The Devil's Arithmetic And The Boy In The Striped Pajamas

Sometimes small actions people decide to do can have a major impact on the world, commonly known as the butterly effect. One small thought that anyone takes into action can help or even hurt millions of people, such as the tragic event known as the Holocaust, which has been written about in several cases. In the story, The Devil’s Arithmetic, by Jane Yolen, we are put into the mindset of a girl who travels back and time to experience the horrors of the death camps. Another fictional novel, The Boy In the Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne, we are placed in the curious brain of a child who tries to understand what the world won’t tell him about what lies behind the fence. Aside from fiction, the article “Teens Against Hitler,” by Lauren Tarshis,

Just like Teens, the article “Betrayed by America”, by Kristian Lewis, we learn about how Japanese Americans lived in camps during WWII, and how they made the best of their lives. These pieces of writing all demonstrate a similar theme of how the Holocaust had a negative impact on the people that were involved, and they do so by using the point of view of fictional characters, and descriptive real life stories of some of the people that were affected. Common ways writers distribute the message about the Holocaust is through historical fiction novels. In both novels, The Devil’s Arithmetic, by Jane Yolen, and The Boy In the Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne, the authors use the techniques of putting us in the perspective of the main character. On page 54 in Pajamas, author Boyne writes our protagonist saying, “ ‘Heil Hitler’... which he presumed was another way of saying ‘Well, goodbye for now’ ”. Many statements like this throughout the story represents the misunderstanding our character has with very important matters. Being at such a young age, Bruno doesn’t know many phrases or their meanings, leading his innocent mind to think of a rational solution, what many did when they didn’t know what would

As we see on page 8 of the “Teens” article, Tarshis writes intriguing subtitles such as “Terrible Rumors”. The simple phrases such as this one give us a general idea of what information they will take in. It gives us insight on how people that were viewed as different were talked about, and how they barely struggled to live in a world that was against them. On page 6 in the “Betrayed” article, we see similar headings such as, “Mistrust and Suspicion”. In a similar way, these few words can spark millions of thoughts for the reader on how people lived in these times of war. People couldn’t trust them just because of where they came from, or what they believed in. They suffered for things that many of them could change, making life miserable. In “Betrayed”, we see other ways that the author Lewis delivers this message, such as description in the poem on page 9, with repeated words such as “There was no poetry… useless you could say mud was poetry.” This small detail Lewis decided to include delivers a powerful message on the dull times spent behind the cold walls of the camp. Japanese americans that were imprisoned made the best of what little they had, staying optimistic and hoping they would eventually leave the prison. We also see in “Teens”, that Tarshs uses sensory details to inform us