Friday, May 29, 2015

What does the house in Berlin look like in Boyne's The Boy in the Striped Pajamas?

Bruno absolutely loves his house in Berlin.  As a result, the narrator happily describes this house to the reader at the very beginning of the novel.  Therefore, the reader learns quite a bit about this part of the setting in Chapter 1 of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas



It was a very beautiful house and had five floors in total, if you included the basement, ... and if you added the little room at the top of the house with the slanted windows where Bruno could see right across Berlin if he stood up on his tiptoes and held on to the frame tightly.



This should confirm for the reader that Bruno's family is very wealthy.  They own a five-story home within the city of Berlin.  Bruno is enamored of this home.  He is especially enamored of two particular things:  the long banister and the proximity to his grandparents.



He wondered whether the new house ... would have as fine banister to slide down as this one did.  For the banister in this house stretched from the very top floor--just outside the little room ... to the ground floor, just in front of the two enormous oak doors.



Bruno goes on to say that he liked nothing better than a good slide down that fabulous banister.  This should not be a surprise for the reader.  A slide down an amazing banister can be a wonderful ride for a nine-year-old boy.  Further, these paragraphs hold marvelous descriptions of setting.  The reader is given many specifics even down to the "enormous oak door" of the front of the house. 


Unfortunately for Bruno, the new house near Auschwitz looks nothing like his home in Berlin.  Bruno's feelings about his old home are directly contrasted with his feelings about his new home.

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