Comparing Characters from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas to The Boy Who Dared

           Bruno, from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, is much younger than Helmuth, form The Boy Who Dared. Helmuth does not has a father, but Bruno does. Bruno's father is a commandant for the Nazis. They both want to be german soldiers when they grow up. They are both somewhat oblivious to what is happening in the world. Bruno is free and not under captivity, but Helmuth is in a jail cell. Helmuth and Bruno are both brave german boys. However, Helmuth is seventeen and Bruno is only nine.

           Bruno is motivated by his friendship with Shmuel, but also by his hatred of Lt. Kotler. Helmuth wants to become a Hitler Youth to make his mother proud. Bruno's passion for exploration is why he help look for Shmuel's dad, but it is is also what gets him killed. Bruno thinks that Adolf Hitler is rude and has bad manners, but Helmuth just hates him. 

                                                                  The Boy Who Dared
                                                        Story by: Susan Campbell Bartoletti
                                                               Blog by: Harrison Young

          In The Boy Who Dared, Helmuth is a seventeen-year-old boy who is in jail during the Holocaust. Helmuth is a Mormon from Hamburg, Germany. The reason he is in jail has not yet been brought into the story. He has been in jail for 264 days. He has flashbacks to when he was younger.

          Helmuth flashes back to when he was 3 or 4. He was holding his mother's hand walking through the crowd of a parade. A german soldier came up to him and asked him if he wanted to be a soldier when he grows up. Helmuth says yes. I am wondering if he regrets this while he is sitting in his jail cell.

          Helmuth comes back. He realizes that it is Tuesday. Helmuth doesn't like Tuesday. That's the day the executioner works. 

                                     Questions and inferences for The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

                                                                   Story by: John Boyne                                                                        

                                                                Blog by: Harrison Young                                                                 

          So far, Bruno has looked out his window and his arms dropped to his side and what he saw made him feel cold. He brought up what he saw somewhat casually when he said, “The other kids don't look at all friendly.”(p. 26) I inferred that, since there were unfriendly looking kids behind the house, they might have been sad or depressed because they are in what I inferred to be a German Concentration Camp. Another reason why I think that it is a Concentration Camp is because the narrator describes the fence to be very tall, maybe even taller that the house they are in, and having barbed wire spiraling around the top of the fence.

          A question that I have about what is to come further in the story is, will Bruno approach the fence that is outside his window? I can make a prediction that he is going to approach the fence because, while Bruno is a young boy, I do not the he is the boy in the stripped pajamas, who the book is named after. Although, my theory might be incorrect and Bruno might be the boy in the striped pajamas. Another question that I have is, will Bruno's father will be introduced further so we can be sure about his position?

The Beginning of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

                                                               By John Boyne

          

          In the beginning of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne, you are introduced to the main character, Bruno. Bruno is a nine year old boy who is living in Berlin, Germany during the time of the Holocaust. Bruno's mother seems like a regular mother from the time of the Holocaust. Bruno also has an older sister who he refers to as “the helpless case” which we can infer means that she has a mental illness. Bruno's father is an officer of commander for the Nazi's. The family has to move away from /berlin to some other place that Bruno does not like. He doesn't has his three best friends living close to him anymore. He has moved so his father can be closer to his station and so the family is safer.

          The house that the family has moved to is much different that their old house. Their old house was five stories tall, where their new house is only three stories tall. Their new house was on quiet street but you still saw people every once in a while. Their new house is basically in the middle of nowhere. There are no people walking on the streets. There are no other young boys for Bruno to play with. However, there is one thing that the new house has in common with the old house. It has a slanting window that Bruno can look out of. In the old house, if he looked out the slanting window on the top floor, he could see straight across Berlin. In the new house, if he looks out the slanting window in his bedroom, it makes him feel cold on the inside.