Chapter 18-19-20

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vmbo t
• Leerjaar 3

WELCOME!

This lesson:

• About Chapter 18-19

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Chapter 18

Shmuel didn’t show up at the fence for two days after Bruno learned he’d be returning to Berlin. Bruno worried he wouldn’t get to see his friend again. But on the third day, Shmuel came. Bruno was glad to see his friend, but Shmuel looked more unhappy than usual. He told Bruno that his father had disappeared and that no one knew where he had gone. His father had left on work duty with other men, but none of them had returned.

Chapter 18

Bruno suggested that the men had been taken to another town and that they would stay there until their work was done. Then he offered to ask Father about the disappearance. Shmuel said that wouldn’t be a good idea. He explained that the soldiers hated the people on his side of the fence. He hated the soldiers as well. Bruno feared that Shmuel might also hate Father. Bruno changed the subject to tell Shmuel that he’d be leaving in two days and that the following day would be their last chance to meet. Bruno lamented that they’d never gotten a chance to play together and that he’d never gotten to see where Shmuel lived. 

Chapter 18

Shmuel lifted the fence and indicated that Bruno still had a chance to come over. Bruno hesitated but then came up with a plan. Bruno recalled how Shmuel had said they looked more alike after Bruno got his head shaved and suggested that if he had a pair of striped pajamas, he could walk around on the other side of the fence without detection. With Bruno properly disguised, the boys could have one final adventure and look for Shmuel’s father. They agreed to meet at the same time the next day, and Shmuel would bring an extra pair of pajamas.

Chapter 19

It rained the following day. Bruno spent the morning worried that his plans with Shmuel would fall through. By mid-afternoon, however, the rain had stopped, and Bruno set off to meet his friend. On the way, Bruno looked to the overcast skies and wondered if the rain would return, but he felt that enough rain had already fallen for one day.

He arrived to find Shmuel waiting with an extra pair of striped pajamas. Shmuel passed the pajamas under the fence. Bruno changed into them and folded his ordinary clothes into a neat pile. 

Chapter 19

Bruno complained that the pajamas smelled, but Shmuel felt pleased that the disguise would work: “It was almost (Shmuel thought) as if they were exactly the same.” Bruno commented that dressing up reminded him of acting in one of Grandmother’s plays. She had always said the right outfit made it easy to feel like you were the person you were pretending to be.

Chapter 19

Shmuel lifted the fence, and Bruno crawled under. Each boy felt an urge to hug the other, but instead of embracing they walked toward the camp. Bruno quickly realized that the reality of the camp differed greatly from what he’d imagined. Instead of cafés, shopping centers, and playing children, he saw groups of people staring at the ground with expressions of profound sadness. He also saw soldiers, who alternated between laughter and shouting.

Bruno told Shmuel that he didn’t like it there and that he should go home, but Shmuel reminded him of his promise to help search for his father. 

Chapter 19

Bruno stayed, and they searched for evidence. But the boys didn’t know what to look for, and as the sky grew darker, Bruno said he needed to go home.

Just then, a whistle blew, and a group of soldiers surrounded the area where Bruno and Shmuel stood. Shmuel told Bruno this happened sometimes and that the soldiers made people go on marches. 

Chapter 19

The other people in striped pajamas gathered together, pressed in by the soldiers. They all looked frightened, and Bruno wanted to whisper to them that his father was the commandant and that everything would be fine. Another whistle blew and the group of nearly one hundred people began to move. Some people near the back resisted, and Bruno heard loud noises that sounded like gunshots. Bruno felt hungry and asked Shmuel if marches typically went on for a long time. Shmuel didn’t know since he’d never seen people come back from a march. 

Chapter 19

Bruno looked at the darkening sky and heard thunder. Rain started falling. Wet and muddy, Bruno felt increasingly uncomfortable and worried about catching a cold. 

Bruno told Shmuel once again that he needed to go home, and just as he said this, they reached a set of steps. The boys were forced by the shuffling crowd into a long, airless room. Bruno felt glad to be out of the rain. 

Chapter 19

He said to Shmuel he was sorry that they didn’t find his father and that they didn’t really get to play. Bruno took Shmuel’s hand and told him he was his best friend: “My best friend for life.”

At that moment, two heavy doors closed, and the marchers started to panic. Bruno didn’t understand what was happening but assumed it had to do with keeping out the rain. Then the room went dark and erupted into chaos. Bruno held on to Shmuel’s hand and would not let go.

Chapter 20

The narrator explains that no one heard from Bruno again. Soldiers searched the house and the nearby towns and villages to no avail. Eventually, a soldier found the pile of Bruno’s clothes by the fence. Father came and examined the scene, but he couldn’t understand what had happened.

Mother and Gretel stayed at Out-With for several more months before moving back to Berlin. Father stayed for a full year. He became increasingly merciless with the soldiers, who grew to hate him. 

Chapter 20

Father thought about Bruno constantly, and one day, he came up with a theory of what happened. He returned to the place where the soldier had found Bruno’s clothes. He discovered the place where the fence hadn’t been properly secured to the ground and reasoned what must have happened next. He collapsed to the ground in shock. A few months later, other soldiers came and took Father away. He submitted to the other soldiers without complaint: “He didn’t really mind what they did to him anymore.”