Chapter 20

Chapter 19

In this chapter is when the “great adventure” takes place. First Shmuel gives Bruno an extra pair of striped pajamas, exactly like the one Shmuel is wearing. Once Bruno is wearing the striped pajamas, he realized how much alike they look now that he has his head shaved; that’s when he realizes how bad the clothe smell, that might be because on the concentration camps people doesn’t worry about hygiene. That’s even one of the reason most people died in there, due to their hygiene and the way they lived. When wearing Shmuel’s uniform he remembers the plays his Grandmother used to put for him and Gretel and how she said that, “Your wear the right outfit and you feel like the person you’re pretending to be”. Which inspired Bruno to really act like the people on the other side of the fence. In my opinion it was a pretty elaborate and well though plan, but then again is very stupid because as a reader I know what Bruno is getting into, but he doesn’t that’s why he sees it all as fun and as the adventure of the day. Once Bruno is on the other side, both of them have the desire of hugging one another, but they don’t, and that may be because it’s not consider “manly enough”. While walking toward the camp Bruno is really astonished to discover that it is nothing like he had thought it would be, with many children playing schoolyard games together on the ground and many huts full of happy families. But no, everywhere he turn he saw many angry and horribly sad looking faces and next to this zombie like people, there were the soldiers in their beautiful shining uniforms who were laughing and shouting at them. Stunned by the disappointment of the other side of the fence Bruno says to Shmuel that he doesn’t want to be here, but he reminds him how he had promised to look for Shmuel’s father and for not breaking his promises he stays and starts looking for his father for over an hour. This scene talks well about Bruno, showing us how he really appreciates a true friendship and how he is a man of honor. Finally when the boys give up the search they hear a loud whistle and soldiers surround the area in which they were walking and start pushing them in the center of the mob with a bunch of people going the same way. They are all pushed into a long room, which according to Bruno is “surprisingly warm” and as naïve as usual he thinks there all in this room for shelter and to keep warm from the rain. Finally Shmuel grabs Bruno’s hand because he was shaking of terror and to console his friend Bruno calls him his “best friend for life”; meanwhile when the metallic door is shut an extreme chaos is released from the people in the dark room, but the friends hold tight their hands and never let go. This last scene really moves me and makes me feel sad, but at the same happy and proud thinking that there still is hope for humanity. The Holocaust time was all about discriminating the Jews because of their religion, but here we can see a 9 year-old boy who has no knowledge of this war and with his innocence becomes friend with this “enemy”, having no prejudice or judgment against his ethnicity. 

Chapter 18

For a few days Shmuel doesn’t show up in their usual meeting place and in the third day he shows but he looks even more unhappy than usual. Bruno asks him what’s wrong and he narrates him how his father has been missing; according to Shmuel his father and other men had gone of on work duty and inexplicably none of them have returned. Bruno trying to help tells him he would ask Father about the subject, but Shmuel denies saying that the soldiers hate people on his side of the fence and he hates them back. Bruno asks him if they hate Father, to what he says something interesting, “He had seen Bruno’s father on any number of occasions and couldn’t understand how such a man could have a son who was so friendly and kind”. This quote kind of summarizes the whole innocence of Bruno, since it highlights the age difference between father and son and the ignorance this little boy has. But I don’t believe there not that different, because Bruno is friendly with Shmuel because he has no knowledge of the Holocaust and the extermination of Jews, so maybe if he was a couple of years older he would be next to his father, fighting against the Jews. Finally Bruno tells his friend he is leaving, and they found out in the fence there’s a small whole for a kid to pass; so they schedule a play date before leaving to Berlin.

Chapter 17

Bruno starts noticing how unhappy his Mother is and can relate to is since the first days they arrive to Out-With he was also very lonely, until he found Shmuel to talk to. But since Lieutenant Kotler left she had been taking a lot of afternoon naps and some “medicinal sherries”. One day he hears Mother and Father fighting saying how she wants to take the children and go back home to Berlin, to what father answers not to do that, because it would look bad for his family to leave him alone in Out-With. Then one day Father calls Gretel and Bruno into his office and asks them if they are happy at Out-With, to what Gretel says she’s not because she misses her friends and Bruno says how he doesn’t mind where he is as long he is with the four members of his family. The reason why he reunited them in his office, was because he was thinking on sending his two children and Mother to Berlin because the new house is not a good “place for children” and that’s when Bruno screws it up and mentions how there are hundred of children on the other side of the fence. Bruno’s knowledge of the people with the striped pajamas shocks Father and makes him decide to send Mother and the children back to Berlin, surprisely the news upsets Bruno, because he had form a very close bond to Shmuel. Bruno’s innocence is once again playing against him, since he doesn’t understand why Father wants to send them away and considers Out-With is not a place for children when on the other side of the fence there are hundred of them. But us as the reader know its because all those children are not consider persons or with equal rights as the German, because they are Jews. I can relate to this because when I moved from my house in La Molina to an apartment at Surco, I was really sad for leaving my house, friends and memories, but later on in the new house I had form some new memories, new friends and had adapted my life to this new house. So when moving I was again really sad. 

Chapter 16

Since Bruno’s grandmother dies, the whole family goes to Berlin for the funeral and Father is particularly sad for the fact that before she died they had a big fight and never made it up or talk again. In Grandma’s honor the Fury sends some wreaths, but Mother mentions how, “Grandmother would turn in her grave if she knew it was there”, and that’s because in chapter 8 she mentions her dislike for Father’s job and for everything the Fury does to innocent people, referring to the Jews. While being away Bruno realizes how Out-With has become his home and how much has improve since the first time he arrived. For one thing, Lieutenant Kotler was transferred away. Secondly he loves having a friend called Shmuel, but starts thinking about how they’ve never played together and that leads Bruno to ask Gretel about the two sides of the fence and the reason it is in the first place. Gretel answers to his question, by saying the people on the other side of the fence are Jews and need to stay with the one of their own kind, and the ones in there side of the fence are the “Opposite”. Finally it is found that both siblings have lice in their hair, to what they need to be treated; Gretel hair is cured by a special shampoo and Bruno’s Father had to shave his hair completely. That’s when he realizes his resemblance to Shmuel, to what I believe might be a sign for trouble. Since Bruno just eager to play around with his only friend may decide to go to the other side, and since he is already alike Shmuel nobody may notice he is different than the other people with the striped pajamas. 

Chapter 15

Bruno doesn’t like Lieutenant Kotler because of several reasons. First because he never smiles, second Gretel is always flirting with him shamelessly and the more infuriating one is that when Father is away, he acts like he is in charge and sometimes when he goes to bed and wakes up Kurt is there. What I think is since Mother’s husband is always traveling, she might find some comfort with the Lieutenant, so she could be having an affair with him.  When mother sends Bruno to the kitchen, he finds a very pleasantly surprise sitting on the table, Shmuel! He explains that he has been brought by the Lieutenant to the house to clean the tiny glasses because his fingers are so small. When Shmuel shows Bruno his fingers and compares them, Bruno realizes how skinny his hand was and how little care they had. Even though the boy doesn’t realize, all of Shmuel appearance is a consequence from the concentration camps, since they starve them and in some case until dead. Trying to be a good friend, Bruno gives his friend a piece of chicken and first he refused, but then when he eats it the Lieutenant appears and starts screaming at him assuming that he had stole it. Shmuel as a defense says that Bruno gave it to him and that they were friends, to what Bruno scared of ending up like Pavel denies everything, without realizing the effect it would have on his only friend. But minutes later Bruno regrets everything he said saying, “how a boy who thought he was a good person really could act in such a cowardly way towards a friend”, which I believe it was a good step for forgiveness, but still as I said in chapter 13 he can’t be that selfish on not defending those who are being abused and mistreated by a higher power. For almost a week Bruno didn’t go to the fence to see Shmuel, but when he finally did Shmuel had his face covered by bruises. To what he connected with something that happened to him like falling from a bike, so he asked him if it hurt, and Shmuel answered in a cold tone, “I don’t feel anything anymore”. Which maybe referring to the fact that he is getting used to being treated badly by everyone, and he just decides to not feel anything. The final scene really touched me and made me feel desolated for everyone that had to suffer during the Holocaust. Just thinking about kids my age or 9 years old being bit up everyday and being starve to death, makes me very self-conscious and grateful for everything I have.