The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

1.

THE BOY IN THE
STRIPED PYJAMAS
Prepared and designed by student Andrey Emelyanov

2.

“Their lost voices must
continue to be heard.”
• The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a 2006 Holocaust
novel by Irish novelist John Boyne. The plot
concerns a German boy named Bruno whose father
is the commandant of Auschwitz and Bruno's
friendship with a Jewish detainee named Shmuel.
• Boyne wrote the entire first draft in two and a half
days, without sleeping much; but also said that he
was quite a serious student of Holocaust-related
literature for years before the idea for the novel
even came to him.

3.

• John Boyne suddenly came up with an idea for his
novel about two boys sitting on opposite sides of a
fence. He wrote every day, seven days a week, on
the recommendation of Malcolm Bradbury. He
wrote the first draft of The Kid in the Striped
Pajamas in two and a half days, then went on to
work on ten different versions before submitting the
manuscript to an editor. However, expert Gerd Bayer
warns that readers should not rely on the "factual
veracity" of the novel's text.
Novel
concept

4.

Plot
• The story follows a nine-year-old boy named Bruno living
in Berlin during World War II. His father, Ralph, is
promoted and becomes commander of the Auschwitz
death camp. Bruno does not want to move to Auschwitz,
but soon finds a new friend, a Jewish boy, Shmuel, whom
he regularly visits and brings food to. Ultimately, Bruno
and Shmuel try to infiltrate the camp to find Shmuel's
father. However, they find themselves on a march of all
prisoners leading to the gas chamber. The narrator leaves
Bruno's fate unclear, but his clothes were found later.
Bruno's mother, Elsa, searches for him unsuccessfully,
and his father experiences deep guilt and grief.
Eventually, the camp is liberated by Allied forces.
The book ends with the phrase "Of course, all of this happened a long time ago
and nothing like that could ever happen again. Not in this day and age".

5.

• So, I like Boyne’s book because I find it interesting
and it hooks the reader straight away.
My favorite part is understanding the friendship
between Shmuel and Bruno, I particularly like how
Shmuel tries to hide the horrible truth from his friend
not to make him feel upset and sorry for the people in
the camp who are suffering also because of his father.
It is as if the two boys are brothers thanks to their
young but true friendship.
• In conclusion, I highly recommend this book to
every kind of audience because it talks about a sad
truth through a simple and childlike story. It makes
you reflect about the atrocities which happened in
that period and why they shouldn’t happen again.
Even if it uses a
simple story, it
expresses deep
meanings.

6.

THANKS FOR YOUR
ATTENTION!