno is a ...

1. Protagonist / round character
2. Protagonist / flat character
3. Antagonist / flat character
4. Antagonist / round character

Where is the book set?

1. In Out-With
2. Around Out-With
3. In and around Out-With

Point of view: through whose eyes do we see the story?

1. Shmuel's
2. Bruno's
3. The prisoners'
4. Various characters

What point of view is used?

1. first-person narrator
2. third-person limited narrator
3. second person
4. third-person omnicient

Who is the antagonist in this story?

Name at least 2 different themes you have already found in the book/movie so far?

Today's Lesson

Read chapters 17 & 18 of BITSP.

Work on 'Grammar Practice' exercises. 
(in SOM - Skills Test)

Work through the 'Versterk jezelf' exercises 

(read grammar rules and do exercises).

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Book Test

1. No talking during the test until everyone is finished.

2. No looking around during the test until everyone is finished.

3. Only start the test when I say so!!!!

4. When you are finished, raise your hand to let me know. Then continue with other school work (no phones!!!)

5. Good luck!