80 pages • 2 hours read
John BoyneThe Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2006A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Quiz
Reading Check, Multiple Choice & Short Answer Quizzes
Reading Check questions are designed for in-class review on key plot points or for quick verbal or written assessments. Multiple Choice and Short Answer Quizzes create ideal summative assessments, and collectively function to convey a sense of the work’s tone and themes.
Chapters 1-5
Reading Check
1. How old is Bruno?
2. What is the name of Bruno’s sister?
3. Who is Maria?
4. What does Bruno see from his new bedroom’s window?
5. What does Bruno’s father say in response to his question about the people wearing “pajamas”?
Multiple Choice
1. While living in Berlin, Bruno complains about having to keep their lights off at night. This is most likely an allusion to which of the following?
A) bombing raids
B) wartime rationing
C) the family’s poverty
D) the secrecy of his father’s work
2. Which of the following best characterizes Bruno’s attitude towards his father’s work?
A) hostile and skeptical
B) engaged and appreciative
C) curious but anxious
D) proud but naive
3. Which of the following quotes most emphasizes the shared humanity of those inside and outside the concentration camps?
A) “[Bruno] put his face to the glass and saw what was out there, and this time when his eyes opened wide and his mouth made the shape of an O, his hands stayed by his sides because something made him feel very cold and unsafe” (Chapter 2).
B) “There were small boys and big boys, fathers and grandfathers. Perhaps a few uncles too. And some of those people who live on their own on everybody’s road but don’t seem to have any relatives at all. They were everyone” (Chapter 4).
C) ”Bruno and Gretel could see hundreds of people, but there were so many huts before them, and the camp spread out so much further than they could possibly see, that it looked as though there must be thousands out there” (Chapter 4).
D) “The more [the children] were shouted at, the closer they huddled together, but then one of the soldiers lunged towards them and they separated and seemed to do what he had wanted them to do all along, which was to stand in a single line” (Chapter 4).
4. Which of the following characters is least accepting of the move to Auschwitz?
A) Father
B) Mother
C) Gretel
D) Bruno
5. Bruno’s misunderstanding of words like “Fuhrer,” which he pronounces “Fury,” serves all but which of the following purposes?
A) It emphasizes Bruno’s youth and innocence.
B) It reveals deeper truths that ordinary language obscures or euphemizes.
C) It creates tension between Bruno and the rest of his family.
D) It substitutes abstractions for real people and places, heightening the sense of allegory.
6. Father’s claim that Bruno will “understand that [his work’s importance] some day” exemplifies which of the following (Chapter 5)?
A) irony
B) oxymoron
C) idiom
D) analogy
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What does the novel imply Bruno’s parents are arguing about at the end of the first chapter?
2. What sorts of imagery does the novel use to characterize Bruno’s first impressions of Auschwitz?
3. How does Gretel respond when Bruno suggests that the children in the concentration camp might not be able to bathe? What does this imply about her and Bruno’s life?
4. How does Mother respond when she realizes she’s criticized “the Fury” in front of Maria, and what does this suggest?
5. Why do the visiting military officials seem like “toy soldiers” to Bruno, and what does this simile imply about them or their work (Chapter 5)?
6. How does Father respond when Bruno complains about the move? What does he emphasize?
Chapters 6-10
Reading Check
1. How did Maria come to work for Bruno’s family?
2. Who tends to Bruno when he falls off his tire swing?
3. What song did Bruno’s grandmother, Nathalie, frequently sing?
4. How did Bruno’s grandmother respond to the news of her son’s promotion?
5. What subjects does Herr Liszt insist Bruno focus on?
6. What does Bruno discover he has in common with Shmuel?
Multiple Choice
1. Bruno and Gretel’s argument about Maria illustrates which of the following?
A) Bruno’s awakening romantic feelings
B) Bruno’s loneliness in the new house
C) Bruno’s growing capacity for empathy
D) Bruno’s ignorance of world events
2. How does Bruno feel around Lieutenant Kotler?
A) uneasy
B) embarrassed
C) annoyed
D) sad
3. Which of the following best explains Pavel’s remark that he “think[s] [he’s] always been” in Auschwitz (Chapter 7)?
A) He has led a life of poverty and deprivation.
B) He has experienced anti-Semitism throughout his life.
C) He is disoriented and can’t remember his past.
D) He is depressed and feels as though he has always been there.
4. Nathalie’s remarks about costumes and uniforms suggest a parallel to which of the following symbols or motifs?
A) the window
B) the barbed-wire fence
C) the shaving of the head
D) the striped pajamas
5. Herr Liszt’s attitudes toward art and creativity contrast most strongly with that of which character?
A) Pavel
B) Nathalie
C) Gretel
D) Lieutenant Kotler
6. Consider the following passage: “And then, as Bruno got even closer, he saw that the thing was neither a dot nor a speck nor a blob nor a figure, but a person […] a boy” (Chapter 10). What does this process towards Shmuel symbolize or evoke?
A) the recognition of another person’s humanity
B) the innocence of childhood
C) the willingness to question authority
D) the brutality of war
7. Bruno’s complaints about the fence while talking to Shmuel suggest he sees it primarily as which of the following?
A) a form of punishment
B) an obstacle to exploration
C) a source of protection
D) a barrier between people
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Who is Herr Roller, and what does his story suggest about war?
2. Why does Bruno’s mother “take credit” for patching Bruno up after his fall?
3. What does Nathalie mean when she says that her son “did come to harm” serving in World War I (Chapter 8)?
4. What does Bruno assume Herr Liszt means by “the great wrongs that have been done to [him]” and why does he assume this (Chapter 9)?
5. In what sense does Bruno think the soldiers and people in the concentration camp are similar?
6. Why does Bruno tell Shmuel that Germany is “superior” to Poland?
Chapters 11-15
Reading Check
1. Who dined at Bruno’s house just before the family moved to Auschwitz?
2. Where did Shmuel grow up?
3. How does Shmuel respond when Bruno says he wants to be a soldier?
4. What happens to Pavel after he spills wine on Lieutenant Kotler?
5. Who does Bruno say Shmuel is when Gretel asks?
6. What does Bruno do when Shmuel tells Lieutenant Kotler that he gave him the chicken to eat?
Multiple Choice
1. The fact that Bruno, unlike the rest of his family, does not laugh at Hitler’s joke highlights which of the following?
A) his wish to distance himself from his family
B) his desire to appear older than he is
C) his ignorance of the power dynamics at play
D) his overwhelming fear in Hitler's presence
2. Which of the following best describes how Bruno interacts with Shmuel?
A) He is well-meaning but insensitive.
B) He is curious but cautious.
C) He is compassionate and attentive.
D) He is self-centered and demanding.
3. Maria’s attitude towards Auschwitz and Nazi Germany most resembles that of which character?
A) Bruno’s father
B) Bruno’s mother
C) Lieutenant Kotler
D) Herr Liszt
4. Which of the following likely plays a role in Kotler’s punishment of Pavel?
A) a frustration with Bruno’s father’s relative leniency
B) a desire to send a message to Bruno
C) an urge to impress Bruno’s mother
D) a fear of being denounced for his father’s views
5. Consider the following passage: “[T]here are moments when a brother and sister can lay down their instruments of torture for a moment and speak as civilized human beings” (Chapter 14). This passage implicitly contrasts which of the following?
A) the small cruelties of children versus the cruelties of war and genocide
B) the uncivilized behavior of children versus the civilized behavior of adults
C) the ease of reconciling with family versus the difficulty of reconciling with strangers
D) the discomfort Bruno feels with Gretel versus the friendship he has with Shmuel
6. During the scene in the kitchen, what imagery does the novel use to suggest both the shared humanity of Bruno and Shmuel and their very different experiences?
A) food
B) eyes
C) hands
D) clothes
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What opinion does Bruno form of Hitler when he comes to dinner?
2. What happens when Gretel brags about speaking French, and why?
3. How does Shmuel respond when Bruno asks awkward questions? What might this suggest about him?
4. When Bruno talks about keeping Pavel’s medical assistance a secret from his father, Shmuel replies, “The soldiers don’t normally like people getting better” (Chapter 13). What is the significance of this remark?
5. How does Bruno’s father respond when Lieutenant Kotler reveals that his own father left Germany in 1938?
6. What behavioral details imply Bruno’s mother is struggling to cope?
7. What surprises Bruno about the way he behaves when Kotler catches Shmuel eating? Why?
Chapters 16-20
Reading Check
1. Why does Bruno’s family visit Berlin?
2. What happens to Bruno’s hair after the family returns to Auschwitz?
3. Who does Shmuel tell Bruno has gone missing?
4. What does Shmuel tell Bruno he’ll bring when they meet for the final time?
5. What happens to Bruno and Shmuel when they go “exploring”?
6. How does Bruno’s father discover what happened to him?
Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following best symbolizes Germany’s deepening commitment to Nazism as the war goes on?
A) Bruno’s mother’s depression and the end of her flirtation with Kotler
B) the death of Bruno’s grandmother and his grandfather’s “senility”
C) the lice infestation and the shaving of Bruno’s head
D) Bruno’s reluctance to return to Berlin and his father’s insistence that he do so
2. Which of the following passages best reflects how Gretel has changed since coming to Auschwitz?
A) “[Kotler] was gone, that was for sure, and he wasn’t coming back; Gretel was inconsolable” (Chapter 16).
B) “In [the dolls’] place she had hung up maps of Europe that Father had given her, and every day she put little pins into them and moved the pins around constantly after consulting the daily newspaper” (Chapter 16).
C) “Gretel stared at him and then suddenly started laughing, only stopping when she saw that Bruno was being perfectly serious” (Chapter 16).
D) “Gretel had been told time and time again that she wasn’t allowed to call him stupid but still she persisted with it” (Chapter 16).
3. Bruno’s fear that Shmuel will ask him to speak to his father on Shmuel’s father’s behalf implies which of the following?
A) Bruno knows on some level that his father wouldn’t want him talking to Shmuel.
B) Bruno knows on some level that Shmuel’s father is dead and doesn’t want to upset him.
C) Bruno worries that doing so would delay his departure from Auschwitz.
D) Bruno worries that doing so would hasten his departure from Auschwitz.
4. Bruno’s ability to put on a pair of “striped pajamas” and enter the camp unnoticed is primarily a commentary on which of the following?
A) the innocence of childhood
B) the indiscriminate violence of war
C) the desire to become someone else
D) the artificiality of divisions between people
5. The rain and dark skies on the day of Bruno and Shmuel’s last meeting are examples of which of the following?
A) anticlimax
B) deus ex machina
C) foreshadowing
D) naturalism
6. Consider the following passage: “Of course all this happened a long time ago and nothing like that could ever happen again” (Chapter 20). In context, which of the following best describes the tone of this statement?
A) sarcastic
B) sincere
C) detached
D) emotional
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How does Gretel describe her and Bruno’s family (as distinct from those in the concentration camp), and what does this imply about her understanding of both groups?
2. What does Bruno say that seems to convince his father to send him and Gretel back to Berlin?
3. How does Shmuel respond when Bruno reveals that he’s returning to Berlin?
4. Why does putting on the “pajamas” remind Bruno of his grandmother?
5. How does Bruno respond to the “march” he and Shmuel are forced to go on, and why?
6. What does the novel imply regarding the fate of Bruno’s father?
Quizzes – Answer Key
Chapters 1-5
Reading Check
1. nine
2. Gretel
3. the family’s maid
4. the concentration campgrounds
5. He tells Bruno that they “aren’t really people” (Chapter 5).
Multiple Choice
1. A (Chapter 1)
2. D (Chapters 1-5)
3. B (Chapter 4)
4. D (Chapters 1-5)
5. C (Chapters 1-5)
6. A (Chapter 5)
Short-Answer Response
1. Bruno’s parents appear to be arguing about the move to Auschwitz: The argument comes on the heels of Bruno’s mother informing him of his father’s transfer, which her demeanor implied she was unhappy about.
2. Bruno’s initial impressions of Auschwitz center on its barrenness and isolation. The words “empty” and “cold” appear repeatedly, as in this passage: “When he closed his eyes, everything around him just felt empty and cold, as if he was in the loneliest place in the world” (13).
3. Gretel mocks Bruno for even suggesting that the camp prisoners might not be able to bathe, implying that she and her brother have had a very privileged upbringing—so much so that the idea of lacking access to clean water is unimaginable.
4. When she realizes Maria heard her remarks, Mother immediately tries to qualify or deny them. This speaks to the paranoia of life under a totalitarian regime: The possible consequences of dissent are so severe that Mother even worries about a stray remark made in front of a maid.
5. The visiting officials resemble “toy soldiers” in their uniform appearance and behavior—particularly in their synchronized Nazi salute. The phrase reflects Bruno’s perspective as a child while contrasting with the horrors of Nazi Germany and undercutting the self-importance of those perpetrating them.
6. Father tells Bruno, first good-naturedly and then with increasing severity, that he needs to learn to accept his new home and the dictates of those in power more broadly. For example, he stresses his childhood obedience to his own father, asking, “Do you think that I would have made such a success of my life if I hadn’t learned when to argue and when to keep my mouth shut and follow orders?” (Chapter 5).
Chapters 6-10
Reading Check
1. Maria’s mother worked as a dresser for Bruno’s grandmother. When her mother became ill, Bruno’s father hired Maria and also helped pay for the family’s expenses.
2. Pavel
3. “La Vie en Rose”
4. She was upset and disapproving.
5. history, geography, and the social sciences in general
6. his birthday
Multiple Choice
1. C (Chapter 6)
2. A (Chapter 7)
3. B (Chapter 7)
4. D (Chapter 8)
5. B (Chapters 8, 9)
6. A (Chapter 10)
7. D (Chapter 10)
Short-Answer Response
1. Herr Roller was a neighbor of Bruno’s in Berlin who served alongside Bruno’s father in World War I. Bruno calls him “crazy,” but his mother explains that he behaves strangely due to a head injury he received during his service. His story therefore illustrates the costs of war.
2. Bruno’s mother realizes that Pavel, as a Jew, would face punishment if his treatment of Bruno came to light; she may also fear personal repercussions for her “negligence” in allowing Pavel to treat Bruno. Regardless, she tells her husband that she tended to Bruno’s injuries herself, which Bruno misinterprets as “taking credit” for Pavel’s work.
3. Nathalie implies that her son’s service in WWI is in some way responsible for his acceptance of Nazism, whether because it desensitized him to violence or because he (like many Germans in real life) walked away from the war nursing a sense of grievance.
4. Bruno believes Herr Liszt is talking about the move to Auschwitz. As a young boy, he interprets things solely through the lens of his own experience, so it doesn’t occur to him that Liszt is talking not about a wrong done to Bruno personally, but rather one supposedly done to him as a German.
5. Bruno notes that both the camp prisoners and the German soldiers wear uniforms, and he sees the distinction between the two as an arbitrary difference in costuming: “And were they really so different? All the people in the camp wore the same clothes, those pajamas and their striped cloth caps too; and all the people who wandered through his house […] wore uniforms of varying quality and decoration” (Chapter 9).
6. Bruno says that Germany is superior to Poland simply because he’s heard his father say so; the fact that he can’t provide even a nominal reason for believing this illustrates the way propaganda functions.
Chapters 11-15
Reading Check
1. Hitler and Eva Braun
2. Krakow, Poland
3. Shmuel says he wouldn’t want to be a soldier and that there are no good ones.
4. The book doesn’t explicitly reveal Pavel’s fate, but we know that Kotler punishes him severely and most likely kills him.
5. his imaginary friend
6. He says he doesn’t know Shmuel.
Multiple Choice
1. C (Chapter 11)
2. A (Chapter 12)
3. B (Chapter 13)
4. D (Chapter 13)
5. A (Chapter 14)
6. C (Chapter 15)
Short-Answer Response
1. Bruno dislikes Hitler because his behavior—summoning Eva with a snap, neglecting to open the car door for her—strikes him as rude.
2. Hitler disparagingly asks why she would want to speak French, and there is a moment of awkward silence reflecting the fact that France was Germany’s wartime adversary and then one of its conquests.
3. Shmuel most often lapses into silence when Bruno asks ignorant or insensitive questions, sometimes shaking his head as he does so. The implication is that Shmuel doesn’t feel able to explain his experiences in a way that Bruno would understand.
4. Shmuel’s remark speaks to the terrible conditions in the camp and the desire of the Nazis to hasten the deaths of those imprisoned there. However, it also reveals that Shmuel retains some childlike naivete despite his experiences; he assumes that the soldiers wouldn’t want Bruno to get better, not realizing that they would treat a gentile, German boy like Bruno much differently than Shmuel himself.
5. Bruno’s father insinuates that Kotler’s father might have left Germany because he disagreed with Nazi ideology—a tacit threat to Kotler.
6. Bruno’s mother has begun taking naps and drinking “medicinal sherries,” both of which suggest that she is trying to escape from or ignore her life at Auschwitz. She is also flirting (and perhaps having an affair) with Kotler, presumably more out of dissatisfaction with her husband than attraction to the lieutenant.
7. Bruno is surprised and dismayed that he claims not to know Shmuel. He has always ”thought he was a good person” (Chapter 11), so the fact that he would betray a friend out of fear comes as a rude awakening.
Chapters 16-20
Reading Check
1. for the funeral of Bruno’s grandmother
2. His father shaves it off when Bruno gets lice.
3. his (Shmuel’s) father
4. a camp uniform, or what Bruno refers to as “striped pajamas”
5. They end up in a group that is being sent to the gas chamber.
6. He finds the gap in the fence that Bruno crawled through.
Multiple Choice
1. B (Chapter 16, 17)
2. B (Chapter 16)
3. A (Chapter 18)
4. D (Chapter 19)
5. C (Chapter 19)
6. A (Chapter 20)
Short-Answer Response
1. Gretel describes her family as “the opposite” of Jews. This implies that she only sees Jewish people as an out-group against which to define herself and her family; she has no real conception of what distinguishes either set of people.
2. Bruno remarks (in response to his father’s claim that Auschwitz isn’t a place for children) that there are many children on the other side of the fence. This convinces his father that he has become overly familiar with Auschwitz.
3. Shmuel is deeply distressed; Bruno’s friendship is presumably the only source of happiness in his life, particularly now that his father is gone.
4. Bruno thinks of the concentration camp uniform as a costume, so the act of donning it recalls his grandmother, who used to help him put on plays. In particular, he remembers her remarks about identifying with one’s adopted role: “You wear the right outfit and you feel like the person you’re pretending to be, she always told me” (Chapter 19).
5. Bruno is annoyed but not worried about the march. He doesn’t want to be late for dinner or get rained on, but even after seeing conditions in the camp, he’s unable to conceive that he might actually be in danger.
6. Bruno’s father is removed from his post at Auschwitz, but the novel otherwise leaves his fate ambiguous. It’s unclear whether he experienced a dramatic change of heart and was arrested for dissent, or whether he simply struggled to cope with his son’s death and was judged incompetent.
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