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Striped Pajamas
The fence around the concentration camp is used to keep the prisoners in, and everyone else out and away from seeing the horrors that happen inside. Like the striped pajamas, however, it is of course an artificial distinction. Bruno and Shmuel, two children on opposite sides of the Holocaust, develop a touching friendship through the wire. Bruno is able to crawl under a hole in the fence, symbolic of how even a physical fence cannot become a barrier between children who don’t know yet how to hate or discriminate. Just like anyone can dress up in the “striped pajamas” and be mistaken for a Jew, or take them off and be a Nazi supporter, so the fence is symbolic of artificial barriers that can be set up in any part of the world, between any groups of people. Even those who seem to be securely on the “superior” side of the fence—like Kotler—can easily find themselves ostracized, as Kotler is demoted and transferred simply because his father was not a supporter of the Nazis. Once one fence is built, so are many more, as the “insiders” turn against each other in greed or paranoia, and set up new divisions about just who is allowed to be “inside.”
The Fence Quotes in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
The The Boy in the Striped Pajamas quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Fence. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 10
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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.
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Chapter 15
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It was the first time they had ever touched.
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Chapter 17
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He paused for a moment and looked out the window to his left—the window that led off to a view of the camp on the other side of the fence. “When I think about it, perhaps she is right. Perhaps this is not a place for children.”
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Chapter 20
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He looked into the distance then and followed it through logically, step by step by step, and when he did he found that his legs seemed to stop working right—as if they couldn’t hold his body up any longer—and he ended up sitting on the ground in almost exactly the same position as Bruno had every afternoon for a year, although he didn’t cross his legs beneath him.
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Get the entire Striped Pajamas LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Fence Symbol Timeline in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Fence appears in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4
...inspection, she sees that the people live on the other side of a very high fence, with “huge wooden posts, like telegraph poles, dotted along it, holding it up.” The top...
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The two children notice a group of other children on the other side of the fence, huddled together and being shouted at by a soldier. They move in closer together the...
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Chapter 8
...thinks Out-With is and about the people he sees on the other side of the fence. He tells her that he misses her, and signs the letter, “your loving grandson, Bruno.”
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Chapter 9
...and decides to investigate the grounds outside the house. He chooses to go explore the fence, even though he has been told it is off-limits. On his way to the fence,...
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Chapter 10
Bruno walks along the length of the fence for a long time. It feels as if the fence is several miles long, and...
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...has not found anything yet, besides him. Bruno sits down on his side of the fence, and tells the boy that he lives in the house. The boy replies that he...
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...and Shmuel says sort of—there are a lot of boys on his side of the fence, but they fight a lot. This is why he has come to the fence, to...
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...been on his mind: “Why are there so many people on that side of the fence, and what are you all doing there?”
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Chapter 12
Shmuel tells Bruno that there are hundreds of other people on his side of the fence, and Bruno says that that’s unfair—he has no one to play with on his side...
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Chapter 13
...find a friend in Shmuel, and goes to sit and talk with him at the fence every day. Bruno starts to fill his pockets with food to bring to Shmuel, though...
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At the fence, Bruno finds Shmuel waiting for him. He gives Shmuel the food, and asks if he...
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...tells Bruno that he doesn’t understand what it is like on his side of the fence. Bruno, trying to change the subject, asks Shmuel if he has any sisters. Shmuel says...
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Chapter 14
...his lessons end for the day, and he spends time talking to Shmuel through the fence until it is time for him to return home for dinner. One day Shmuel has...
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Chapter 15
...next few weeks, and Shmuel and Bruno are able to have their conversations at the fence only sporadically. Bruno becomes concerned that his friend seems to grow thinner each day, and...
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...his hands used to look like Shmuel’s, but now everyone on his side of the fence looks like he does.
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Chapter 16
...her dolls. Bruno asks her why the people are on the other side of the fence, and she is shocked that he still doesn’t know. She explains that they are Jews,...
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Chapter 17
...children. Bruno responds that there are hundreds of children on the other side of the fence. Father demands to know what Bruno knows about them, but Bruno just replies that he...
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Chapter 18
Shmuel does not show up at the fence for several days. Bruno is overjoyed when he finally does, but Shmuel seems very upset....
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...could play together just once before they have to part, and Shmuel lifts up the fence—there is enough room for Bruno to crawl under. Bruno is afraid he will get in...
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Chapter 19
Though it is raining the next day, Bruno goes to meet Shmuel at the fence anyway. Bruno is unhappy to leave his clothes in the mud, but seeing the look...
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Bruno is shocked at the world on the other side of the fence. He thought it would be filled with happy families, but instead miserable, sickly people sit...
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Chapter 20
...every part of the house and the village, and his clothes are found at the fence, but it seems as if he has vanished off the face of the earth. Mother...
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...forms a theory about what happened to Bruno. He goes to the part of the fence where Bruno’s clothing was found, and when Father puts all the facts and his theories...
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