Ethan's Blog

After several months, Bruno finally settles into a routine at Auschwitz, thanks to his new friendship with Shmuel. Kotler provides further evidence that he and Mother are engaging in an affair, either physical or emotional when Father is away. When this happened it kinda made me disgusted because how can you cheat on someone that provides you with everything. The first time that Bruno has returned to Berlin since leaving for Auschwitz. He never got to say goodbye to his Grandmother, and she never reconciled with Father before she died. Grandmother remains the only one in the family to speak out against Father’s Nazism and her death marked with a wreath from Hitler no less shows how impotent her disapproval really was in the end. This is really sad to me because how pathetic and your children’s bosses be, it shows how much their country actually cares about them.

Bruno and Gretels conversation was a very interesting conversation, they talk about Bruno’s “imaginary” friend which is actually shmule. He is trying to cover up the fact that he talking to a stranger. This is pretty interesting to me because he is becoming a really good liar, if I lied I’d get caught right away. They seem to be getting closer like most siblings should. Every siblings have fights and if you don’t then there is certainly problems. There is always a black cat in the family and gretel is starting to think that it is not her which is funny.

Shmuel was like other Jewish victims of the Holocaust he was forced to wear the Star of David to show his religion. Bruno’s Father wears a swastika to show his allegiance to the Nazi party. Though Bruno says he wishes he could wear an armband Shmuel associates the armband with his imprisonment, and points out that Bruno has never been forced to wear one against his will. Even before he came to Auschwitz it’s clear that Shmuel grew up less rich and sheltered than Bruno. Bruno enjoys his secret friendship with Shmuel and that neither his parents and Gretel had jurisdiction. Despite his budding relationship with Shmuel, Bruno still fails to grasp the fact that Shmuel is a prisoner whose life is incredibly difficult this is illustrated by the fact that Bruno eats much of the food that he is going to bring to Shmuel simply because he is hungry and is used to always having more than enough. Bruno is finally looking for the truth about Pavel but he still fails to connect the dots again reading as a younger or simpler character than an average nine year old.

 

 

In pages 104-125 Bruno goes to explore the fence, finally finding some kind of excitement in his new home. It is in this chapter 10 the plot point of his story, as Bruno finally meets one of the people in the striped pajamas. In chapter 11 Bruno now recalls a time back in Berlin before he moved to Auschwitz when the whole family flew into disaster over a dinner that Hitler was to attend. The girl that Mother speculates is Eva Braun Hitlers long time girlfriend. Bruno continues to mispronounce the Fuhrer or leader as Hitler was called as the Fury.

In chapter 8-9  there was a flashback to family Christmas the year before everyone congratulates Bruno’s father on his new uniform and new position except for his grandmother she’s ashamed of what he does, and storms out of the house, but not before letting her son know that seeing him in uniform makes her want to tear her eyes out. In the present Bruno writes grandma a letter about how unhappy he is and everything he’s seen on the other side of the fence. Bruno’s father decides that Bruno and Gretel will have a tutor. The tutor likes history and geography, but not reading and art, which are Bruno’s favorites. He tells Bruno he’ll learn all about the wrongs that have been done to him. What these chapters have thought me are appropriate what you have, nothing is permanent in this life so live it to the fullest. What the grandmother did was completely justified considering he kills Jews for a living. The tutor is really kinda self centered because all he does is talk about himself. These chapters are really important because it gives us a little more insight on Bruno’s family.

In chapter 6-7 it talks about how Bruno and the maid getting closer and explaining how they feel about moving. The maid opened up to Bruno and tell him what his father has done for her. Bruno cuts his leg open when he fell off a swing. I and really surprised the maid is being so open with Bruno if I was the maid then I would just do my job and talk to nobody.  Bruno finally meets a Jew for the first time, he is only a potato peeler. The Jew says he is a doctor and Bruno does not believe him, but when his mom walks in she orders him to stop talking to him. The mom is being so mean to the Jew, she doesn’t even let him get any words out. Then she demands the Jew to clean Bruno’s cut. That’s a little more nice than telling him to stop talking. I feel like the moral of the chapters is not everyone is defined by their looks, this is shown through the Jew and the maid.

So in chapters 4-5 it talks about the kids first time seeing the Jewish slaves to which the dad replies they are not people. The dad and the son talk about the new house and end up saying good bye with a hail Hitler. If I was the boy I would just have to follow his commands and not talk back or anything. This teaches me that we take what we have for granted and don’t really appreciate the little things. In the kids defense he is only a child and doesn’t really know anything.

In chapters 1-2 is about how a boy named Bruno is just living a normal life in a pretty big house. One day his mom tells him they are going to move out of Berlin. That must have been pretty tough for him to cope, there must have been so many emotions running through his head at the time. I know I would be terrified to move because I would not be able to adapt to a new environment. He had to leave his friends and I know I could never leave my friends they mean the world to me. This boys story has helped me appreciate the little thing in life like living in a nice area.