“And who decided which people wore striped pyjamas and which people wore the uniforms?” — The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas

“The thing about exploring is that you have to know whether the thing you’ve found is worth finding. Some things are just sitting there, minding their own business, waiting to be discovered. Like America. And other things are probably better off left alone. Like a dead mouse at the back of the cupboard.”

The book, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne was published in March of 2006. This is a secondary source because of it being a historical fiction book. It uses real events of World War II and knowledge of the concentration camps, while also creating a false story line that captures a reader’s attention and allows them to make some sort of connection to the characters and those who went through the camps. Many of the survivors do not like talking about what they went through, so this book allows for those close to them get a glimpse of what it looked like to an outsider and what they could notice. Boyne allows for people to experience this by sharing how Bruno (the son of a Nazi commander) was forced to move to a house outside of Auschwitz,building a tire swing to avoid the fence on the other side of the house, exploring his new home that he abhors, and getting to meet and befriend one of the kids on the other side of the fence.

It all started when Bruno came home from school to find that their maid was packing his clothes, toys, and even his secret belonging, into chests to be moved to the new house. Like anyone, Bruno was angry at the fact that someone was touching his belongings, along with the added surprise of being told they are moving somewhere completely new. Bruno being told that he is moving somewhere new, can also be related to the fact that many Jews, and those put in concentration camps were forced to move away from their homes to a place they hated. While Bruno was told,

’Well, sometimes when someone is very important…the man who employs him asks him to go somewhere else because there’s a very special job that needs doing there.’ (Boyne 4)

by his mother, those held prisoner in camps were just forced out of their homes and not truly given a reason. This first part of the book can give people an inside look to a similar situation to what these people went through, and even how they felt about it, the only difference being that Bruno could take his belongings with him and he had plenty of food and medical care available to him.

Bruno then goes on to try and build a tire swing all by himself to distract him from the fact that he could look right over the fence from his room. The fact that Bruno wants to stop thinking about how sad and scary looking the other side of the fence looks, just goes to show that it must be even more terrifying and depressing for those imprisoned. Bruno then goes on to finish building the swing, so he starts to play on it for the rest of the day, when he falls off and gets his foot stuck in it, causing him to face plant. The man that his family has come to their house every day to,

…help peel the vegetables in the kitchen for dinner after putting his white jacket on and serving at the table…” (Boyne 75)

came running out to bring him back inside to clean his cuts and make sure he was okay, as he saw him fall from the kitchen window. When Bruno’s mother returns home and learns of this, she promptly beings to get flustered and tell Bruno that his father must not know of this and that when he was told, she was to be the one who found him and cleaned him up. As soon as Bruno hears this, he immediately knows that it is very strange that his mother is taking credit for something she did not do.