Children are often portrayed as being innocent no matter what their roots are or who their parents are. Boyne uses multiple methods throughout The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas to portray Bruno as an innocent boy who’s still somewhat critical of the world. Bruno’s parents try to hide things from him which leaves him quite clueless as to what is going on; this is conveyed through the limited third-person narration writing style. When Hitler asks “‘And which is which?’” (Boyne, 65) this rhetorical question flies right over Bruno’s head as he doesn’t understand the humor. Bruno’s lack of understanding when it comes to humor helps convey his innocence to the reader. Additionally, when Bruno’s sister states that she “‘can speak French too,’” (Boyne, 66) Bruno doesn’t understand why Hitler would say “‘...why would you want to?’” (Boyne, 66). This is because Bruno is too innocent and young to understand what the significance of the “French” was to Nazi Germany during WWII. Bruno can also hear “fragments” (Boyne, 67) of what his parents say from his room: “‘...what would happen is I would be taken away and treated like a…’” (Boyne, 67). The limited narration used conveys to the reader that Bruno doesn’t hear everything about what’s going on in the world because his parents try to hide it from him. This is why he’s clueless and doesn’t understand many things. He also tends to critique all of Hitler’s problems like his mustache and how he is “the rudest guest Bruno had ever witnessed” (Boyne, 66). Bruno doesn’t understand Hitler’s power and significance in the world which is why he doesn’t unconditionally respect him and instead is very critical of him. Boyne’s conjoined use of limited third-person narration style and language features help convey to the reader Bruno’s innocence and lack of knowledge about what’s going on in the world.
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