How is Bruno represented in Chapter 11 of 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas'?
At the end of chapter 11, John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, represents Bruno as trying to act as more of an adult when in fact, he is still an unknowing child. In this part of the novel, Bruno meets his father’s boss, Hitler (also known as the Fury), for the first time. Bruno starts closely observing Hitler as soon as he walks through the door. Bruno may feel as if he is ensuring his family’s safety by judging Hitler, when in reality, Bruno truly has no idea why Hitler is there or what he intends to do. This is evident in the descriptive paragraph where Bruno says,
The Fury was far shorter than Father and not, Bruno supposed, quite as strong. He had dark hair, which was cut quite short, and a tiny mustache - so tiny in fact that Bruno wondered why he bothered with it at all or whether he had simply forgotten a piece when he was shaving.
This quote shows that Bruno is trying to seem older and wiser when he is actually confused and young. As he describes Hitler’s appearance, he is trying to add in a few of his points of his own to make it seem like he can analyze Hitler’s entire personality based on his looks. For example, “... or whether he had simply forgotten a piece when he was shaving.” This is the key part of this sentence showing that Bruno is trying to pretend like he knows what is happening; however, he is a nine-year-old and does not even shave yet. Another quote showing Bruno’s ignorance is when Hitler says a joke using a rhetorical question. “‘And these are my children, Fury,’ said Father as Gretel and Bruno stepped forward. ‘Gretel and Bruno.’ ‘And which is which?’ the Fury said, which made everyone laugh except for Bruno.” In this quotation, Bruno does not laugh at Hitler’s joke because he believes that his family needs protection even though Bruno does not fully understand what they need protection from. Another interpretation of this quotation could be that Bruno did not understand Hitler’s joke because of his young age and possible inability to understand rhetorical questions. John Boyne’s use of this rhetorical question was strategically perfectly placed to give the reader a subtle clue of Bruno’s innocence and ignorance as rhetorical questions and sarcasm are more complex features for younger children to understand. In this passage, John Boyne uses a third-person narrative style. This novel is also written in chronological order with limited narration meaning that Bruno does not know what will happen next, and we are learning the events of the novel with him. For example, we can only hear what he hears when his parents talk about dinner with Hitler. All Bruno can hear is:
... no choice, at least not if we want to continue’ said father. ‘… as if it’s the most natural thing in the world and it’s not, it’s just not…’ said Mother. ‘… what would happen is I would be taken away and treated like a …’ said Father. ‘… expect them to grow up in a place like …’ said Mother. ‘… and that’s an end to the matter, I don’t want to hear another word on the subject…’ said Father.
After Bruno hears these parts of his parents’ conversation, he has no thoughts or anything to say. Even after he comes home to Maria packing all of his belongings, the reader notices that Bruno still has no thoughts. This truly shows how innocent and young Bruno is, as he has absolutely no idea what the parts of their conversation could have meant. Lastly, the way in which John Boyne wrote The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas allows the reader to notice and feel Bruno’s need for believing he is stronger and older than he is, as this makes him feel as if he and his family are protected from the horrible events of World War II that were taking place in the world during this time. This shows a small amount of irony because Bruno is unaware that it is his own father who is partly to blame for these horrific events.
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