The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

These prompts can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before or after reading the novel.

Pre-Reading “Icebreaker”

One of the most striking aspects of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is Boyne’s decision to tell a story of the Holocaust through the eyes of a young, sheltered child. Thinking about your own life, are there ways in which your understanding of a serious topic or event has shifted as you’ve grown older? How did you make sense of this issue or occurrence when you were younger? Do you feel that you now understand it in a deeper or merely different way, and is that a good thing?

Teaching Suggestion: One could argue that certain things—not just the large-scale traumas of war, racism, etc. but even more private losses and hardships—inevitably escape full human understanding, but it’s nevertheless true that adults tend to process such events differently than those who are very young. This difference or gap in understanding underpins The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, imbuing the story with dramatic (and ultimately tragic) irony: Bruno lacks the knowledge and experience to understand the darker aspects of what is going on around him, and this ultimately contributes to his death.

• “How Children Grieve—Persistent myths may stand in the way of appropriate care and support for children”: 2015 Social Work Today article by Kate Jackson
• “Children in the heat of war”: 2001 APA article by Deborah Smith

Personal Response Prompt

Did the twist ending of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas surprise you? How did it make you feel? Do you think you would have responded similarly if Bruno had not died alongside Shmuel?

Teaching Suggestion: One common criticism of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is that it directs the reader’s grief away from the murder of Shmuel and millions of other Jews and towards the accidental killing of the German boy Bruno. A possible counterpoint to this hinges on the work’s allegorical nature: Bruno’s death symbolically implies that one cannot dehumanize a fellow person without dehumanizing oneself (though whether this requires that readers sympathize with, for example, Bruno’s father, and whether that sympathy is problematic are also debatable). Use students’ emotional responses to the novel’s ending to begin teasing out these complexities.

• “The Problem with ‘The Boy in the Striped Pajamas’”: Holocaust Exhibition and Learning Centre article arguing that the novel whitewashes history in its portrayal of Bruno and his family’s loss
• “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas author defends work from criticism by Auschwitz memorial”: 2020 Guardian article by Alison Flood

Post-Reading Analysis

Consider the title of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Why might Boyne have chosen this title? What is the significance of the “pajamas,” and which boy is the title referring to?

Teaching Suggestion: By the end of the novel, it becomes clear that the title could refer to either Shmuel or Bruno. In one sense, this ties into the symbolism of the pajamas, which intentionally strip those who wear them of their individuality: When Bruno puts them on, he becomes (to the outside world) simply another Jewish boy. However, the blurring of Bruno and Shmuel’s identities also underscores their shared humanity, implying that despite the distinctions Nazi ideology would draw between them, they are fundamentally the same. Use students’ responses to the title to discuss Bruno and Shmuel as mirror representations.

• “Two Uniforms”: PBS video discussion of a mural juxtaposing a concentration camp prisoner’s uniform with a Nazi uniform
• “Uniform and Clothing—The Holocaust Explained”: Discussion and images of concentration camp uniforms and badges from the Wiener Holocaust Library