The Boy in the Striped Pajamas BOOKCLUB- 4º ESO

It was so nice to share time together with candys and books at the main Fuenllana´s Library room yesterday evening. And it was  specially nice because they all spoke in english about literature. Soledad Mateos and her students of 4th degree read this term the John Boyne´s book "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas".

We could discuss the relationship between Bruno and his sister Gretel. Why did Bruno seem younger than nine. His inocence. We talked about the slow action in the book until chapter 11th when Bruno and Shmuel meet each other.


We pointed Bruno´s feelings and his encounters with secondary characters like Pavel, Maria, Lt. Kotler. We talked largely about how Bruno’s grandmother reacted to her son’s military role.

Sole explained well how hard is the military style of life and a living under ORDERS. Bruno issues a protest about leaving Berlin. His father responds, “Do you think that I would have made such a success of my life if I hadn’t learned when to argue and when to keep my mouth shut and follow orders?” (p. 49)

Bruno is simply mispronouncing the real words (FURY / OUT-WITH), but the author is clearly asking the reader to consider a double meaning to these words. We discussed for a while the use of this wordplay as a literary device.

We finally talked about the  message of the novel. Jews, Racism, Nacionalism.

And closed the bookclub time asking to think more deeply about the dresses in the filthy striped pajamas Title of this novel. When Bruno remembers something his grandmother once said. “You wear the right outfit and you feel like the person you’re pretending to be.” (p, 205) How is this true for Bruno? What about his father? What does this statement contribute to the overall meaning of the story?

Thanks for coming Girls, you made my day!

Biblioteca Fuenllana

Beatriz Rodríguez-Rabadán Benito

biblioteca@fuenllana.net

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