Revisiting and reviewing ‘The Boy in the Striped Pajamas’

By DeAsia T.

Students within Lexington District 2 have likely recently read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a tragic story about the holocaust. The children reading learn about the sad, horrific history of Germany & it’s Leader, Hitler, along with the Jewish inhabitants living there. As one of the many people who have read the book and have seen the movie, I wholeheartedly believe that this book- if read by middle school children and or high-schoolers can teach them the importance of kindness and not judging others because of their differences, cultures, beliefs and appearance.  Although the book and movie are now almost twenty years old, I still wanted to give my opinion on the film and share why I overall enjoyed it. 

First of all, the film teaches important lessons, including lessons about kindness. This is shown within the book and movie when Bruno asks his older sister Gretel, “Why don’t we like them?” She responds with “Because they’re Jews.” When he asks, “What are we?” she goes on to explain, “We are the opposite.” She further explains to Bruno that the fence is meant to keep the Jews from “mixing with them,” which leaves Bruno confused. This shows that children don’t always see things the way other people do unless it is taught to them. So why not teach them kindness? This is the lesson implied by this powerful scene in the film.

 Secondly, the film can also help students understand the weight of the events taking place within the story, and this is due to the powerful acting in the film. The acting is top tier and shows real emotion. It really captures the raw pain, confusion, and hurt within the characters such as when Bruno lies and tells Lieutenant Kotler he doesn't know who Shmuel is which leaves Bruno feeling Guilty and Shmuel feeling confused and hurt.  

 Third, adults can also learn important lessons. The guilt and shame even begins to affect the adults within the story, a prime example is when Bruno's mother Elsa Becomes very stern when Bruno begins to complain or ask too many questions about Auschwitz replying with “We have to make the best of a bad situation” while later on in the story she becomes increasingly bothered by the nature of Auschwitz and what her Husband does there. She then plans on leaving and taking Bruno and his sister Gretel with her because his work is “horrible” and she can’t “stand it anymore.” 

An AHS student named Allicen C. says, “it’s a good book but it has a sad ending”. “Yes for the knowledge of knowing about the Holocaust and those events. It's necessarily an elementary book but it's good for middle schoolers up to high school.” 

Another AHS student, Hannah R., says, “It makes me very sad, and it goes to show when something bad you’ve done happens to you, it shows you the evil that it really is.” 

With this being said, I strongly recommend this book as well as the movie because this is very informative and can teach children about morals and respecting others. In this society it is very crucial that children and adults learn how to be kind regardless of a person's differences and that it is never okay to put others down or to be unkind.