Discrimination on the Other Side of the Fence
The Merriam Webster dictionary defines discrimination as prejudiced or prejudicial outlook, action, or treatment (Merriam Webster). Nine year old Shmuel was discriminated by the Nazis and put in a concentration camp at Auschwitz for being Jewish. Bruno, a German soldier’s son, met Shmuel outside the concentration camp’s gate where their friendship began. In the novel The Boy In The Striped Pajamas, written by John Boyne, the most significant theme out of innocence, friendship, discrimination, and loneliness is discrimination; discrimination against Jewish people is the reason the Jewish people are in Auschwitz.
Discrimination was prevalent in the novel because the Jewish had to serve the Germans and take orders from German soldiers. Even though
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In the text it states, “Lieutenant Kotler grew very angry with Pavel and no one - not Bruno, not Gretel, not Mother and not even Father - stepped in to stop him doing what he did next, even though none of them could watch.”(pg.148). Pavel accidentally spilled wine on Lieutenant Kotler at dinner so he beat him, but no one helped him or said anything.
The most meaningful reason discrimination was the main point of the novel is the Jewish people were separated from the Germans and sent to concentration camps, like Shmuel and Pavel were. Even if discrimination was the most crucial theme, friendship was also important because Shmuel and Bruno developed a great friendship in the novel. In addition, “ He wore the same striped pajamas that all the other people on that side of the fence wore, and a striped cloth cap on his head.”(pg.106). Shmuel and Bruno met on different sides of the fence because Shmuel and all the other Jewish people were separated from the Germans. Bruno was a German and met Shmuel accidentally while