History Literature / TheBoyInTheStripedPyjamas

** Bruno not knowing ''who Hitler was'' is implausible to say the least. Thanks to the exhaustive efforts of Nazi propaganda, children were taught from the earliest age possible to regard Hitler as a sort of living deity, singing songs of praise for him and wishing good health upon him. Also, Bruno's father is an SS officer, the social standing of which would make Hitler's image inescapable.

** Bruno not knowing ''who Hitler was'' is implausible to say the least.

*** Notice the color of Bruno's pyjamas in two scenes. They're white, blue, and vertically striped, [[spoiler:exactly like the Jewish camp uniform he wears to get into Auschwitz]].

** At first, Bruno believes the Jewish inmates living on the camp with Shumel are "farmers" rather than inmates.

* AdultFear: Natch, considering it's a WWII story.

** Bruno thinks the Jewish inmates living on the camp with Shumel are "farmers" rather than inmates.
** Bruno thinks the uniforms Shmuel, Pavel and the other Jewish inmates wear are "pyjamas", and that the tag numbers on them are part of a "game".
** Shumel refuses to play football with Bruno not out of rudeness but because it is too dangerous while Bruno sees no problem with it, oblivious Shumel is trying to warn him they could get caught.
** Bruno watches the propaganda film his father, grandfather, Kotler and other Nazis are watching and literally believes the camp is like a place for enjoyment, only for him to see the true picture of the camp near the end of the film.

** Arguably the most infamous one is the end, when Bruno and Shmuel [[spoiler:are literally led on the long walk to their demise in the gas chambers and believe they are going for a "shower", although it can be argued that the Jewish soldiers simply made it up so there would be no panic, as well as the implication they had to use a cover story to hide the fact everyone is getting executed]].

* DisappearedDad: Shmuel's father literally disappears as Shmuel claims he went away with other inmates and hasn't returned. This indirectly suggests his father was sent to the gas chambers.

** There's a subplot where Bruno's mom has a flirt and maybe an affair with a teenage Nazi lieutenant. Bruno's 13-year-old sister also flirts with him, but Bruno doesn't make any connections and thinks Gretel is being silly and that his dad is angry with the young man for some reason unconnected to his mother.

*** Before Bruno leaves his old home, he plays mock soldiers with his friends, with him being the final fake casualty. [[spoiler:Bruno dies in the last five minutes of the film]].
*** When Bruno's family move in to their new home, Bruno is seen sitting on the stairs, lost in thought over his new surroundings. The camera is framed so that the black stair railings are in front of Bruno, resembling him being in a prison. [[spoiler:In the climax, Bruno goes through Auschwitz's gates, for the first and last time.]]
*** While retrieving his football in the dark attic, Bruno is horrified by a pile of Gretel's naked dolls, stacked altogether on one side. [[spoiler:In Auschwitz, Bruno and Shmuel meet their makers by being forced to strip and go into a confined, locked room, with other Jewish prisoners, in the pretense that they will have a shower. Instead, poison gas is used to kill everyone inside.]]

* SayMyName: Ralf yells Bruno's name [[spoiler:just after the gas chamber he's in starts working]].

* AmbiguousDisorder: Bruno, really, is strikingly oblivious. Maybe over-protection can account for some of it, but he apparently can't hear words right or understand that a concentration camp is a bad place to [[spoiler:sneak into]] even when looking right at it. Even when talking to one who is an inmate of it almost every day for a year. {{Foreshadowed}} by one of Gretel's friends insisting he must be six instead of nine.

** Bruno thinks the uniform Shmuel, Pavel and the other Jewish inmates wear are "pyjamas" and that the tag numbers are part of a "game".

** The book ends with [[spoiler:Shmuel and Bruno being gassed in the "showers" and dying]]. And then there's the epilogue, where [[spoiler:Ralf somehow figures out what happened to his son (who's been missing ''for the past year'') before American soldiers show up to the camp and take him out]]. Considering this takes place at Auschwitz, it's [[JustifiedTrope justified]].

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Bruno's father Ralf is the commander of an extermination camp; his own son is eventually killed in one of its gas chambers.]]

* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler:After sending so many children to gas chambers, Ralf believes Bruno's death to be this for him.]]

* IronicEcho: Bruno sees a propaganda movie telling people how wonderful and happy the Jews are in their camps, and shows a clip of happy children dancing on stepping stones surrounded by singing dancing people. After entering the camp himself he finds the same stepping stones in the movie, and can't help but pause at the realization of how wrong the film was.

*** When Bruno's family move in to their new home, Bruno is seen sitting on the stairs, lost in thought over his new surroundings. The camera is framed so that the black stair railings are in front of Bruno, [[spoiler:resembling him being in a prison. In the climax, Bruno goes through Auschwitz's gates, for the first and last time]].

''The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas'' is a book by John Boyne about a young boy of nine named Bruno, who loved to play with his friends and go to school, among other fun things to do in Germany in the 1940s. [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany Yeah,]] ''[[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust those]]'' [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII 1940s.]] That is, until his father's job forces his family to move to Poland, particularly to an odd camp called "[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Out With]]", which consists of a small house with an odd fence beside it. His older sister, Gretel, informs him that it will only be "for the foreseeable future", which she figures to be about two weeks.

It was adapted into a film starring Creator/AsaButterfield, Creator/VeraFarmiga and Creator/DavidThewlis in 2008.

** The book ends with [[spoiler:Shmuel and Bruno being gassed in the "showers" and dying]]. And then there's the epilogue, where [[spoiler:Ralf somehow figures out what happened to his son (who's been missing ''for the past year'') before American soldiers show up to take him out]]. Considering this takes place at Auschwitz, it's [[JustifiedTrope justified]].

* UncertainDoom: Lieutenant Kurt Kotler. The last time he is mentioned is by Ralph, who says Kotler was sent to battle in the East Front, and it's not confirmed if he survives the war, but considering this was the most brutal battle that took place in World War II, his chances aren't good.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The Auschwitz complex actually had two major camps -- one extermination, one concentration/work [[note]] for processing the arrivals at the extermination camp and manning the Siemens and I.G. Farben synthetic rubber & petroleum plants in the town. Both camps were built by the concentration camp workforce [[/note]]. There was only one series of experimental gassings (of Soviet POW) in the concentration camp, after which the test-chamber was re-purposed and all incoming prisoners were handled at the extermination camp.

** There are certain scenes in the movie that foreshadow [[spoiler:Bruno's failed attempt to find Shmuel's father by dressing up as a Jewish prisoner, and eventually dying by {{deadly gas}}]]:

*** When Bruno's family move in to their new home, Bruno is seen sitting on the stairs, lost in thought over his new surroundings. The camera is framed so that the black stair railings are in front of Bruno, [[spoiler:resembling him being in a prison. In the last act, Bruno goes through Auschwitz's gates, for the first and last time]].
*** While retrieving his football in the dark attic, Bruno is horrified by a pile of Gretel's naked dolls, stacked altogether on one side. [[spoiler:In Auschwitz, Bruno and Shmuel meet their makers by being forced to strip and go into a confined, locked room, with other Jewish prisoners, in the pretense that they will have a shower. Instead, poison gas is used to kill everyone inside]].

*** Notice the colour of Bruno's pyjamas in two scenes. They're white, blue, and vertically striped, [[spoiler:exactly like his outfit to get into Auschwitz]].

* ForWantOfANail: Kotler orders Pavel to take Bruno to the back garden despite it being out of bounds to get a tyre for a swing. Had Bruno not suggested he wanted to make a swing he may not have went to the back garden and discovered he can fit through a shed window that leads him into the woods towards the camp where he meets and befriends Shumel.

* PrejudiceAesop: The book and movie not only have the standard "persecuting minorities is bad" Aesop, but also that persecuting others can come back to bite you: [[spoiler: In both the book and the movie, Bruno is accidentally gassed, and his father (in the book) realizes he had it coming]].

** Ralf's mother, Nathalie, herself. When her husband and daughter in law were proud of Ralf, Ralf's mother was horrified, questioning where she went wrong and pointing out the atrocities Ralf was participating in, as well as pointing out everything the Nazi uniform stood for.

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Justified, as Bruno and to a lesser extent Shumel are only 8-year-old boys in the Holocaust:

* ComingOfAgeStory: Bruno starts to learn about the horrors of racism and intolerance through his friendship with Shmuel. [[spoiler:But it's ultimately averted, because Bruno is gassed to death.]]
* CultureBlind: Bruno is a nine-year-old German boy growing up in UsefulNotes/NaziGermany who is so naive, he doesn't even know who Hitler is.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Bruno's father is the boss of an extermination camp; his own son is killed in its gaambers.]]
* HowlOfSorrow: In the movie, when [[spoiler:Elsa and Gretel find Bruno's clothing outside the fence of the camp and his tell-tale tunnel under the fence and at least one gas chamber is in operation]], they guess what has happened and collapse in anguish.

* LosingAShoeInTheStruggle: While not a straightforward struggle, Bruno is reluctant to take off his shoes and socks when pretending to be a Jewish boy, as he is horrified by the idea of being barefoot in the mud. However, he soon starts to enjoy it. This is only in the book, as in the film, Shmuel is always wearing shoes too, so there is no evidence that the Jewish boys would be barefoot.
* NothingIsScarier: As if [[spoiler:Bruno and Shmuel's fate]] wasn't horrific enough, there's a chilling lack of detail in the film, attributed mainly to its PG-13 rating. [[spoiler:Immediately after the deadly gas infiltrates the chamber, the place goes dark and it cuts away. The final shot of the movie is a panning-away shot of the now silent chamber.]]

* SayMyName: Ralf yells Bruno's name [[spoiler:just after the gas chamber he's in starts working.]]

* TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler:Bruno and Shmuel, though their relationship is platonic, not romantic.]]

* WouldHurtAChild: When Kotler catches Shmuel eating food, he tells him they will "have a little chat about rats who steal". Shmuel is later seen with a swollen black eye strongly implying Kotler beated him up.

* KidsAreCruel: Averted with Bruno. A DeletedScene from the film shows Bruno watching in shock and confusion when his group of friends make rat noises at a Jewish passerby.
* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler:After sending so many children to gas chambers, Bruno's father believes Bruno's death in the gas chamber to be this for him.]]

* NothingIsScarier: [[spoiler:As if Bruno and Shmuel's fate wasn't horrific enough, there's a chilling lack of detail, attributed mainly to its PG-13 rating. Immediately after the deadly gas infiltrates the chamber, the place goes dark and it cuts away. The final shot of the movie is a panning-away shot of the now silent chamber.]]

** The book ends with [[spoiler:Shmuel and Bruno being gassed in the "showers" and dying. And then there's the epilogue, where Ralf somehow figures out what happened to his son. Who's been missing ''for the past year''. Considering this takes place at Auschwitz, it's [[JustifiedTrope justified]]]].

** The movie is not any better, as it modified the original ending such that [[spoiler:Bruno's parents do realize their son is missing and may be within the extermination camp. Ralf runs into the camp only to find that one of the gas chambers has already begun working. Elsa and Gretel find Bruno's clothes outside the camp and completely break down in tears]].