Innocence in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne :: John Boyne, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" explores the beauty of a child's innocence in a time of war: Bruno, an eight year old boy at the time of the war, is completely oblivious to the atrocities of the war around him - even with a father who is a Nazi commandant. The title of the book is evidence to this - Bruno perceives the concentration camp uniforms as "striped pajamas." Further evidence is the misnomers "the Fury," (the Furher) and "Out-With" (Auschwitz). Bruno and Shmuel, the boy he meets from Auschwitz, share a great deal in common but perhaps what is most striking is the childhood innocence which characterizes both boys. Bruno is unaware that his father is a Nazi commandant and that his home is on ther periphery of Auschwitz. Shmuel, imprisoned in the camp, seems not to understand the severity of his situation. When his father goes missing, Shmuel does not understand that he has gone to the gas chamber. However, there is another facet to this beauty: "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise" - so says Thomas Gray. In reference to this novel, it means that the people that lived in the vicinity of the concentration camp claimed to not know what was going on in the camp, so they could be "blissfully ignorant" of the Holocaust happening around them. This means that they did not have to live with the guilt of knowing what was going on and not doing anything. That is why they would be called "blissful". The quote means that if we are ignorant of something, we don't have to deal with it and are therefore happy. Remote African tribes, for example, are ignorant of the terrible wars going on elsewhere on their continent. So, they are happy. They are ignorant, and they are blissful. In the modern world, there are few places where this situation exists anymore, however. So, too, in World War II. We didn't have the Internet then, but there were other ways to find out what was going on in Nazi Germany. Do you think it is feasible that the Germans did not know what was going on? Do you think they were "blissful" because they were ignorant of the situation? A lot of them tried to claim this after the war was over. "We didn't know!" Most people do not buy this. How could they not know? Come on! The stench of burning bodies was everywhere.