A STUDY OF FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN BRUNO AND SHMUEL IN JOHN BOYNE’S THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS
A Thesis
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By Satrio Nugroho Student Number : 061214068
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
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A STUDY OF FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN BRUNO AND SHMUEL IN JOHN BOYNE’S THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS
A Thesis
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By Satrio Nugroho Student Number : 061214068
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
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“Every great dream begins with a dreamer.
Always remember, you have within you the
strength, the patience, and the passion to
reach for the stars to change the world.”
(Harriet Tubman)
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STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and bibliography, as a scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, October 23, 2010 The Writer
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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Satrio Nugroho
Nomor mahasiswa : 061214068
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
A STUDY OF FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN BRUNO AND SHMUEL IN JOHN BOYNE’S THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal: 25 November 2010 Yang menyatakan
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ABSTRACT
Nugroho, Satrio. 2010. A Study of Friendship Between Bruno and Shmuel in John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Department of Language and Arts Education, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Sanata Dharma University.
This thesis analyses The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a novel written by John Boyne. One of the major issues described in the novel is a friendship between Bruno and Shmuel. Their friendship is unique as it involves two boys with different backgrounds and conditions. Bruno is a German boy and a son of Nazi officer while Shmuel is a Jewish boy who is imprisoned in a camp where Bruno’s father is in charge. Although the friendship between Bruno and Shmuel must be kept in secret because of the situations around them, they can maintain their friendship well. Bruno and Shmuel finally end in a tragic event when they are accidentally trapped in a gas chamber.
The purpose of writing this thesis was to analyze the development of the friendship between Bruno and Shmuel and how they maintain their friendship. To attain the objectives, two questions were formulated, namely: (1) How is the friendship between Bruno and Shmuel described in the novel The Boy in the Striped Pajamas? and (2) How do they maintain their friendship?
The method applied to this thesis was library study. The primary source was the novel itself, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Other sources were obtained from books and other written sources. Some theories of character and characterization, friendship, motivation, and Nazism were employed.
This thesis used the psychological and sociocultural-historical approaches to describe the characters of Bruno and Shmuel, to reveal their motives in establishing a friendship, to find out the development of their friendship, and to find out how they maintain their friendship.
From the analysis, it can be concluded that Bruno is characterized as an adventurous, loving, honest, polite and respectful boy. Shmuel is characterized as a loner, melancholic, passive, and smart boy. They have different motives in establishing their friendship. Bruno’s motives are being able to communicate with peers and Shmuel as his only friend. Shmuel’s motives are getting physical and mental supports and the needs to love and be loved by others. Their friendship develops through three stages. They are seeking similarity and support, increasing intimacy and showing that the friendship is growing. Bruno and Shmuel maintain their friendship through several ways, namely expressing emotion, providing comfort and social support, engaging in a relationship talk, being tolerant and showing restraint, and managing conflict cooperatively.
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ABSTRAK
Nugroho, Satrio. 2010. A Study of Friendship Between Bruno and Shmuel in John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Yogyakarta: Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Jurusan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Skripsi ini menganalisa The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, novel yang ditulis oleh John Boyne. Salah satu tema utama dalam novel ini adalah tentang persahabatan antara Bruno dan Shmuel. Persahabatan mereka unik karena melibatkan dua orang anak laki-laki dengan latar belakang dan kondisi yang berbeda. Bruno adalah seorang Jerman dan anak dari perwira Nazi sedangkan Shmuel adalah seorang Yahudi yang dikurung dalam sebuah kamp yang dikepalai oleh ayah Bruno. Walaupun persahabatan antara Bruno dan Shmuel harus dirahasiakan karena situasi disekitar mereka, mereka tetap dapat menjaga persahabatan dengan baik. Bruno dan Shmuel akhirnya menemui ajal yang tragis ketika mereka secara tidak sengaja terperangkap dalam sebuah kamar gas.
Tujuan penulisan skripsi ini adalah untuk menganalisa perkembangan persahabatan antara Bruno dan Shmuel dan bagaimana mereka menjaga persahabatannya. Untuk mencapai tujuan tersebut, dua pertanyaan dibuat: (1) Bagaimana persahabatan antara Bruno dan Shmuel tercermin dalam novel? (2) Bagaimana cara mereka menjaga persahabatan?
Metode yang digunakan dalam penulisan skripsi ini adalah studi pustaka. Sumber utama dalam skripsi ini adalah novel itu sendiri, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Sumber-sumber lain yang digunakan dalam skripsi ini diperoleh dari buku-buku dan sumber tertulis lain. Beberapa teori karakter dan pengkarakteran, persahabatan, motivasi, dan Nazisme juga digunakan.
Skripsi ini menerapkan pendekatan psikologis dan sosiologis-historis untuk mendeskripsikan karakter Bruno dan Shmuel, untuk menemukan motif mereka dalam membangun persahabatan, untuk mengetahui perkembangan persahabatan mereka, dan untuk mengetahui bagaimana mereka membina persahabatan.
Berdasarkan analisis saya menemukan bahwa Bruno digambarkan sebagai anak yang suka berpetualang, penuh kasih sayang, jujur, sopan, dan penuh rasa hormat. Shmuel digambarkan sebagai seorang penyendiri, melankolis, pasif, dan cerdas. Mereka mempunyai motif yang berbeda dalam membangun persahabatan. Motif Bruno adalah untuk dapat berkomunikasi dengan anak-anak sebaya dan Shmuel adalah teman satu-satunya. Motif Shmuel adalah untuk memperoleh bantuan materi dan dukungan mental dan untuk menyayangi dan disayangi oleh orang lain. Persahabatan mereka berkembang melalui tiga tahap. Ketiga tahap tersebut adalah mencari kesamaan dan dukungan, meningkatkan keakraban, dan menunjukkan bahwa persahabatan mereka semakin erat. Bruno dan Shmuel menjaga persahabatan mereka dengan beberapa cara, yaitu mengekspresikan emosi, memberikan kenyamanan dan dukungan sosial, terlibat dalam percakapan intim, menunjukkan toleransi dan kontrol diri, dan menyelesaikan konflik secara kooperatif.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I praised my Lord Jesus Christ for all of His Love and Blessings. I thank Him for being a true friend for me, staying by my side, protecting me in any situation I encounter in my life and guiding me in my study so that I was finally able to finish this thesis.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Drs. L. Bambang Hendarto Y., M.Hum., who has guided me patiently in the process of writing this thesis. I thank him for his patience, advices, and time for consultation on this thesis until it is done. I also send my gratitude to Sanata Dharma University that has given me place and facilities to study, and to all my lecturers, the administrative staff of PBI study program who have devoted themselves to help me during my study in Sanata Dharma University.
With greatest gratitude, I thank my beloved family. It is for my wonderful father and mother, Drs. Bambang Heru Marwoto and Suparini. I thank them for their love, prayers, supports, and efforts to make me educated. It is also for my beloved brother Aji Nugroho for his encouragements and helps in my study.
My special thankfulness goes to my best friends Fajrian and Haryo for maintaining our friendship since we were in Senior High School and to my friends in ELESP, who have been so kind to me and provided me with supports and prayers. Last but not least, I would to thank all people that I cannot mention one by one, for giving supports and helps in finishing my thesis. May God bless them all.
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STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ………... v
ABSTRACT ………... vii
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ………….………... 1
1.1. Background of the Study ……..………... 1
1.2. Problem Formulation ………... 4
1.3. Objectives of the Study ………...…... 4
CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ...………. 8
2.1. Review of Related Theories ………... 8
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2.1.2. Character and Characterization ………... 9
2.1.2.1. Personal description ……….……... 10
2.1.2.2. Character as seen by others ………..……… 10
2.1.2.3. Speech ………... 10
2.1.2.4. Past Life ………... 10
2.1.2.5. Conversation of others ………... 11
2.1.2.6. Reaction ..………... 11
2.2. Review on History of Nazi occupation in Europe ……….... 18
2.2.1.The Rise of Nazi and Its Successful Invasion in Europe ……… 18
2.2.2.The Suffering of the Jews under Nazi Regime in Poland ………….. 19
2.3. Theoretical Framework …..………... 20
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY …….………... 22
3.1. Object of the Study ..………... 22
3.2. Approaches of the Study ….………... 23
3.3. Method of the Study …..………... 24
CHAPTER 4 ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ...………... 25
4.1. Friendship between Bruno and Shmuel ..………... 25
4.1.1. The Descriptions of Bruno and Shmuel ….………...……... 25
4.1.1.1. Bruno ….………... 26
4.1.1.2. Shmuel …..………... 28
4.1.2. Their Motives to Establish a Friendship ………... 28
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4.1.2.2. Shmuel’s Motives ………... 33
4.1.3. The Developments of Their Friendship ………... 35
4.1.3.1. Seeking Similarity and Support .………... 35
4.1.3.2. Increasing Intimacy .………... 38
4.1.3.3. Showing That the Friendship is Growing ….………..…….. 40
4.2. Ways of Maintaining Their Friendship ………... 44
4.2.1. Expressing Emotions ….………... 44
4.2.2. Providing Comfort and Social Support ……….…….. 45
4.2.3. Engaging in Relationship Talk …..………... 46
4.2.4. Being Tolerant and Showing Restraint ………..….. 47
4.2.5. Managing Conflict Cooperatively ………... 48
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS …………... 51
5.1. Conclusions ………... 51
5.2. Suggestions ………... 53
5.2.1. Suggestions for the Implementation of Teaching Learning Process… 54 5.2.2. The Implementation of Teaching Prose II Using Literary Work... 54
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LIST OF TABLE
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LIST OF APPENDICES
Page
Appendix 1 Summary of the Novel .………... 59
Appendix 2 Biography of John Boyne ………... 62
Appendix 3 Lesson Plan to Teach Prose II .………… ……... 66
Appendix 4 Questions for Discussion in Prose II ……..………... 69
1 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
This chapter consists of background of the study, problem formulation, objectives of the study, benefits of the study, and definition of terms. Background of the study gives the explanation about the topic of this study. Objectives of the study states the purpose of the writer in writing this thesis. Problem formulation describes the problems that will be analyzed. Benefits of the study gives the explanation of who may get benefits from the study. Definiton of terms gives some explanations about several terms that are related to the study to avoid misunderstanding about it.
1.1 Background of the Study
History records that a war is always the most horrible incident in human’s life because war destroys everything. One of the greatest wars in history was World War II. Many countries in the world participated in this war. It happened because of the competition and hatred between some countries. This war caused great destructions more than any other wars because the participating countries used modern military technology to fight their enemies.
out by killing Jewish people in gas chambers, mass shooting, or medical experiments (Sosnowski, 70-79).
After the Nazis began to invade the neighbouring countries, they continued to execute the Holocaust program towards Jewish people in the countries. As a result, the invaded countries suffered under Nazi rules, in which Jewish citizens were forced to be slaves and the weak people were killed in the Holocaust program. Many Jewish people leave their homelands in search for safety. The Nazis were so obsessed with the killing of the Jews that it disgusted the people of Germany itself. Many people began to help their Jewish neighbours, hiding them in underground shelters and taking care of them. The children were the poorest victims of the war. They suffered physically and mentally (Sosnowski, 70-118). In that time, many children were taught to hate their Jewish friends. As a result, friendship among them was rare. However, children in such conditions still found ways of maintaining friendship. Friendship never stopped even in the time of war. Instead, it brought an understanding towards people to never let a war happens again. The memorial of World War II must be maintained in order to make people aware and respect to their countries’ peace.
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history of World War II, the works of literature cause great influence as they portray the events occured in that era. One of the literary works written in the setting of World War II era is John Boyne’s the Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
The story tells about the life of Bruno, a nine-year-old boy whose father is a high-ranking military officer of Nazi. Bruno’s life changes when the Fury (its actual meaning is the Fuhrer, which is the name given to Hitler as a dictator of Germany, mispronounced intentionally by Bruno) decides to have a meeting with Bruno’s father. In that occasion, Bruno’s father is promoted to be in charge of a death camp in a place Bruno calls Out-With (Auschwitz, a death camp located in Poland), resulting in the move of the family to their new house built near the death camp. Trying to adapt to the new environments, Bruno finds himself trapped in the solitude of his new home and the weirdness of his new ‘neighbours’ there. Drawn by his curiosity, Bruno explores and arrives at the extermination camp, where he meets with Shmuel, a Jewish boy imprisoned there along with many Jews from Poland. Bruno, despite all disciminations and accusations blamed to the Jews, decides to be a friend with Shmuel. It lasts for almost a year through their great efforts to hide their friendship from everyone. When Shmuel’s father suddenly disappears, Bruno promises to help searching him by crawling through the barbed wire and wearing the striped pyjama brought by Shmuel. The two boys are accidentally trapped in the midst of a death procession and die in the gas chamber.
races such as Jews or Slavs, invading their countries and murdering their people. The friendship between the two boys, which must be kept in secret, is interesting to read as it enables the readers to understand the history behind the hatred existing in Europe at that time. The topic of friendship, which is written in a unique way as seen in the characters and the settings of the story, enables people to realize that every person has the same rights, regardless their nations, races, or social status.
1.2 Problem Formulation
There are two major problems formulated in the study. They are as follows: 1. How is the friendship between Bruno and Shmuel reflected in the novel the
Boy in the Striped Pajamas?
2. How do they maintain their friendship?
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The study has two objectives. The first objective is to analyze how the author characterizes Bruno and Shmuel. The second objective is to analyze the friendship between Bruno and Shmuel which is reflected in the novel as seen in the lives of the characters and the setting of the novel.
1.4 Benefits of the Study
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1.5 Definition of Terms
1.5.1 Friendship
Friendship is a private, voluntary, and special relationship between people because of shared commitments and similarities (Beebe 312). Furthermore, Beebe suggests some of the qualities of friendship such as self-disclosure, honesty, acceptance of one’s individuality, trust, concern, and empathy.
1.5.2 World War II
According to Langsam (7), World War II was the name of the military conflict from 1939 to 1945 which involved many countries in the world. The opposing countries formed two military alliances, namely the Allies and the Axis. The Allies consisted of Soviet Union, United States of America, United Kingdom, China, Australia, Canada, and others. The Axis consisted of Germany, Japan, Italy, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria.
World War II can be divided into three fronts: Western front in western and central Europe, Eastern front in eastern Europe and Russia, and Pacific front in China, Southeast Asia and Japan. It began with the Nazi German invasion in Poland in 1939 and lasted with the surrender of Axis countries in 1945.
1.5.3 Jews
1.5.4 Nazi
Nazi (Nationalsozialistiche Deutsche Arbeiterspartei) is the name of National Socialist German Worker’s Party, which was established in 1930. Robert T. Elson in his book Prelude of War states that Nazi was at first a small party in Germany (87). Adolf Hitler, a poor soldier, joined the party and successfully expanded the influence of Nazi. Following the general election on March 1933, Hitler was appointed the Chancellor of Germany (Elson, 95).
Nazi government suppressed all opposition and established an absolute government, in which people were controlled over all aspects of life. People have no rights to criticize the government. They were supposed to show their love to their country in excessive ways and they should judge themselves better than other races, because Nazi emphasized the superiority of German people and hatred towards minor ethnics, especially Jews.
1.5.5 Holocaust
The holocaust refers to the mass murder of Jews and other minor races by the Nazi government during World War II. The numbers of the victims approximately reached more than 6 millions people. It was a program to eliminate minor ethnics in Europe, especially Jewish people.
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1.5.6 Death camp
Death camp or extermination camp is defined as the killing camps established by Nazi military government in conquered areas in Poland (Laqueur 174). There are six death camps in Poland, one of the biggest is Auschwitz. It is located in the west of Krakow, Poland. Nazi built five gas chambers to execute mass murder towards Jewish people more effectively. More than 1 million Jews were killed there.
1.5.7 Gas chamber
According to Laqueur (227), a gas chamber is a room or hall in a building or structure in which people were murdered by means of poison gas. The gas chamber allowed Nazi Germany to commit mass murder in effective way as it takes short time and low cost to accomplish. The murder is carried out by the soldiers who selected unwanted people and sent them to the gas chamber.
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REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter presents three major parts, namely review of related theories, review on history of Nazi occupation in Europe, and theoretical framework. This section presents theory of critical approaches, theory of character and characterization, theory of friendship, theory of motivation, and theory of Nazism In the review on history of Nazi occupation in Europe, there is an explanation about the history of Nazi invasions in Europe during World War II and the suffering of the defeated countries and their citizens, especially Jews. Theoretical framework provides information about why and how those theories are applied in order to answer the problem of the study.
2.1 Review of Related Theories 2.1.1 Critical Approach
According to Rohrberger and Woods, Jr. (6-15), there are five approaches which are used in analyzing a work of literature, namely the Formalist Approach, the Biographical Approach, the Sociocultural-Historical Approach, the Mythopoeic Approach, and the Psychological Approach.
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the work of art as the reference. The Psychological Approach explores a work of art using psychological theories as the basis of analysis.
This study takes the Psychological Approach and the Sociocultural-Historical Approach as the most appropriate approaches in interpreting the novel and analyzing the problems of the study. The first approach, the Psychological Approach, is an approach that investigates behaviour of the characters as a human being (Rohrberger & Woods, Jr. 13-15). From the psychological point of view, the reasons behind the actions of the characters may be explained. The Sociocultural-Historical Approach leads us to analyze the events in the novel in reference to the accuracy in the presentation of historical facts. That is why the analysis of social, cultural, and historical backgrounds are used as references to the further understanding and interpretation of the story.
2.1.2 Character and Characterization
of the major characters. Further, Forster (qtd in Abrams 33) distinguishes between flat and round characters. Flat characters are portrayed without much personal detail, while round characters are complex in their motivations and emotions. They are difficult to describe as they have uniqueness just like a person in real life.
Murphy (161-173) proposes nine methods of characterization. The methods are details about how an author conveys the characters and personalities of the people in his or her work of literature. They help the readers to understand about the characters in a story. They nine methods are:
2.1.2.1Personal description
The author describes from the details of physical appearance of the character, like strong or weak, tall or short, white or black skin. The description will help the readers to understand the characters in the story visually.
2.1.2.2Character as seen by others
An author describes the character through other characters’ point of view. The other characters in the story give their opinions by giving explanation of what a character looks like. In these details, the readers can also use their own point of view to analyze the character.
2.1.2.3Speech
The author gives the readers an insight into the character in the work through what a person says. It can be seen whenever a person speaks in conversation with other characters.
2.1.2.4Past life
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His or her present life is closely connected to his or her past life. Knowing his past life, the readers can figure out the character’s personality in a work of literature. An author sometimes explains a person’s personality by giving special events that shape his character. The readers can find it from the direct comment of the author or through the person’s thought or the medium of another person.
2.1.2.5Conversation of others
The readers have to pay attention through the conversations of other people and the things they say about the person, because an author sometimes gives a clue to understand the person’s personality from others’ conversation and their opinion about him. The readers will get more information about the person’s character by applying this method.
2.1.2.6Reaction
The author gives the readers a clue to a person’s character by describing how the person reacts to various situations or events in the story. Using this method, the readers can figure out the person’s character because the responses of the person are based on his personality.
2.1.2.7Direct comment
The author sometimes gives comments on a person’s character directly by writing it in his work of literature. It enables the readers to know directly about a person’s personality. The readers may easily understand what kind of person he is. 2.1.2.8Thoughts
2.1.2.9 Mannerism
A person’s character can be described through his habit and mannerism. Knowing his habit and mannerism, the readers will be able to find more information about the person and what personalities he possesses.
2.1.3 Friendship
According to Beebe (312), friendship is defined as a relationship of choice that exists between two individuals who share similarities and commitment. It means that a friendship is maintained between friends through sharing the same interests or hobbies, because people usually feel more comfortable and open if they know that they have similarities with their friends. This kind of relationship may happen to any people regardless their sex, backgrounds, religions, or races.
Aristotle (qtd in Becker 388) defines general types of friendship. They are friendship based on utility, friendship based on pleasure, and friendship based on goodness. Friendship based on utility changes according to circumstances. It is argued to be the worst type of friendship. Friendship of this kind usually happens among people who are pursuing their own advantages. People who maintain this kind of friendship feel no need of acceptance from their friends as long as they still get advantages from their friendship.
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Friendship based on goodness is argued to be a perfect friendship, which happens when friends wish good for others. They are truly friends, because each friend loves the others what they are, and not for any certain qualities. Friendship of this kind is permanent and lasts so long as people who maintain it remain good.
Duck in his book Friends, for Life (6) states that the nature of friendship has several certain aspects which make it different from any other relationship. They are caring, support, loyalty and putting high priority on the other person’s interests. Duck also proposes that there are reasons why people need friends. They are belonging and a sense of reliable alliance, emotional integration and stability, opportunities for communication, and provision for assistance and physical support (11-18).
The first reason is that friendship creates a sense of belonging and reliable alliance. Through friendship, friends create a bond that can be trusted to be there for them whenever they need it. One of the signs that someone is a true friend is when they help their friends in times of trouble.
The second reason is that friendship provides emotional integration and stability. It keeps people to be emotionally stable as friends tell them how they should react appropriately towards something and correct and guide their attitudes and beliefs. In this case, friends provide stable, meaningful supports especially in times of stress and crisis.
of it, increasing stability and comfort in their interaction with others. Friends who never talk about themselves are usually considered to be defensive or passive.
The fourth reason is provision for assistance and physical support. Friendship enables people to offer them support, whether physical, psychological or emotional. People need friends to help them cope with stress and uncertainty and take care of their physical needs.
A friendship is built through some stages of development. Duck (64-95) also states that once two strangers are clear that they are both interested in developing a friendship, they will have to go through the stages of friendship development, namely seeking similarity and support, increasing intimacy, and showing that the friendship is growing.
The first stage is seeking similarity and support. It deals with the efforts to obtain information about each other, people’s adjustment in behaviours that match up with their partners’ feeling for one another, and creation of a pattern of communication. At this stage, people demonstrate and share their similarities with their partners to find a mutual interest that may become the foundation of their friendship.
The second stage, increasing intimacy, is a development of friendship in which people reveal first their attitude and later their personalities, inner character and true selves in proper ways. The key in this stage of development is self-disclosure. The appropriateness of self-disclosure is defined by the relationship between the two people and the level of intimacy they seek to achieve.
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become close friends, and their feelings have to be demonstrated or else people will not know that they are friends. It concerns with the changes in their behaviours and joint activities that gradually alter to be more intimate as the friendship grows. The characteristic of this stage is when the friends talk about their feelings on some shared experience.
Vasta et al (621) state the conception of friendship from age 5 to 11 years old. There are three stages of children’s conception on friendship based on their class of age. The first level is a child in the age of 5-7 years old. They believe friends are associates who are nice to them and who are fun to play with. Friendship is a temporary relationship, easily established and easily ended.
The second level is a child of 8-10 years old. They describe friends as people who help each other in a relationship of mutual trust. They like their friends because of certain characteristics and not merely because of frequent play contacts. Children of this age may say that a friend is someone who helps them and can be trusted by them.
The last level is an 11-year-old child. These children assume that friends are those who understand each other and share their interest, thoughts, and feelings. Friendship is a long-term relationship based on similar interests and personality. Children of age 11 may say that a friend is someone they can talk about everything and share many things together.
prefer to choose peers with the same gender and who are similar to themselves in age, gender, and interests. Those similarities in gender become quite strong in the middle childhood and adolescence.
Further, Beebe in his book Interpersonal Communication in Relationships (314) states that there are different stages in friendship. Childhood friendship is classified into five overlapping stages. The first stage is from age 3-7 years old, when children begin to interact with people around them. The second stage, from age four to nine, children’s friendships involve one-way assistance as they can see friendships as instruments to help them meet their needs. The third stage, age six to twelve, is the stage in which the relationship is likely to end if there are conflicts and problems. The fourth stage, from 9-15 years old, happens when relationships become more possessive because of the closeness that develops. It is also called mutual intimacy. The last stage, beginning at about age twelve and continuing through adulthood, allows for more independence in friendship that also enables them to increase the level of intimacy and sharing.
In order to maintain a friendship, people must do some efforts. Beebe (336-338) states that there are some ways to maintain a friendship, namely expressing emotion, providing comfort and social support, engaging in relationship talk, being tolerant and showing restraint, and managing conflict cooperatively.
2.1.4 Motivation
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fulfils his needs through certain levels, starting from the lowest level which consists of his very basic needs. Human can only move to the higher level if the lower level of needs is fulfilled. In order to understand the stages of this behaviour, Maslow proposes Hierarchy of Needs. It is usually portrayed as a pyramid consisting five levels of human needs.
The lowest level of Hierarchy of Needs is called physiological needs. It includes the most basic needs for human’s life, such as air, water, food, sleep, and sexual activity. When these needs cannot be fulfilled, human body may feel sickness, pain, and discomfort.
When a person has fulfilled his physiological needs, his motivation can move to the next level, namely safety needs. It includes personal security, family security, financial security, and health.
After physical and safety needs are fulfilled, there are love needs. This level deals with human relationships, such as needs of friendship and love. Humans need to be loved and accepted by others, and to have a desire to belong to groups, such as family and social community.
The next level after love needs is esteem needs. It deals with human desire to be respected by himself and other people. There are two branches of esteem needs, a need for self-esteem and a need for esteem from others. The first is the needs that motivate a person to achieve independence and success while the second is the needs to be respected by others.
2.1.5 Nazism
Nazism is the ideology of the Nazi party led by Adolf Hitler. The source of
Nazism is Mein Kampf (My Struggle), an autobiography of Hitler. When Hitler became the leader of Germany, his book was applied as the foundation of his government. The main concept of Nazism came from Hitler’s own political beliefs. Hitler saw Jews and other minor ethnics as parasitic people who were the cause of the decline of Germany. Citizens of Germany must only consist of Aryan people (the native German people). There are no places for Jews and Slavs. They were the enemies of the country and had to be eliminated. Therefore, Germany must be united and disciplined in order to win (Hitler 391-394).
In the principles of Nazi, democracy or monarchy regarded as weak and corrupt. Therefore, a strong united Germany could only be achieved through dictator regime. In order to do that, Nazism tried to control every aspect of human’s life and encouraged people to be fanatic and loyal towards Germany (343-349). Nazism also believed that the Aryan was superior and has the rights to live in “Lebensraum” (“living space”). This concept allowed Aryan people to take their
rights by invading other countries and eliminating minor ethnics such as Jews and Slavs (467-468).
2.2 Review on History of Nazi Occupation in Europe
2.2.1 The Rise of Nazi and Its Successful Invasion in Europe
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Germany, changing the name of the party into National Socialist German Worker’s Party or Nazi and began a dictatorial government in Germany (Shirer 42).
In 1936, Germany, Japan, and Italy formed an alliance called Axis Power. Their goal was to expand their territories by attacking their neighbour countries. With the support of military technology and other resources, Hitler began a war called Blitzkrieg, a military operation which was carried out by special army. He made use of modern vehicles to attack other countries. This strategy allowed him to successfully invade the other countries, such as Poland, Netherland, France, Austria, and Belgium (Tenbrock 297-298).
2.2.2 The Suffering of the Jews under Nazi Regime in Poland
Hitler in his own book Mein Kampf stated that Jews were the cause of all difficulties and suffering in Germany (234-244). When Hitler began his regime,he ordered German people to to discriminate Jews, forbidding them from having personal properties and job. Jewish people had no rights to live in Germany. It reached its climax in a brutal program called Holocaust (Johnson 487-493).
Sosnowski (70) states that the mass killing of Jews was first done to Jewish people from the conquered countries in the East. There were two ways to accomplish the mass murder: direct extermination, when people were killed in camps or military operations, and indirect extermination, when people died as a result of extreme conditions such as hard work, diseases or starvation.
2.3 Theoretical Framework
To answer the problems which are formulated in the problem formulation, several theories are needed, such as theory of character and characterization, theory of friendship, and also theory of motivation. Theory of critical approach is employed to determine the most appropriate approach in analyzing and interpreting the novel.
The theory of character and characterization is needed to answer the first problem. It is important to know the theory of character because the analysis in this study involves several characters in the novel. The theory of characterization is applied in this study to reveal the characterization of the characters as this theory provides the definition and techniques of characterization.
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To discuss the topic further, it is also important to obtain information about the Nazi itself. Therefore, the theory of Nazism and the review on history of Nazi occupation in Europe during World War II, especially the history of the Jews under the Nazi occupation, are applied to provide comprehension about what happens to the countries invaded by Nazi Germany, especially its Jewish citizens. The review also gives insight to what the Nazi did when dealing with the Jews and other minor ethnics.
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METHODOLOGY
This chapter consists of object of the study, approach of the study, and method of the study. Object of the study gives explanation about the author and the novel. Approach of the study deals with the approaches employed to analyze the study. Method of the study explains the steps and the process in completing this study.
3.1 Object of the Study
The novel that was discussed in this study is The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. It was written by an Irish writer named John Boyne in 2006. The novel
used in this study was published by David Fickling Books in 2006. It has two hundred twenty four pages long and is divided into twenty chapters.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is Boyne’s fourth novel and is considered as
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Congress of Rough Riders (2001), Crippen (2004), Next of Kin (2006), Mutiny on
the Bounty (2008), and The House of Special Purpose (2009).
The story is told from the perspective of Bruno, a nine year old boy whose father, a Nazi officer, has been promoted to a higher position. This event leads Bruno’s family to move to a place near Auschwitz, a concentration camp. From the window in his new house, Bruno sees the camp with many people dressing in striped pajamas living in it. His curiosity and boredom in that isolated place lead him to sneak from his house and follow the path to the camp, where he meets Shmuel, a Jewish boy. Almost every day, they meet at the same spot and talk. Their friendship lasts for almost a year until one day, for the reason of helping Shmuel to find his father who is missing inside the camp, Bruno decides to climb under the fence and finally is able to join Shmuel on the other side of the fence. The story ends in a tragic ending, with the two boys lost their lives in the camp as they are accidentally trapped in the gas chamber.
3.2 Approach of the Study
The approaches applied in this study were the psychological approach and the sociocultural-historical approach. According to Rohrberger and Woods, Jr. (9-10), sociocultural-historical approach investigates a literary work from its relation with social, cultural, and history of a certain time and place when the work is created. The setting of time and place in this novel and its condition of civilization give the reader description of the real society.
of each character’s actions and behaviours (16). Therefore, the psychological approach and sociocultural-historical approach were appropriate to answer the problem formulation of the extraordinary relationship between Bruno and Shmuel which is related to the social condition in World War II period.
3.3 Method of the Study
Library research was applied as the method in this study. In library research, data are gathered from written sources such as books and journals. In doing this study, a series of steps were taken. The first step was reading the book to get the understanding of the story and the topic of the study. The second step was finding the problem and formulating research questions of the study. The third step was collecting the data and supporting sources. The next step was analyzing the problem using the data previously gathered. The last step was drawing a conclusion.
The first step was reading the novel. It must be repeated several times to really get the comprehension about the story since the novel raises a heavy and complicated theme. Reading the novel is also intended to find the topic worth to discuss in the study. The second step, finding the problem formulation, aimed to develop the questions that were going to be analyzed and answered in this study.
24 CHAPTER 4
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter consists of two sections. The first section discusses Bruno and Shmuel, the major characters and how their friendship is reflected in the story. The second section analyzes how Bruno and Shmuel maintain their friendship.
4.1 Friendship between Bruno and Shmuel
In this part, the analysis concerns about the friendship between Bruno and Shmuel as reflected in the novel The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. The analysis will cover the descriptions of Bruno and Shmuel, Bruno’s motives to be a friend of Shmuel, and the developments of their friendship.
4.1.1 The Descriptions of Bruno and Shmuel
Forster in his theory of character (46-51) states that characters can also be classified into flat character and round character. In the novel, Bruno experiences personality changes in his feelings and thoughts. His changes are affected by his new home environments and friendship with Shmuel. That is why he is categorized as a round character. However, Shmuel is a flat character. He remains the same from the beginning until the end of the story.
In order to analyze characters in a work of literature, Murphy proposes nine methods of characterization. They are personal description, character as seen by other, speech, past life, conversation of others, reactions, direct comment, thoughts, and mannerism (161-173). In this study, some of the methods are applied in order to understand the characters of Bruno and Shmuel.
4.1.1.1 Bruno
Bruno is the major character in Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Bruno is a round character because he experiences personality changes which are the results of his new home’s environment and his friendship with Shmuel. In the novel, Bruno is described as a nine-year-old German boy who comes from a rich family in Berlin. They have a big house with five floors, cars and lots of servants (Boyne 9). Before Bruno comes to Out-with, he lives with his Father, Mother, his sister Gretel, and the servants. His grandparents also live near to their house.
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(Boyne 153). He loves to read books about the journeys of great explorers. It makes his teacher, Herr Liszt, gets angry because he wants Bruno to study history and geography, while Bruno prefers reading and art (Boyne 97). When comes to adventuring, he is willing to do anything, such as sneaking out of his home and exploring to Out-With camp, which is actually forbidden to him to go (Boyne 55-56). His exploration allows him to meet Shmuel.
Bruno’s speeches, behaviours, and thoughts show that he is a loving and care person. We can see the example from his love towards his family and friends. When the family is about to move to the new home, Bruno tries hard to make his family, including his grandparents, to stay together by complaining to mother (Boyne 3-10). Further, Bruno shows great admirations towards his father. When Maria tells him what his father does to save her family, Bruno is really proud of him (Boyne 62). We can also see that Bruno is a care person when he realizes that he misses his grandparents so much and decides to write a letter to them (Boyne 93). His love and care can also be seen from his feelings towards his friends, especially Shmuel. Establishing a secret friendship with Shmuel makes Bruno thinks about him most of the times. Bruno’s routine visits and gifts of food to Shmuel (Boyne 134-138) also indicate that he is care about him.
(Boyne 46). Once, Bruno accidentally reveals his friendship with Shmuel to his sister, Gretel. When Gretel demands his explanations about it, he tries to tell a lie because he does not want her to know his secret friendship with Shmuel. However, he has difficulties on convincing her by telling that it is just an imaginary friendship (Boyne 154-155). He is not accustomed to telling a lie. It shows that he is an honest person.
Bruno is also a polite and respectful person. He always tries to be nice to all people he meets, regardless who they are. He talks politely with Maria the family maid, unlike Gretel who never thinks that servants are people with feelings. Once, he even argues with Gretel by saying that Maria, despite the fact that she is a maid, is not there just to do things for them all the time, especially things that they can do themselves (Boyne 36). Bruno even tries to be nice to Lieutenant Kotler although Bruno actually hates him. When Lieutenant Kotler makes fun of him, Bruno keeps talking politely (Boyne 41-42). The second aspect to show that Bruno is polite is that he never interrupts people when they are talking to him. It is because his parents always teach him the rules of politeness, such as never interrupting older people when they are talking (Boyne 8) and being obedient to parents because they make all decisions for the family (Boyne 12).
4.1.1.2 Shmuel
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comes to Out-With, he lives with his father and mother and his brother Josef in a small flat above the store where his father makes watches. However, in their first meeting, Bruno describes him as the skinniest and saddest boy he meets in life.
When Bruno first approached the boy, he was sitting cross-legged on the ground, staring at the dust beneath him. However, after a moment he looked up and Bruno saw his face. It was quite a strange face too. His skin was almost the colour of grey, but not quite like any grey that Bruno had ever seen before. He had very large eyes and they were the colour of caramel sweets; the whites were very white, and when the boy looked at him all Bruno could see was an enormous pair of sad eyes staring back.
Bruno was sure that he had never seen a skinnier or sadder boy in his life but decided that he had better talk to him (Boyne 106-107).
From Bruno’s descriptions, we can see that Shmuel’s physical appearance is very pitiful. It is caused by the conditions in Out-With. As a Jewish person, Shmuel is imprisoned along with many other Jews by Nazi soldiers who treat them badly and even torture them. The suffering cause them to have such sad appearances.
taken away from them. Shmuel, his Papa and his grandfather live together inside the camp (Boyne 126-130).
Shmuel’s manners and expressions show that he is a passive person. Shmuel rarely shows his emotions openly. When Shmuel tells his stories, he often shares them without showing any emotions although they are sad experiences (Boyne 126-130). When Bruno finds him with bruised face, he does not want to talk about it (Boyne 150). It shows that he is passive. A passive person rarely expresses what he feels. He accepts all punishments aimed at him, without taking any actions. He prefers to pretend that nothing happens to him.
Despite of his young age, Shmuel is a smart boy. He can speak two languages, German and Polish. He talks with Bruno in German, although he implicitly states that he can also speak Polish by saying that he comes from Poland (Boyne 111). He is taught by his mother, who is a teacher in his school and can speak many languages.
4.1.2 Their Motives to Establish a Friendship
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This section employed Maslow’s theories of physiological needs, safety needs, and love needs to observe Bruno and Shmuel’s motives. In the novel The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Bruno and Shmuel have different motives in
establishing a friendship. Bruno’s motives are the needs to communicate with peers and Shmuel as his only friend. Shmuel’s motives are getting physical and mental supports and the needs to love and be loved by other person.
4.1.2.1 Bruno’s Motives
Out-With (Boyne 140). Bruno even smuggles food from his house to give to Shmuel (Boyne 134-138). Bruno also offers help to search for Shmuel’s father when he is missing on work duty and Shmuel cannot find him (Boyne 199). All of the actions show that Bruno will do anything to be a friend of Shmuel. That is because Shmuel is the only friend he has and he does not want to lose him.
The second motive is to be able to communicate with peers. Bruno feels very happy when he first meets Shmuel because he is finally able to talk to someone of his age. The introduction and conversations that follow, along with the fact that they share some similarities such as having the same birthday (Boyne 109) makes them get excited about each other. Bruno’s kindness and politeness make Shmuel comfortable. As a result, their conversations go well. When having conversations, they talk about anything, not just common subjects but also personal opinions and details about themselves. As their friendship getting closer, the need to communicate also gets bigger. The evidence of this case is that Bruno will miss their conversations and cannot focus on what he is doing when he is unable to meet Shmuel (Boyne 160).
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gets little attentions from Mother, who hates the new home and routinely goes to a nearby city ‘for a change of air’ (Boyne 70). That is why he searches for a person who is willing to build a relationship with him. The fact that he only has one friend drives him to do anything he can do to build a friendship with Shmuel.
4.1.2.2 Shmuel’s Motives
Shmuel’s first motive to establish a friendship with Bruno is getting physical and mental supports. Shmuel, as what usually happens to a prisoner, gets only small amounts of provisions. Although Shmuel are imprisoned together with his father and grandfather, they can only give him little comforts. They can do very little to take care of Shmuel properly. Therefore, it can be concluded that Shmuel fulfills his most basic needs insufficiently. In the novel, Shmuel shows his motive to have a friend based on the fact that Bruno may provide him with provisions and comforts. In the novel, Bruno offers physical supports by giving him food (Boyne 193). It makes Shmuel very grateful. It can bee seen from Shmuel’s feeling to hug Bruno when they are able to stand side by side together for the first time, just to thank Bruno for all his kindness and gifts of food, and the fact that Bruno is going to help find Shmuel’s Papa (Boyne 206).
sadness although Bruno sometimes misunderstands what Shmuel tells him. All of Bruno’s actions of giving food and listening patiently to Shmuel’s sad stories motivate him to keep a friendship with Bruno.
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4.1.3 The Developments of Their Friendship
People may become close friends if they have commitments to develop their friendship. This aspect can only be realized in gradual stages. Duck (64-85) proposes the stages of the developments of friendship, namely seeking similarity and support, increasing intimacy, and showing that the friendship is growing.
This section analyzes the development of the friendship between Bruno and Shmuel. In the novel, the friendship between Bruno and Shmuel is unique as it involves two individuals with completely different backgrounds and characteristics. Shmuel is a Jewish boy while Bruno is a son of a Nazi German officer. According to the doctrine of Nazism created by Hitler, Jews was considered as a parasitic race. They were the cause of all Germany’s defeats and misfortunes. Therefore, German people were supposed to hate Jewish and other minor races (Hitler 391-394). We can see the result of this belief in the novel. Bruno and Shmuel have to conceal their friendship from anybody including their family if they hope to keep their relationship safely. However, their friendship reflects the characteristics of the stages of developments of friendship as proposed by Duck.
4.1.3.1 Seeking Similarity and Support
two people’s attitudes, the more they like one another because they may find something that they can enjoy together.
In the novel, Bruno and Shmuel go through this stage of development by seeking information about each other. They try to reveal information about their partner. It can be seen from the way they ask each other about their personal backgrounds such as where they live and come from (Boyne 108). In doing this, they also try to find similarities between them. For example, they finally find a similarity when Bruno asks Shmuel how old he is, Shmuel answers that he is nine years old and has the same birthday as Bruno.
“I suppose I am. How old are you?” he asked.
Shmuel thought about it and looked down at his fingers and they wiggled in the air, as if he was trying to calculate. “I’m nine,” he said, “My birthday is April the fifteenth nineteen thirty-four.”
Bruno stared at him in surprise. “What did you say?” he asked. “I said my birthday is April the fifteenth nineteen thirty-four.”
Bruno’s eyes opened wide and his mouth made the shape of an O. “I don’t believe it,” he said.
“Why not?” asked Shmuel.
“No,” said Bruno, shaking his head quickly. “I don’t mean I don’t believe you. I mean I’m surprised, that’s all. Because my birthday is April the fifteenth too. And I was born in nineteen thirty-four. We were born on the same day.”
Shmuel thought about this. “So you’re nine too,” he said. “Yes. Isn’t that strange?”
“Very strange,” said Shmuel. “Because there may be dozens of Shmuels on this side of the fence but I don’t think that I’ve ever met anyone with the same birthday as me before.”
“We’re like twins,” said Bruno. “A little bit,” agreed Shmuel.
Bruno felt very happy all of a sudden. A picture came into his head of Karl and Daniel and Martin, his three best friends for life, and he remembered how much fun they used to have together back in Berlin and he realized how lonely he had been at Out-With (Boyne 110).
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to think that there are possibilities of building a good friendship with Shmuel. Bruno’s happiness when finding similarity with Shmuel can also be seen when Shmuel tells Bruno why he arrives in Out-With camp. Bruno is delighted to know that Shmuel also moves there because of other persons’ orders and not for his own wish (Boyne 128). All of these efforts in obtaining general information are indicators that both friends are in the first stage of development. It helps someone to know whether his friend likes him or not, and whether the friend have similarities and supports that are needed and may be enjoyed by both of them.
As stated by Duck, the difficulty in seeking similarity and support lies in opening up the partner about their interest and supports. It requires skills and patience (67). Here, we can see that Bruno is less capable of doing this rather than Shmuel. When Shmuel tells his stories, Bruno compares them with his own experiences and does not understand why Shmuel looks very sad about it. Bruno never realizes that Shmuel tells him sad stories of his old life until he retells Shmuel’s stories to his sister.
Bruno got to the end of his sentence and realized that his voice had gone very quiet. These were things that Shmuel had told him, but for some reason he hadn’t really understood at the time how sad that must have made his friend. When Bruno said them out loud himself he felt terrible that he hadn’t tried to say anything to cheer Shmuel up and instead had started talking about something silly, like exploring. I’ll say sorry for that tomorrow, he told himself (Boyne 158).
being just silent when Bruno says that Germany is far superior to Shmuel’s country, Poland (Boyne 112) and when Bruno misunderstands what Shmuel tells about his sad experiences (Boyne 127-130).
In summary, despite the difficulties they face when trying to get general information about each other, Bruno and Shmuel can successfully pas through this first stage of development in seeking similarity and support. We can see that their efforts are enhanced by their tolerance and patience in having conversations. As their conversations become more intimate, they decide to develop their friendship into the higher level stage of development, which is increasing intimacy.
4.1.3.2 Increasing Intimacy
The second stage of development of friendship as stated by Duck is increasing intimacy. It is in this stage that people begin to open themselves about more personal information, such as attitudes, personalities, inner character and true selves (71-85). As what Jourad (qtd in Duck 71-72) says that the main characteristic developed in this stage is self-disclosure. Self-disclosure means one’s willingness to open someone’s self and personal thoughts to his friends. This characteristic must happen in a friendship because someone who never says anything about personal opinions, thoughts, and feelings will be considered as a closed and defensive person.
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himself by telling private matters. Bruno also shows his commitment that he seeks to get closer to Shmuel by asking him to play together and inviting him to dinner.
“Perhaps you can come to dinner with us one evening,” said Bruno, although he wasn’t sure it was a very good idea.
“Perhaps,” said Shmuel, although he didn’t sound convinced.
“Or I could come to you,” said Bruno. “Perhaps I could come and meet your friends,” he added hopefully. He had hoped that Shmuel would suggest this himself but there didn’t seem to be any sign of that.
“You’re on the wrong side of the fence through,” said Shmuel.
“I could crawl under,” said Bruno, reaching down and lifting the wire off the ground. In the centre, between the wooden telegraph poles, it lifted quite easily and a boy as small as Bruno could easily fit through.
Shmuel watched him do this and backed away nervously. “I have to go back,” he said.
“Some other afternoon then,” said Bruno.
“I’m not supposed to be here. If they catch me I’ll be in trouble” (Boyne 132).
children lied about their age to survive the selection. Many of them suffered starvation, diseases, and sexual abuses. In Auschwitz camp, they were even used as objects of brutal experiments (Laqueur 117-118). Being silent and passive were the only ways to avoid soldier’s attentions towards them. It explains Shmuel’s reluctancy to tell Bruno about his conditions because he tries not to attract any attentions that may provoke soldiers to search and find him.
Once, their friendship seems to get worse when Shmuel, who works in Bruno’s house as a servant, is caught of eating food given by Bruno. When threatened by Lieutenant Kotler, Shmuel admits that Bruno is the one who gives the food because he is a friend of Shmuel. Bruno, in his fear towards Lieutenant Kotler, says that he does not know Shmuel (Boyne 172). This action can be explained through the historical background in that era. Nazi Germany’s rules deprived Jewish children from all of basic rights, including the right to attend schools. The idea was to separate Jewish children from German children as Nazi believed that Jews tried to spread bad influence towards German people. Both German and Jewish children were to obey that rules (Laqueur 115). That is why Bruno tries to deny the fact that he is a friend of Shmuel. However, both Bruno and Shmuel can manage to apologize and forgive each other after the incident. The result is that the incident does not make their friendship ends. Instead, it strengthens their friendship in a more intimate level.
4.1.3.3 Showing That the Friendship is Growing
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they have become close friends. Their intimate must be indicated in behaviours. That is why they try to show to outsiders that they are close friends in order to gain other people’s acceptance of their new friend. They also start evaluating themselves and their friendship so that they can get focus on their relationship itself and their feelings about it ( Duck 93-95).
Concerning the friendship between Bruno and Shmuel, there is a difference that they cannot show their friendship to other people. We can see the example in Bruno’s dilemma. On several occasions, he is so happy and excited that he wants to tell his family about his new friend. Sometimes he almost uncovers his friendship unconsciously, such as when he talks to his sister Gretel (Boyne153-154) and his father (Boyne 191). Actually, his actions indicate that he actually wants to tell his family about his new friend so that they approve and acknowledge their friendship. However, he finally decides that this is not a good idea to tell them about it. He worries that his family do not like Shmuel and say unpleasant things about him (Boyne 133).
At first, Bruno does not realize the impact of the difference that he is a German boy while Shmuel is a Jew on their friendship. He does not even know what the Jews are until his sister Gretel explains to him and why they must hate Jewish people.
“Jews,” said Bruno, testing the word out. He quite liked the way it sounded. “Jews,” he repeated. “All the people over that side of the fence are Jews.” “Yes, that’s right,” said Gretel.
“Are we Jews?”
Gretel opened her mouth wide, as if she had been slapped in the face. “No, Bruno,” she said. “No, we most certainly are not. And you shouldn’t even say something like that.”
“We’re...” began Gretel, but then she had to stop to think about it. “We’re...” she repeated, but she wasn’t quite sure what the answer to this question really was.
“Well, we’re not Jews,” she said finally.
“I know we’re not,” said Bruno in frustration. “I’m asking you, if we’re not Jews, what are we instead?”
“We’re the opposite,” said Gretel, answering quickly and sounding a lot more satisfied with this answer. “Yes, that’s it. We’re the opposite.”
“All right,” said Bruno, pleased that he had it settled in his head at last. “And the Opposite live on this side of the fence and the Jews live on that.” “That’s right, Bruno.”
“Don’t the Jews like the Opposite then?” “No, it’s us who don’t like them, stupid.”
Bruno frowned. Gretel had been told time and time again that she wasn’t allowed to call him stupid but still she persisted with it.
“Well, why don’t we like them?” he asked. “Because they’re Jews,” said Gretel.
“I see. And the Opposite and the Jews don’t get along.”
“No, Bruno,” said Gretel, but she said this slowly because she had discovered something unusual in her hair and was examining it carefully (Boyne 182-183).
Based on the idea of Nazism, Jewish and German people could not live together. Jews had to be eliminated in order to give German people living places. At that time, the Jews were supposed to be hated and alienated (Hitler 391-394). However, Bruno and Shmuel still maintain their friendship because they need each other and they never see the difference of their races as a reason to end their friendship. The hatred growing in their environment does not stop them to keep their friendship. Instead, it strengthens the bond between them through accepting their conditions and not revealing their friendship to anybody.
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prisoners if they did not obey the rules of the camp or tried to escape (Laqueur 175-177). That is why it is best to meet and have conversation secretly, otherwise the soldiers will find them and Shmuel will be in trouble. Therefore, when Bruno asks Shmuel whether he will be allowed to crawl underneath the wire so that they can play together on the other side of the fence, Shmuel always refuses (Boyne 150).
As stated by Duck, in this stage friends communicate more about their shared past. It requires them to evaluate themselves and their friendship in order to get focus on their relationship itself and their feelings about it (93). In the novel, we can see that Bruno and Shmuel do the same thing after their friendship takes place almost a year.
“I’m sorry we didn’t find your papa,” said Bruno. “It’s all right,” said Shmuel.
“And I’m sorry we didn’t really get to play, but when you come to Berlin, that’s what we’ll do. And I’ll introduce you to....Oh, what were their names again?” he asked himself, frustrated because they were supposed to be his three best friends for life but they had all vanished from his memory now. He couldn’t remember any of their names and he couldn’t picture any of their face.
“Actually,” he said, looking down at Shmuel, “it doesn’t matter whether I do or don’t. They’re not my best friends any more anyway.” He looked down and did something quite out of character for him: he took hold of Shmuel’s tiny hand in his and squeezed it tightly.
“You’re my best friend, Shmuel,” he said, “My best friend for life” (Boyne 212).
4.2 Ways of Maintaining Their Friendship
A person must maintain his friendship if they hope to be a good friend of someone. There are ways of maintaining a friendship. Beebe (336-338) proposes several ways, namely expressing emotion, providing comfort and social support, engaging in relationship talk, being tolerant and showing restraint, and managing conflict cooperatively. In the novel, Bruno and Shmuel face many challenges and conflicts in increasing the intimacy of their friendship. However, they can manage to keep their friendship well. This section describes the ways of maintaining their friendship based on Beebe’s theories.
4.2.1 Expressing Emotion
What Bruno and Shmuel do to maintain their friendship reflects some suggestions stated by Beebe (336-338). The first way to maintain a friendship is expressing emotion. In the novel, Bruno and Shmuel show their efforts in maintaining friendship through expressing their emotions. They begin the communication from simple things such as their names and origin (Boyne 111). As their friendship getting closer, they share their opinions and interests towards something, such as their opinions about their home (Boyne 114) and what they want to be when they are big, that Bruno wants to be an explorer while Shmuel wants to work in a zoo (Boyne 139). They also share their feelings, such as when Bruno tells his opinions about his sister (Boyne 141) and when Shmuel describes his feelings towards soldiers.
“I don’t think the soldiers like us,” said Shmuel. “Well,” he added with something as close to a laugh as he could muster, “I know they don’t like us. They hate us.”
