The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

Shalom Nwakibu
Explore Feelings

The scene that I found the most moving and painful was at the end when Bruno had come into the camp with Shmuel. It started to rain, so they were pushed into a long room. While they were inside " {bruno} took hold of Shmuel's tiny hands in his and squeezed it tightly {and said} you're my best friend. Shmuel... opened his mouth... but Bruno never heard it because at that moment there was a loud gasp from all the marchers who had filled the room. Then the room went dark... despite the chaos, Bruno found that he was still holding Shmuel's hands in his own and nothing in the world would have persuaded him to let it go" (212). This event really foreshadows the ending of the war. The quote is important because it shows Bruno as the naive boy that loved his neighbor because of his traits and not his race. Also I thought of Shmuel as the little boy who really never got to experience life, but he did what he could. When this scene ended no one ever saw Bruno again. This hit Gretel really hard, "she spent a lot of her time in her room crying ... because she missed Bruno so much"(215).