Persuasive+Essay

__ ** Draft II ** __ //The Boy In the Striped Pajamas// is a story about the friendship between two nine year old boys. One is a Jewish boy named Shmuel. The other, Bruno, was the son of a Nazi commandant. One point of view is that this book should not be read with high school kids because it strays from reality. But this is not necessarily true. This book offers key insights into how a nine-year-old witnessed absolute evil by relating his naive interpretations of these atrocities. This makes a wonderful plot. It is an engrossing, yet disturbing story. Its writing process is a great window into the eyes and thoughts of the great novelist, John Boyne. Ending //The Boy In the Striped Pajamas// with the brutal killing of the two boys was a direct display of what the holocaust was really like.

The holocaust is very complicated subject. //The Boy In the Striped Pajamas// shows a German concentration camp, Auschwitz, from the eyes of a nine year old child. Bruno first looks at Auschwitz as a farm where everyone wears striped pajamas. This shows how the Jews and other prisoners were enslaved like animals. An even earlier display of his innocence is when they are boarding the train. Bruno looks out the window at the tracks next to them, and sees people being piled into cattle cars. He is temped to tell the people that there is plenty of room on his train. This made a great comparison to what Jews were going through. It displayed how bad their conditions were before they even arrived at the camps. Bruno broke down the holocaust to its simplest form. He only viewed the actions that were taking place around him, and not there implications. This is a great way to understand parts of the holocaust that people may find confusing.

A good story plot has a thrilling story line and exciting characters. It makes exciting twists to enthrall its readers. The book starts off with Bruno’s family packing to move to Auschwitz, where his father was given a promotion to run the death camp. The story wastes no time in getting to the plot. It dives right in head first. The author uses mystery as a key factor. Rarely directly saying what is going on. Leaving room for the readers mind to wonder and make conclusions of their own. One example of this is when the Lieutenant is talking to Pavel, the Jewish waiter, he calls him a word. Bruno does not know the meaning of this word so it is never written. The author uses Bruno’s mean sister, cheating mother, strict father, and the evil Nazi Lieutenant to make a bouncing and twisting plot that keeps the reader enthralled in the story line. The most exhilarating twist was the ending. Bruno snuck into the camp to help Shmuel look for his father, when they are rounded up by the soldiers. They are taken into a building. Bruno thinks that this is just to keep them out of the rain. That is the last time that you hear from Bruno.

Making the ending of the story so horrific and depressing served a good purpose. It showed the horrors of the holocaust, and how there was no happiness, only death. Shmuel’s friendship with Bruno was his only light in his dark world at Auschwitz. This devastating death camp couldn’t destroy their friendship, so it instead destroyed them. This book put the holocaust in perspective, showing a fictional instance based off the 1.5 million lives that this camp took. This ending also had a much less depressing purpose, and that was to show that the gas chambers could not tell the difference between a Nazi and a Jew. The whole idea of the holocaust was that Jews and Germans were completely different. However, when it came down to it, they were equals in death. They died hand in hand, best friends from two opposite worlds.

These compelling reasons are but a few of the examples that stand out of why this thrilling novel should be read in High School. It offers the ideas of the holocaust broken down, a brilliant plot to keep the children interested, and an ending that sums up the entire holocaust up in the death of two boys. The argument against reading this book because it may have a couple unrealistic moments, do not compare to benefits gained from it. This book //should// be read and analyzed in high schools throughout our world. Everyone should read about the holocaust. What better way to read about such horrors than through the innocent eyes of a child.

__ ** Draft I ** __ //The Boy In the Striped Pajamas// is a story about the friendship between two nine year old boys, a Jewish boy named Shmuel, and Bruno, the son of a Nazi commandant. Some people say that this could never have happened, and that this book should not be read with high school kids because of possible inaccuracies. This is completely wrong. This book offers key insights into how a nine-year-old witnessed absolute evil, yet had no idea that anything bad was going on. This makes a wonderful plot. It is an engrossing, yet disturbing story. Its writing process is a great window into the eyes and thoughts of the great novelist, John Boyne. Ending //The Boy In the Striped Pajamas// with the brutal killing of the two boys was a direct display of what the holocaust was really like.

**"Some people... completely wrong -- comes off a bit arrogant/confrontational. Try not to make the reader believe that you are forcing them to see your opinion. "Show ways of writing" still a bit weak. Break up your sentences better (some commas can be replaced by periods).**

The holocaust is very complicated subject. //The Boy In the Striped Pajamas// shows an outsider's view of Auschwitz, a German concentration camp, **from the eyes of a nine year old child** (choose one - outsider's view or nine-year old child). Bruno first looks at Auschwitz as a farm where everyone wears striped pajamas. This gives you an idea of how the Jews and other prisoners were kept locked up like animals **Do not use "you" -- you can simplify these two sentences in to one**. An even earlier display of his innocence is when they are boarding the train. Bruno looks out the window at the tracks next to them, and sees people being piled into cattle cars. He is temped to tell the people that there is plenty of room on his train. This made a great comparison to what Jews were going through by showing how bad their conditions were before they even got to the camps. Bruno broke down the holocaust to its simplest form. He only viewed the actions that were taking place around him, and not there implications. This is a great way to understand parts of the holocaust that people may find confusing.

A good story plot has a thrilling story line and exciting characters. It makes exciting twists to enthrall its readers. The book starts off with Bruno’s family packing to move to Auschwitz, where his father was given a promotion to run the death camp. The story wastes no time in getting to the action. The author uses Bruno’s mean sister, cheating mother, strict father, and the evil Nazi Lieutenant to make a bouncing and twisting plot that keeps the reader enthralled in the story line. The most exhilarating flip in the story was the ending. Bruno snuck into the camp to help Shmuel look for his father, when they are rounded up by the soldiers. They are taken into a building. Bruno thinks that this is just to keep them out of the rain. That is the last time that you hear from Bruno. **This paragraph is a bit weak... moving to Auschwitz -- action?? Need more examples of action in the bigger sense of the word. How does this make people want to choose your side or not?**

Making the ending of the story so horrific and depressing served a good purpose. It showed the horrors of the holocaust, and how their **there** was no happiness, only death. Shmuel’s friendship with Bruno was his only light in his dark world at Auschwitz. This devastating death camp couldn’t destroy their friendship, so it instead destroyed them. **Excellent** This book put the holocaust in perspective, showing but one instance of the 1.5 million lives that this camp took **This begins to sound as if the story is real -- NOT what you want to discuss**. This ending also had a much less depressing purpose, and that was to show that the gas chambers could not tell the difference between a Nazi and a Jew. The whole idea of the holocaust was that Jews and Germans were completely different. However, when it came down to it, they were equals in death. They died hand in hand, best friends from two opposite worlds.

= These compelling reasons are but a few of the examples that stand out of why this thrilling novel should be read in High School. It offers the ideas of the holocaust broken down, a brilliant plot to keep the children interested, and an ending that sums the entire holocaust up in the death of two boys. Any arguments against reading this story are outweighed by the benefits obtained from reading it. This book should be read and analyzed in high school throughout our world. =

**Conclusion paragraph -- needs more -- feels a bit rushed. Arguments against -- you never stated any in your essay. The reader may become confused and think "If there are arguments against, what are they?**