Boy In The Striped Pyjamas Community

Good morning/afternoon Mr. Webster and Year 8 Mahoney,

Community can be defined as a group of people living in a particular area that share the same belief, culture, and or rituals. The term community is evident in the novel, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, and can be related to a personal experience. Furthermore, I will be expressing my thoughts of community whilst linking it to a specific part of the novel, showing why and how I connect, and finally reflecting on myself and the community.

Becoming part of a new community is evident when Bruno moves to a new house in “Auschwitz” leaving friends and family behind at Berlin. Bruno is part of the Nazi community in a Jewish concentration camp however Bruno is not really aware of this. Bruno misses his friends deeply, and with no alternative, is ultimately open to creating new friendships. Despite all the odds, he meets a boy named Shmuel and finds it hard to understand the sadness that his new friend possesses and why his friend never invites him over to play. Bruno finds himself confused about the community that Shmuel is a part of although tries to broaden his understanding by asking further questions about Shmuel and his community. Shmuel on the other hand has a wider understanding of the difference between Bruno’s community and his own,

My personal experience establishes a similarity playing soccer for school. I was new to the school and I wasn’t used to the community’s values, beliefs and attitudes lead by the soccer coach which I did not necessarily support all of. I found myself having more in common with the fringe members of the soccer team. Bruno and Shmuel were both fringe members of their communities and didn’t allow the values, beliefs and attitudes of their communities hinder their friendship. Like Bruno and Shmuel, the ability to find commonality allows friendships to be made and