The Boy in the Striped Pajamas has a depressing and dark ending. It end with with the main character, Bruno, sneaking into the Concentration camp with help from his friend Shmuel. Once Bruno is in he thinks he is finally going to get to play with his friend on the same side of the fence and then return home, however this is not what ends up happening. The day that he sneaks in sadly is the day that Shmuel gets taken to the gas chamber and Bruno must go in too. After his family realizes he gone they go looking for him and while looking they stumble across the part of fence where Bruno had snuck in. The mother instantly knew what had happened and bursted into tears.
I think the "So what" or the overall reason this book should be read is it shows not only harsh reality of the concentration camps and how it affects different families, but it also shows how you should look past the differences. In the book Bruno and shmuel both do that and a form a wonderful friendship. The friendship was also very special and represented seeing people for who they are and not what they look like, where they are from etc. "bruno was sure he had never seen a skinnier or sadder looking boy in his life but decided he better talk to him." (107 Boyne) Bruno looked past appearances and what society had said about the Jews and talked to him. He soon became best friends with him becouse he could look past the differences.
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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas takes place during world war two and more specifically focuses on the Holocaust. During the Holocaust Hitler and the Nazi soilders try to separate and wipe out the Jewish population. They came very to close to being successful and ended up killing over six million Jews. Hitler's goal was to create the perfect german society and he convinced other germans that they could accomplish that by using propaganda to say that the Jews were the enemy and should separated because if that. On a much smaller but still upsetting scale it is happening everyday in our society. As a society we discriminate against people based on race, intelligence, and you get judged for who you hang out with, and being different. People are discriminating against others trying to make you think that being "normal" is the best and/or only option because they believe that it will improve our community. This is not as intense as the Holocaust but it has the same theme where society can and usually does determined how we think and what we consider to be 'normal' or 'standard'.
I am reading the Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. The book takes placing during World War two, and focused on the holocaust. The books starts by talking about how one of the main characters, Bruno, has to move because his father is a Nazi solider and was relocated so he could over see a concentration camp. In both the book and the article it describes the horrors of the camps and the terrible living conditions. In the book bruno sisters described the camps and said "...there was a huge wire fence that ran along the length of the house...at the top of the fence enormous bales of barbed wire were tangled into spirals... there wasn't any grass after the fence; in fact there was no greenery anywhere to be seen in the distance. Instead the ground was made of a sand-like substance, and as far as she could make out there was nothing but low clay huts" (Boyne 32). In the article it aslo went into to detail about the camps and said " from the moment they arrived in the camps; it was a dehumanizing existence that involved a struggle for survival against a system designed to annihilate them." This is the sad truth and many didn't realize what was actually happening. In the book there is a brief conversation between Bruno and his sister Gretel about how they did not know what the camps were and how they definitely were not a home. Just like in the real world the book relates to how many people did not have an understanding of what was actually happening in the camps.
introduction: As a community we can do a lot to help, and everyone has their own little part in that. Our way of helping is to help children in hospitals, and seeing how we can make them feel less isolated, and more wanted. There are people who are battling a disease everyday and neither us, nor them may know it until it is more noticeable.Currently with hospitals they have a certain amount of children they can host for a certain amount of time. At most hospitals they don't have many books, board games, or activities. So while the people who come in to volunteer have fun with them for a while, when they eventually leave the children become lonely again. Then they must return back to their sad hospital rooms. With all of the sick children my group believes that every child and every adult should have a chance to feel like they are important and a priority. My group would like to have a book drive to help the children cope with being stuck in a boring hospital room with no form of entertainment. Sadly many are living in boredom due to no exposure to the outside world. We believe the books and games will give the kids something to keep them occupied, as well as serve as an escape from a lot of their pain. My group is interested in this topic because we feel that the children should not be isolated and treated different than someone without a disease. We also believe that people should care about this issue is because nobody should be mistreated because they have an illness. My group wants to make the kids at Wake Medical feel like they have a purpose. the issue: Unfortunately, most hospitals don’t have libraries or any other ways to cure their patient’s boredom. When kids get very sick and end up in a hospital, at times that can result in boredom, loneliness, and feeling of isolation. There are also little global organizations to help solve this problem, and it is usually overlooked. Usually,this issue affects the children in the hospital because they are more prone to boredom. 82% of all hospital stays are children, yet people are not trying to make the children feel as comfortable as possible. In the United States there are approximately 7,000 different diseases and there are about 30 million people in the U.S dealing with one of these. This is about 1 out of 10 or 10% of the population that has to deal with one of the many diseases. Only 900 hospitals have forms of entertainment for these children. This has only been an issue for a small amount of time, since large budget cuts have been made to medical institutions. Children are becoming isolated because their diseases are making them at times can prevent them from interaction of any sort, and most of them can’t go outside due to their illness. This makes the children upset, and can damage their health even further. Leaving this issue and not solving it can and will lead to unhappy children. the solution: In North Carolina there is a lot that is being done to help create a less isolated environment for children in the hospitals. At wakeMed, there are a handful of programs that have already started resolving this issue. Not only can you make a donation, but you can volunteer, organize a fundraiser, or become a sponsor. All of this can really make a difference. The money they earn from the different events that are hosted usually goes to research. While the research is very important and helpful, we believe the children in the hospitals would also really enjoy some things to help entertain them and make their stay more enjoyable (WakeMed 2017). This is still a problem in our community because most of the money goes to funding research, this causes the hospitals to not have the funds to buy new books or games. As a group we believe that if the children had more entertaining items that the kids would feel less isolated. Also having these books, toys, or board games could easily make them feel more included, or active. Since most kids enjoy playing games, reading, and playing with toys having these books and games could really make the children in hospitals feel more connected. Especially if these kids played with these toys or read these books before being put in the hospitals. the conclusion: Everyone can give a helping hand. Count yourself lucky that you’re not in this situation, but that doesn’t mean you should just blow it off. There are so many ways to do so! You could volunteer at hospitals with your friends, have fundraisers for children, donate, sponsor, and in our case, host a book drive. Soon, our group will be holding a book drive at WakeMed, for the children in the hospital, at the end of may. We will be collecting old/new books and board games to donate to WakeMed, so that the children there will get some exposure to new people, new friends and new ideas. Our plan? Let’s find out: Goal: Collect at least 200 books and 30 board games to donate to a children's hospital: Action plan (click here) We’ve got the supplies taken care of, and the books and games ready to go. all YOU need to do is go there and show them you care. go there with your class, or just a group of friends, and pick up a book to read with them or just play a game with them. By doing this, we are accomplishing the happiness of isolated, unhappy, and to them, forgotten, kids by proving that they should never give up hope, or stop believing in themselves, through books and just let everyone at WakeMed know that they have a friend in us. bibliography:
“WakeMed foundation” WakeMed <https://www.wakemedfoundation.org/impact> “WakeMed children's hospital” WakeMed <http://www.wakemed.org/childrens-hospital> “Care of Children and Adolescents in U.S. Hospitals”Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality <https://archive.ahrq.gov/data/hcup/factbk4/factbk4.htm> On the last blog post I talked about how there are many stray, unhealthy, and homeless dog in North Carolina, but they are not the only ones that are homeless. Sadly there are as many as 4000 individuals and families in wake County alone that are living on streets or in homeless shelters. Not only do they not have a home, they are also living in poverty. This concerns me because I believe that no one should be living with out a home, and have to deal with poor standards of living. Some people living in these terrible conditions also suffer from mental illnesses, demestic violence, and hunger. I think this a big a problem in our community and we should stop for a minute and think about how hard their lives are, and what we can do to help. There are many different shelters and it could really help if we could just spend a little time volunteering at them. You could easily make a difference just by donating food, water, blankets and clothes. Homelessness is a growing problem in NC and we need to do something to stop it.
In North Carolina sadly there are many dogs that are abused, starved, and left on the street homeless. Personally i'm concerned about this because my dog was in the same situation before we took her in and gave her a home. This affects our community because people living in the community do not know the backgrounds of the dogs and if they are healthy. This affects the whole community and they should help solve the problem because it is not fair to the dogs and it would be safer for the community if the number of stray dogs were reduced. We can do a lot to help the animals. There are already a lot of animals shelters, but even if the animals are brought to the shelters that does not mean that they will be adopted or given a home. If we all work together we can not only help the animals revive the care they need, but also give them a loving and caring home! Immigrants moved to the US for many reasons, but they also faced a lot of hardships while moving here. Vandi, a young boy who has now been living in America for 6 years, moved here because their was a war in his home country. It was hard for him to leave because he knew he would not get to see his friends and family that were staying in Sierra Leone until he was older and could go back to visit. Although there are many positives about living in the US. Their is better education, there are also more roads and sidewalks, better transportation, and there are more free time activities such as football, soccer, social media, and more. A young girl named Asya who is 9 years old moved to the US because her father finally won a green card! She had to learn the English langue, but she still speaks Russian. When she moved to America she missed her family that she left behind, especially her grandmother. She also enjoys living in the US because it is clean, she has many friends, and there is a lot to do! while many immigrants face hardship moving many enjoy living in America, and enjoy the many positives that come by living here.
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