Is the world, in the eyes of a child, real or only his perception of the world?

"But were the people really so different? All the inmates of the camp wore the same things, those striped suits with the suitable striped caps of cloth, and all people going through his house [...] wore uniforms of different quality and design [...]. But where was exactly the difference?, he asked himself. And who decided which people wore the striped suits and which people the uniforms?"

(John Boyne, The Boy in Striped Pyjamas)

The World from the Point of View of a Child – Showcase of Reality or Fantasy?

by Anna Wischnewski and Charlotte Wittlich, HPS Buxtehude/Germany

In the book "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas“, written by John Boyne, many horrible things happen around Bruno. But he cannot comprehend what is going on. For example, he doesn’t understand the difference between Jews held captive and Nazis. He doesn’t even recognize that the Jews are held captive. This is shown in the following quote:

,,[…]But were the people really so different? All the inmates of the camp wore the same things, those striped suits with the suitable striped caps of cloth, and all people going through his house […] wore uniforms of different quality and design […]. But where was exactly the difference?, he asked himself. And who decided which people wore the striped suits and which people the uniforms?“

Resulting from this text passage, many readers may assume that Bruno isn’t able to order all the occurrences or to understand them, or whether his childish naivety is an important insurance mechanism.

Is the world from the point of view of a child real or just a fantasy?

Of course, a nine-year-old boy could understand the events if somebody would have explained it to him. Since no one clarifies the situation so he figures out his own explanation and tries to understand the events by himself.

There is no racism and no war in Bruno’s mind, that’s why his explanation is so far from reality. He associates the Pyjamas with a happy time. He imagines the life on the other side of the fence the way he wants it to be, with lots of friends to play with him.

The uniforms stand for power and style, he knows that his father wears a uniform of good quality with a lot of badges, so he knows that his father is in control over the other soldiers.

Since Bruno is an innocent child, he asks the right question, although others have different interpretations: Who decides who wears a Pyjama and who wears a uniform? Since Bruno didn’t get brainwashed like his parents he understands that there is no reason to separate people into two groups and treat one different from the others.

All of the people are humans and they have the same rights.

Bruno is shown as a happy boy, who doesn’t know what is happening around him. Due to his childish naivety he draws his own imagination of the world, which will change because he will be pushed into reality.

But is the loss of our childish image of the world really so good when we grow up and become older?

I think children really see the world through different eyes. They don’t judge people that quickly and they don’t have any ulterior motives.

Bruno doesn’t understand why all those people are captured, but he also doesn’t think that being behind the fence is something bad. Maybe he could understand what’s happening right in front of him, but nobody tells him, because everybody says he’s too young.

I read the book “Maikäfer flieg!” by Christine Nöstlinger. It’s also about a child, a little girl, who is living at the end of the World War II and the time after the war. The girl builds a friendship with a Russian cook and some soldiers. 

She doesn’t think that they should be her enemies and she doesn’t see any differences between them and her family.

I think that children often have a more beautiful and innocent view of the world. When we grow up we lose that kind of view very often and only look for the bad things in people. We should see the good things more often - just like those children do.

Johanna Holaubek - 23.04.2019 @ 22:36

Answering your question, I think by growing up we lose a lot. A child is honest, curious, satisfied with the smallest things, qualities which most adults don't have and yet it is adults who look down on younger people. "The Boy in the Striped Pijamas" is one of my favourite books. It shows one of the most tragic events in the history of mankind through the eyes of a child, a child who doesn't understand what is happening, and yet is curious about it. He lives in a world very different from Shmuel's, the boy he meets on the other side of the fence. Yet the two boys connect, and become friends. It is a story, which shows how cruel and unfair wae is, especially for such innocent and pure people as Bruno and Shmuel. Another book that shows the world from a kid's perspective is "Little Nicholas" written by Rene Goscinny. It's a book consisting of short tales, featuring the life of Nicholas and his friends. Children can read the astonishing adventures of the boys, but the style is very funny, even for adults. It's worth reading, even if you don't have younger siblings! It reminds the older readers of the mischief they got up with in their early years.

Marianna Gawron - 24.05.2019 @ 16:16

I also think that children have a different view on the world. But why should it be fantasy? For them it is all totally real. "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" shows really impressionably how a little boy saw the period of National Socialism and what he thought about other people. Shmuel already kind of knew what was going on behind the fence where he had to live. But Bruno didn't even imagine that all the soldiers over there could harm the people in the "striped pyjamas". Children don't judge people as fast as adults do and they have no prejudices. For them everyone has the same "value" and is friendly. But sometimes they have to expierence, partially in a cruel way, that any man has good and evil sides. As it happened in John Boyne's novel, Bruno and Shmuel both died in the end and they expierenced shortly before their death how the world looks like for an adult .

Hannah Daxer - 28.05.2019 @ 15:20

Bruno is a child that was exposed to only one side of the world. His parents were rich and he had lived in welfare for his whole life. He has never experienced any difficult and cruel situations, that’s why it is so difficult for him to understand the tragedy of the prisoners.  As you wrote in your article: he recognised pyjamas to be the comfy clothes and he doesn't see any differences between the people on both sides of the fence. On the other hand, we've got Shmuel. He is exactly the same age as Bruno, but his life was much tougher, which resulted in him partly losing the innocent, childish point of view and he realises more of what's going on around him. I agree with Marianna  who says that as we grow up we lose a lot of that childhood innocence, but I do think that it is a good thing and because of it, we can understand our world in a way that enables us to understand more about it.
“Room” by Emma Donoghue is another book in which we can see and analyse the world from the point of view of a child. The main hero of the story- five-year-old Jack-  is, like Bruno raised in an untypical environment. His mother was kidnapped and imprisoned in a small room where Jack grew up. In consequence, he has never seen the outside world. Everything he sees outside of a window or on TV seems to be unreal for him. I highly recommend reading it, it's a fascinating story about discovering the things we consider usual by the person who doesn't have the right understanding of our world.

Martyna Kołek - 07.06.2019 @ 21:20

Hi Anna and Charlotte!

When I first read the title of your article, I instantly thought about a book called ,,Room" by Emma Donoghue, and from what I can see I wasn't the only one to think about it. I think that writing from a child's perspective is, generally, a popular way of writing books about difficult topics, since it's a convenient way of talking about difficult topics. An example of this kind of book is a bery popular book , ,,To Kill the Mockingbird" by Harper Lee. It's set in the 1930's  in Alabama, and it takes on the topic of racism and justice in a legal system, but because it is written from the perspective of a little girl called Jane Louise, or ,,Scout" as everyone calls her, we can see the situation from her unique perspective. Scout, throughout the book, grows up and starts to understand more of the world that surrounds her. Her vision of her little town starts to change, when she starts to see and experience all of the inequality and injustice in the world she lives in. I think it's a great book, and the fact of it being written from a child's perspective just adds much more depth and value to it.

Julia Pawlak - 18.06.2019 @ 22:27

Hi there! Your article was really interesting and we also have some interesting ideas.

We think that children usually have a different kind of view of the world than adults do. Perhaps that is because they don't understand why people should fight or be mean; because of this we feel like children usually think the best of others. With other words we do agree with your thoughts from the article. If adults told children how reality looks like we think they would understand, however at the same time that might destroy their beautiful view of the world. 

Both of us have read the book or/and watched the movie and we think it is a good story; it really shows how a child can see the world. It also shows how important friendship is for people, especially children. We feel like children usually have an easier time making friends than adults have. This may be because children don't care that much about if they are different or not, while adults may think more about it. This is shown in "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" since Bruno and Schmuel are friends even if they are very different and live in completely different worlds.

Felicia Fredriksson - 03.10.2019 @ 13:54