Boy in the Striped PJ's Chapter 4

(pg 31) How does the author continue to use juxtaposition in regards to the two housing situations? (the Jews and Bruno's family) "But from this side of the house the view was very different" this shows that the two sides of the house are extremely different. On Gretel side it is all flowers and forest and nice swings and just a nice view in general. But on Bruno's side it is very different to the side of his sisters as his is of the concentration  camp and this would be a terrible view. This is using Juxtaposition greatly as it is comparing the two sides of the house. The again it says, "About twenty feet further along from the garden and the flowers and the bench with the plaque on it, everything changed". This uses Juxtaposition as it compares the garden and the concentration camp and the difference between the two.

What is it about the children that makes it difficult to understand exactly what they see through the window and just how bad it is? Bruno is not very phased at all about the housing situation as he is only a child and does not understand it. He finds it odd but does not question as he thinks it is something normal. Gretel seems a lot more shocked when she first sees it and is very hesitant too look in the first place as she thinks it might be something terrible. It hard to understand exactly what they see through the window because they have two very different views on what it is and why it's there. Gretel is shocked and fairly scared and Bruno seems fine about it and wants to meet the children and play with them.

Summarise how Gretel describes what she sees. One of the first things she says is, "And where are the girls?" this shows that she knows it is not right. She knows something is very odd about it and does not understand at all what it is and what kind of people are behind the fence. She see's that they are not all boys, there were father, and grandfathers and all of them were men. She finds it very hard to avert her eyes once she has started looking at them and is in awe and confusion about the facility. it says in the book, 'she opened her mouth to say something, but when she did she realized that she couldn't find any words to express her surprise'. She also thinks that it is the country side but Bruno quickly tells her that she is wrong and she accepts this still puzzled about what it could possibly be.

What does Gretel attempt to do when she sees the Concentration Camp? How does she attempt to understand what she sees? She is trying to summarize what exactly she is seeing because she has no idea and she is extremely shocked. She tries to talk but cannot because of her surprise. 'She was twelve years old and was considered to be one of the brightest girls in her class, so she squeezed her lips together and narrowed her eyes and forced her eyes to understand what she was looking at.' She wants to say something factual back and tell Bruno what it is as she thinks she is extremely bright as explained by Bruno but she does not know herself. This obviously really frustrates Gretel as she wants to tell Bruno.

Is her attempt successful? Does she convince Bruno that she understands? What does she eventually give in to? What does she say/or not say? (pg 32) She does not talk and tell him what she thinks it is. In fact she actually admits she doesn't understand what it is when she says, "I don't understand, who would build such a nasty looking place?" This gives into Bruno and tell him that she does not understand either. She looks around the camp from the window and notices various things such as the shape and look of the huts, the sandy ground and the large ugly buildings. She does not say this to Bruno but she is trying to make sense of the place by looking at the various things inside the fence. At the end she tries to put together a conclusion and say that it is 'the country side', but Bruno quickly dismisses this and tells her this is ridiculous. She is trying to convince herself whilst trying to convince Bruno at the same time. She really does not understand this place at all.

What can't the children do when they see the Concentration Camp that the adults seem to be able to do? Which group can understand what they see? Why do you think that this is the case? She can't express and talk about what it is because of her child innocence and she really doesn't understand what it is. The parents think that it is winning them the war and giving them back their jobs thinking that they are finally working and they are fairly out of the depression. They just end up boarding over Bruno's window so that he cannot see out of his window. adults can rationalize the evil as it is in the long run helping them return to their former glory.

How does the author use understatement through the children's description of the Concentration Camp? They describe what they see and they do not say that it is 'terrible' they are saying it just how they see it. They do not know the horrors behind that fence. They are just saying that it is pretty bad but in actual fact it is the most horrible place in the world. This is using understatement very strongly as they are not saying what the concentration camp is actually like they are just saying what it looks like.