The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Main Characters and Their Development

• Bruno: An eight-year-old boy, the son of the concentration camp commandant, who knows nothing about the Holocaust or the worries of war. His innocence and naivety allow him to befriend Shmuel, a Jewish boy from the camp. Throughout the book, his innocence is tested as he encounters the brutal reality of war and concentration camps.
• Shmuel: An eight-year-old Jewish boy imprisoned in the concentration camp due to Nazi persecution. Despite the horrific living conditions, he maintains a friendship with Bruno across the camp fence. Shmuel shows Bruno a different side of life, far from the untroubled existence in the commandant's house.
• Bruno's Father (Ralf): A strict and disciplined concentration camp commandant, father to Bruno and Gretel. His character evolves from an authoritative figure, for whom serving Nazi ideals is paramount, to a man facing moral dilemmas due to the consequences of his actions and their impact on his own family.
• Bruno's Mother: Initially supportive of her husband, she gradually becomes aware of the horrors of the events and the suffering caused by the war and concentration camps. Her development shows a transformation from a loyal commandant's wife to a woman re-evaluating her beliefs and values.
• Gretel: Bruno's twelve-year-old sister, initially portrayed as a typical carefree teenage girl interested in entertainment and boys. Over the course of the novel, she undergoes a change, becoming increasingly drawn to Nazi ideology and more distant from her family and childhood memories.