Prejudice

This movie is about a little boy (Bruno)who's father is a Nazi solider. Bruno's family moves to the country,their home is near a concentration camp. Bruno thinks this camp is a farm. One day he was exploring and came across a little boy on the other side of a fence. Bruno thinks this boy is working on the farm and is having a lot of fun with friends. Bruno is experiencing jealousy and confusion at the same time. Bruno eventually finds out that his new friend Schmeul is a Jew.

Bruno has conflicts in this movie because he is being taught by family and his teacher that Jews are evil, corrupted , steal money, jobs, and Jews were why the Germans lost the Great War. But Bruno had become friends with Schmeul before he knew he was a Jew and Shmeul was nothing like what Bruno was told. At one point the movie Bruno's father said" They are not people." Bruno's mother has tried hard to shelter him from the reality of the war. Eventually she has had enough and says that she and the children are moving to a safer area. Bruno is sad that he has to leave Schmeul.Bruno believes that the concentration camp is not a bad place it is more like a vacation spot for Jews. Bruno finds his way into the concentration camp. While there reality finally hits Bruno. At the age of 8 he and his friend Schmeul learn how cruel the world really is.

In chapter 12 we learned about prejudice. The Germans were prejudice against Jews and blamed them for everything that has gone wrong in their country. Bruno is dealing with a social role as a son of a German soldier. He is supposed to hate Jews and look at them as vermin. As a result Bruno lies to his mother about what he is up to. He also lies to a German solider about not knowing Shmeul and feeding him, which got Shmeul beaten. Gretchen's(Bruno's sister) behavior would be characterized at conformity. Throughout the movie you saw this innocent little girl change into a person with the same thoughts and views as a German Solider.

In chapter 11 the subject of stress and health is covered. Shmeul is very depressed with his situation and can not understand how Bruno can look at this camp as a fun place to be. Shmeul is in an environment where PTSD would occur along with depression which would cause him to experiance fatiuge, nausia, headaches and maybe even suicidal thoughts.