The boy in the striped pyjamas穿条纹睡衣的男孩

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Wei
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a novel by Irish novelist John Boyne. The story happened in German in 1942, during the World War II. Bruno, a nine-year-old boy, and his family have to leave their home in Berlin and move to a far and strange place where there is no other children to play with him. He then takes an exploration near the fence and meets a little boy who is on the other side of the fence, Shmuel. They become good friends and Bruno decides to help Shmuel to find his father, while he never comes out from the camp.
Different from other war novels, this novel indirectly reveals the coldness and mercilessness of the war through two innocent little boys’talks, instead of describing the bloody and horrible scenes, evoking stronger feelings among readers and heartbreaking readers extremely. The innocence of children is in stark contrast with the cruelness and brutality of the war. When Bruno found the camp with the fence near their house, he simply regarded it as an ugly building. Hundreds of, even thousands of people in the same-look clothes, the striped clothes, lived in the camp and suffered great pains every day, but little Bruno did not know the truth and only felt happy when he found a lot of children were there. He told Shmuel he did not like striped clothes but in fact he liked it, of course he did not know what the clothes meant. He even felt unfair and admired Shmuel for Shmuel had a lot of friends to play with on the other side of the fence while he did not have. The war is so ridiculous and absurd in front of children’s innocent words, while children are poor and helpless in front of the war’s mercilessness.
The war distorts people’s mind and makes adults’world full of deception and lies. Maria, the family’s maid, told Bruno his father was a very good man. He offered Maria a job and took care of Maria’s mother when she was very sick even though he was not obliged to. However, all these happened before the war. When Bruno’s father became an officer and got promoted, he changed. He told Bruno people in the striped clothes were not human beings and not allowed Bruno to look that camp from the window. He cheated that the terrible smell from the smokestack in the camp was the result of rubbish incineration. He looked for a teacher to
teach Gretel and Bruno history and sociology, or exactly to implant Nazi concepts in them, which really worked, Gretel became tossed her doll aside and became interested in the Nazi concepts. People lost their nature during the war and became apathetic and cold.
Even though people’s souls have been distorted and their personalities damaged, there are still people who are sane and rational. Bruno’s mother knew what her husband had done was inhuman and hoped to come back home in Berlin with their children. She argued with her husband, but she had no choice but to compromise with the reality because if she said something improper, the whole family would be in danger. Bruno’s grandmother was very clear with his father’s job and felt shameful for what his father had done. It is grateful that not everyone has lost their mind during the war. Although these people are also helpless in face of the war and can do nothing against the war, they bring us the hope of human nature.
Regardless of the nationalities and races, we are all the same. In the end of the novel, Bruno put on the striped pyjamas and rolled under the fence, then they were on the same side of the fence. However, when Bruno wanted to went out and came back home, the soldiers called all the people in striped pyjamas be together and then he came into the gas chamber with Shmuel, but soldiers did not recognize him because they only knew the striped pyjamas. Even if you are the son of a Nazi officer, no one will know you if you wear the striped clothes - the symbol of Jewish. Thus, it is ridiculous to divide races, which Bruno’s death has proved.
There is no winner in a war, especially the inhumane racial cleansing. The two little boys, Bruno and Shmuel, who have different destinies and fates were killed together in the gas chamber. Jewish suffered a lot from the second world war, while many innocent people also experienced a great pains, just like Bruno, a innocent and lovely little boy, becoming the victim of the war.。