In the novel ‘The boy in striped pyjamas,’ themes of loss of innocence, manipulation, discrimination, and propaganda are portrayed. Three characters in the novel, Father, Gretel and Bruno are all distinct kinds of puppets in their own sense, but are manipulated in very different manners. The first and most important ‘puppet’ in The Boy in striped pyjamas is “Father.” Ralf Hoess, Bruno’s Father, is Hitler’s pawn because he believes in Hitler and holds full trust in Hitler’s ideas and views. It is evident that Hitler has manipulated Bruno’s father into being a fierce patriot and doing anything for the Fatherland, when Ralf accepts the offer of being commandant of the death camp Auschwitz. Hitler needed loyal servants who would follow his every word and consequently …show more content…
I’ve never let a friend down like that before. Shmuel, I’m ashamed of myself. (pg 175)” This draws a defined line between Bruno and his father and the Nazi’s who mass murdered and hurt the Jewish population on a much larger scale but do not necessarily take responsibility for their terrible actions, and do not apologize. Bruno had only indirectly hurt Shmuel on a small scale, but feels immensely apologetic in his actions and asks for forgiveness. This shows that Bruno is not a puppet, because a Nazi loyal to Hitler would have never shown such and honest repentance for their actions, no matter how small it was. A large portion of the characters in ‘The boy in striped pyjamas’ are puppets. Father is doing Hitler’s every bidding, while Gretel is supporting the Nazi Regime, and they are blind sheep led by Hitler for much of the story. Their characters are shallow, and they don’t think beyond what they are ordered to do, and what they hear. Father and Gretel are safe by pledging their loyalty to Hitler. However, the fate of those who break away from the rules, the ones that end up severing the ties, is vastly different and much more
In a tragic moment, Weisel witnessed his father get beaten by the Kapo, and he reacted, by saying, "I felt anger at that moment, it was not directed at the Kapo but at my father. Why couldn't he have avoided Idek's wrath? That was what life in a concentration camp had made of me..."(pg 54) This quote reminds readers of the reality in these brutal camps, where many betrayed loved ones to increase their own slim chances of survival. The idea of abandoning his father to increase his own chance of survival tempts Weisel’s mind as he writes, "If only I were relieved of this responsibility, I could use all my strength to fight for my own survival, to take care only of myself.”(pg 106) This quote explores the perplexing moral dilemmas faced by many prisoners, who, unlike Wiesel, acted upon their temptations, disregarded their morals, and betrayed their loved ones in the act of survival.
The bond between a father and a son is perhaps a thing of beauty. It is sometimes what bonds them together to survive horrible occasions, such as the Holocaust that Elie Wiesel and his father went through. Throughout the march to the Birkenau concentration camps, some sons and fathers took advantage of their father's’ old age and used it to steal or betray them. This displays how dehumanization plays a role in breaking apart a family bond that was instilled in their hearts on their first days of humanity.
These conditions cause Elie and his father’s relationship to change. During their time in the concentration camps, Elie and his father experience a reversal in roles. Upon entering the camps, Elie and his father demonstrate a normal father and son relationship. In a normal father son relation, is the father protects and gives advice to the son, and the son is dependant and reliant on the father. Elie and his father demonstrate this relationship to extremes throughout the beginning of their time in the camps.
In both stories the protagonist have and feel as if they have little to no power in the direction of which their life is heading. Shmuel the Jewish boy that Bruno befriends in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas does not really talk about or try to explain to Bruno what is really happening to him or even to try and ask Bruno why his people are doing this to his people. Bruno and Shmuel do
In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, Eliezer Wiesel narrates the legendary tale of what happened to him and his father during the Holocaust. In the introduction, Wiesel talks about how his village in Seghet was never worried about the war until it was too late. Wiesel’s village received advanced notice of the Germans, but the whole village ignored it. Throughout the entire account, Wiesel has many traits that are key to his survival in the concertation camps.
Families being torn apart, being ripped from everything they’ve known growing up and being isolated within a camp where no one truly knows what’s happening to them. That’s what was going on in the life of the Jews during WWII, they were being treated as if they were no longer human, being tossed in concentration camps and given just a number to identify them, completely taking away their self importance. The atrocities that occurred during the Holocaust are being subtly portrayed in the movie “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas,”directed by Mark Herman, a story told from the eyes of an eight year old boy named Bruno and his unlikely friendship with a Jewish boy named Shmuel. The movie tells the story of how a young boy begins to realize what kind of solder his father truly is and what is going on during WWII as his parents had kept him enclosed in this idea that all is well in the world. Through the use of imagery, colors, and pathos Mark Herman successfully portrays the horrors of the Holocaust through the innocent and peculiar friendship of two nine year old boys, Bruno and Shmuel.
Consequently, adversity results in inhumane activities that lower a person’s morals, values, and esteem. Adversity promotes loss of self-identity and self-belonging. Upon arriving at Auschwitz, Elie and his father faced a life or death situation. Elie chose to change his identity to escape death; he did this reluctantly. Sadly even at fifteen, Elie had learned that the wrong character could kill him, which his Jewish ethnicity nearly had already.
This was wh it was common to lose one’s self and descen into madness at Auschwitz, it was an escape from the reality and torture of the truth of their situation and fate. By being there for each other, Elie Wiesel and his dad can face their lives without drowning in it 's hopelessness. Both father and son have reason to give up and die, but the existence of the their love for each other provides enough reason to persevere. Broken from dehumanization and fueled by self preservation, Elie Wiesel is forced to give up his love for his father in trade for his survival. “He continued to call me…
The Nazi wanted more power, they were very aggressive and invaded many countries. Elie Wiesel, the author the autobiography Night shares what it was like and what he had to go through during the Holocaust. One important part of Night is Elie's relationship with his father. In the book, Elie feels close to his father, but after time they start to fall apart. On page 112 Elie states, "And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last!".
Fischl, he evokes the tonality for the little Polish boy as discomfort. This increases our culpability. His conviction to depict his piece of art was so the world can apprehend the Jews’ physical and mental difficulties they went through in the gruesome camps. Fischl wants us to open our eyes and perceive the immoral acts the Nazis did. In Fischl’s novel, The Little Polish Boy With His Arms Up, he declares, “I am sorry that It was you and not me.”
Night Critical Abdoul Bikienga Johann Schiller once said “It is not flesh and blood, but the heart which makes us fathers and sons”. But what happens when the night darkens our hearts our hearts? The Holocaust memoir Night does a phenomenal job of portraying possibly the most horrifying outcomes in such a situation. Through subtle and effective language, Wiesel is able to put into words the fearsome experiences he and his father went through in Auschwitz during the Holocaust. In his holocaust memoir, Night, Elie Wiesel utilizes imagery to show the effect that self-preservation can have on father son relationships.
Through contrasting the lives of Elie Wiesel, and the fictional character of Giosue from Life is Beautiful, in the concentration camp, the evolution of the father-son relationship over time can be seen. Before the war had come to the forefront, both the lives of Wiesel and Giosue are similar in the basic sense. Their relationship with their father was, for the most part, one of reliance -- a bond similar to that of a teacher and a learner. Through the experiences documented in Night, Wiesel tells of how he saw his father as a leader, and as a protector. Wiesel remembers, “his [father 's] advice on public and even private matters was frequently sought” (4).
Nearing the end of his time in the camps, Wiesel's father was unfortunately dying of dysentery, causing Wiesel to worry incessantly and sacrifice some of his own rations for his father. As a struggling young boy himself, Wiesel did occasionally wish that he could forfeit the responsibility of his father, though he was always remorseful afterwards. As his father approached his deathbed, a fellow inmate advised Wiesel to remember his circumstances: “‘Don’t forget that you are in a concentration camp. In this place, it is every man for himself, and you cannot think of others’” (Wiesel 110).
This was the beginning of their friendship created during tough times of the Holocaust. The races of Jews and Germans were separated after World War I and Jews were put into concentration camps run by the Nazis. This quote shows that Bruno did not want to disagree with his friend Shmuel even though they did not share the same ideas. Both boys knew the differences they had, but they put them aside and became friends. In
William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies does not simply describe the life of a group of children stranded on an island, but rather it is a representation of the qualities of human nature. As the novel progresses, the children grow deeper into savagery, performing actions that would be often criticised in society. The absence of law and order devolves even those that attempt to recreate it, like Ralph and Piggy. In this novel, Golding uses children to answer the question whether or not humans are born inanimately good or truly evil. Golding answers this question by symbolising the main characters and their descent into savagery.