The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas

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• Leerjaar 3

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

A book by John Boyne

John Boyne is an Irish writer who was born in Dublin in 1971. After graduating from Trinity College in Dublin with an undergraduate degree in English literature.

In 2006, he catapulted to international fame with the publication of his debut novel for young adults, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

Judging a book by its cover . . .

Forget what you have always been told about not judging a book by it's cover, because that is exactly what you need to do right now.

Look carefully at each of these different covers from the same book. Focus on one cover at a time and make predictions on what you think the story will be about, based soley on the information the cover gives you.

Picture

How have your predictions differed from one cover to another? What made them different?

Were your predictions different from others in your class?

What comes to your mind?

What comes to mind when you think of the Holocaust/Persecution of the Jews during World War II?

Ontstaan rassentheorieën: sociaaldarwinisme

Sociaaldarwinisme is een wetenschap die uitgaat van de superioriteit van bepaalde rassen. Ook menselijke rassen.

Veel aanhangers in die tijd - kon ook kolonialisme rechtvaardigen: wij zijn gewoon betere mensen dan die inboorlingen

-> survival of the fittest (het sterkste ras overleeft)

Afgeleid van de biologische wetenschap

Darwin: On the Origin of Species - evolutietheorie: het leven past zich aan de omgeving aan

Nazi rassentheorie

Ariërs - afstammelingen van zogenoemde nobele, blanke mensen uit het Noorden van India en Iran.

Volgens de nazi's waren zij:

Groot

Blond

Blauwe ogen

intelligent

geboren om te leiden

Ariërs zouden de pure voorouders van de Germanen zijn

andere rassen zouden zich niet mogen mengen met dit ras - dan zou het namelijk een zwak ras worden.

Zwakke rassen en gehandicapten moeten dus vermeden worden:

Zwakke rassen:

1. de Joden 

2. het Slavische volk 

3. Mensen van kleur.

4. Roma - Zigeuners

Maar ook:

Jehova's getuigen - die zijn pacifistisch (tegen geweld) -  zwak dus

Bolsjewieken - communisten

Homoseksuelen

What was it like?

Vanaf 1941 moeten de Joden de zeskantige Davidster op hun kleding dragen

'Wie deze ster draagt, is een vijand van ons volk.'

The Book

Type of work: Novel

Genre: Historical fiction/ Holocaust fiction

Language: English

Published: 2006

Preface

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas offers a unique perspective on the horrors of the Holocaust, which is a term that refers to the German genocide of European Jews that took place during World War II. Boyne’s novel takes place at the infamous concentration camp known as Auschwitz, and it tells the fictional story of a friendship between a German boy named Bruno and a Jewish boy named Shmuel. Bruno has moved with his family to Auschwitz so his father could take over as the commanding officer.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas became an international bestseller immediately upon its publication, rapidly winning a large popular audience. Two years after its publication, Boyne’s novel received a major film adaptation, and since then, the novel has been adapted as a stage play, a ballet, and an opera. Soon after its release, the novel also began to make its way onto middle school and high school reading lists, becoming a widespread tool for Holocaust education. 

 Boyne has visited over two hundred schools to speak with young students about his book and discuss Holocaust history. In this regard, the book has proven a great success. Boyne has publicly stated that one of his goals in writing the novel as a “fable” from a child’s point of view was to give younger readers a gentler introduction to the gruesome realities of the Holocaust. After this introduction, students are able to move on to more realistic fictional and nonfictional accounts of the Holocaust in order to develop a fuller and more nuanced understanding of the historical atrocity.

Book turned into movie

Characters

Bruno

The protagonist of the novel. Bruno is a nine-year-old German boy who misses the life and friends he left behind in Berlin after his family unexpectedly moves to Poland for his father’s job. Bruno has a special affection for adventure stories, and though he generally abides by his parents’ strict rules, he occasionally breaks them in order to go exploring. He feels intimidated by his father’s stern personality, but he also looks up to the man and respects his authority. Though he knows the importance of treating others with politeness and respect, Bruno still struggles with his tendency to be self-centered.

Shmuel

A Jewish boy. Shmuel is the boy in the striped pajamas named in the novel’s title. He belongs to a family of Polish Jews who were arrested by German troops and imprisoned at Out-With (Auschwitz) Camp. Shmuel meets Bruno one day when both boys are wandering near the massive fence that marks the boundary of the camp. The boys develop a friendship by meeting nearly every day and talking about their lives on each side of the fence. Over the course of their friendship, Shmuel grows thinner and weaker, and his grandfather and father both disappear.

Father

Bruno’s father. Father is a commanding officer within the Nazi Party who takes charge of operations for the Out-With (Auschwitz) Camp in Poland. He believes strongly in Germany’s cultural and political superiority and in the righteousness of his work for the “Fatherland.” He projects great power and authority in his position as commandant, but the nature of his professional duties causes tensions with both his wife with and his mother. Though he loves his children, he has a largely cold and strict relationship with them.

Mother

Bruno’s mother. Mother spends her time caring for her children, managing the family’s servants, and presiding over every detail of the home. She resents her husband’s unbending commitment to his career, and though she complies when his job requires the family to leave Berlin, she grows increasingly disenchanted with her new reality. In the family’s new home near Out-With (Auschwitz) Camp, she takes a lot of naps and drinks many “medicinal sherries” to deal with her depression and anxiety. She also begins to flirt with Lieutenant Kotler and spends a lot of time alone with him while Father works.

Over to you

Read chapters 1 & 2 

You will find the PDF on SOM. 

Audiobook:

https://primeaudiobooks.com/boy-in-the-striped-pajamas-audiobook/

Make the exercises on the next slide.

Homework

Read Chapters 3-4

Work from 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrezRelfgrg