As
different as the lives of Bruno and Shmuel are in The Boy in The Striped
Pajamas, they suffer the same cruel fate, highlighting the futility of war and how no
"fence" can protect anyone, especially when the evil is to be found on the outside of
the fence, as much as inside it. Bruno's family, except his father will shortly return to
Berlin.
Bruno has forged a friendship with Shmuel and they find many things
to talk about although Bruno never understands the extent of Shmuel's suffering as he sits on
his side of the fence. Eventually, he ventures into the camp shortly before his expected return
to Berlin. Shmuel brings him a pair of "pajamas" and remarks how they look almost
"exactly the same.". With his shaved head and now in his own "pajamas,"
Bruno blends in and the reader is chilled by Bruno's recollection of his dressing-up at his
grandmother's house; "You wear the right outfit and you feel like the person youre
pretending to be," he remembers his grandmother saying.
Bruno discovers
that the idyllic life he perceived is nowhere to be found. He longs to go home but cannot
disappoint his friend and the boys search fruitlessly for Shmuel's father. Just as they are
returning to the fence, they are caught up in events and are ushered into a room that
is surprisingly warm. The "best friend(s) for life" hold tight to one another as
they, along with the crowd, are gassed.
Although it may seem inconceivable
to some that any such event could ever have happened and some people are offended by any
suggestion that Nazis suffered as Jews did, Boyne plays with the idea that it could have
happened to anyone; the tables could have been turned and the boys could have been anyone's
children!
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