The Boy in the Striped PJ's - Chapter 2

• Using quotes, how is the new house described?

'The new house what only three floors: a top floor where all three bedrooms were and only one bathroom, a ground floor with a kitchen, a dining room and a new office for father (which, he presumed, had the same restrictions as the old one.), and a basement where the servants slept. Bruno says: "and now he was stuck up here in this cold, nasty house with three whispering maids and a waiter who was both unhappy and angry, where no one looked as if they could ever be cheerful again."

• How does it compare to the house in Berlin? How is this an example of juxtaposition?

Berlin- stood on a quiet street, neighboring other big houses, the house was enormous, many nooks and crannies to explore, many other streets with markets and laughing people
New house- stood all on its own in an empty, desolate place, no other houses, had only three floors, and no nooks and crannies to explore, just four doors to each of the three bedrooms and one bathroom, no other streets, no one strolling along or rushing around, and no shops, empty and cold.

• How is Bruno's reaction and discussion of the new house taken by the other characters? What is ironic about the way people treat Bruno's comments regarding the new house?

Bruno starts a conversation with his mother about moving back and how much he doesn't like it. At first his mother is fairly amused and calm about it all, but when she decided enough is enough and tells Bruno to help Maria unpack his bags, Bruno keeps complaining and eventually his mother snaps ending the conversation. I find this ironic as it is fairly obvious that his mother is very much wanting to go back but she knows that they cannot and therefore must tell off Bruno for something that she is believing in as well.When Bruno talks to Maria he does not get an awful lot of words out from Maria as she is either shy, or scared. When he asks Maria what she thinks of it all she says, "That's not for me to say, Master Bruno." She then starts to explain that it is because of her fathers job and Bruno quickly interrupts her rudely and starts that he's, "tired of hearing about fathers job" this gives me the feeling that Maria does not want to be here either but she must as she is the maid.

• Do you feel empathetic towards Bruno's new home? Why/why not?

I do feel empathy towards Bruno as he is just a child  and he is being moved away from his exciting, nice house, his three best friends for life, and all the exciting unexplored nooks and crannies. This house is described as being very cold, boring, miles away from Berlin and nothing to explore. I think that this has taken some of Bruno's childhood away as there is not much left for him to do and seeing as there are not any people around apart from the maids, butler and cook it does not look like he is going to be making any friends and making this bad situation any easier for himself.