Question

Read the quote below, in which Grandmother speaks to Bruno's father. "'I wonder-is this where I went wrong with you, Ralf?' she said. 'I wonder if all the performances I made you give as a boy led you to this. Dressing up like a puppet on a string.'" John Boyne, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Interpret this quote by using what you learned about symbolism (clothing) or performance vs. Reality. Use two or more complete sentences.

Answer 1

Answer and Explanation:

In "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" we can see a strong symbolism in relation to the clothes presented in the work. The author tries to focus on describing the clothes of the people in a very detailed way, promoting the understanding of what that character represents in that world and in that situation.

We can see this first, when Bruno's father changes his uniform. Now he wears a uniform that marks him as a Nazi soldier, who fights for the goals of this new political trend. His uniform therefore represents the superiority that Nazism wished to present, but which disgusted some people who opposed this type of thinking, such as Bruno's grandmother, who did not see her son as an honorable soldier, but a puppet for the government's nasty desires.

We can see the symbolism of the clothes through the uniform of the Jews imprisoned in the concentration camps. Striped pajamas were used to highlight their inferiority, marking them as different and unworthy. When Bruno wants to wear pajamas, he wants to try on a more comfortable outfit, but he doesn't understand what the pajamas mean. Even so, the author uses this moment, to show Bruno's dissatisfaction about who he is and to show that despite the Nazis' attempts, the Jews were just like any other human being.