Striped Pyjamas Innocence

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas takes place in Nazi Germany in the 1940’s during WW2. It is about a young, naive, 9 year old boy named Bruno. He is the son of a Nazi Soldier , He has lived in Berlin most of his life wih his 3 friends and his family in a very nice house. All of a sudden, they have to move in the “middle of nowhere” close to Aushwitz concentration camp. He does not know that this is a concentration camp however, he thinks that its just a farm. Since there are no kids, no schools, no one normal to hang out with, he decides to go out exploring his new neighbourhood and eventually meets Shmuel, another naive, innocent 9 year old boy. The difference is that he is a Jewish boy and a prisoner in the camp. Due to their naiveté, both characters have said many things throughout the book that the reader knows is ironic, but also reflects their innocence throughout the book. For example, Bruno says that the people on the other side of the fence are lucky because they are always “having fun”, or when Gretel says that she is “all grown …show more content…
By this time, he has begun to figure out that in this society, he can’t be friends with Shmuel. Hence, he covers it up and says that Shmuel is an imaginary friend. He then asks her if she has any imaginary friends, given the context that since they have no frends their own age to hag out, no schools nearby, it would make sense for even 13 year old Gretel to have imaginary friends. However, she responds to him saying "No.....I'm thirteen years old, for heaven's sake! I can't afford to act like a child even if you can." This is ironic because when he leaves her room, he hears her playing with her dolls and talking to them. This advances the plot because she wants to grow up, which leads to her becoming a staunch Nazi and hanging out with older soldiers and becoming brainwashed by such war propoganda, which shows that even though she is Bruno’s older sister, they are completely