The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Out-With, Gretel had decided that she didn’t like dolls any more and had put them all into four large bags and thrown them away. In their place she had hung up maps of Europe that Father had given her, and every day she put little pins into them and moved the pins around constantly after consulting the daily newspaper. Bruno thought she might be going mad. But still, she didn’t tease him or bully him as much as she used to, so he thought there could be no harm in talking to her.
    ‘Hello,’ he said, knocking politely on her door because he knew how angry she always got if he just went in.
    ‘What do you want?’ asked Gretel, who was sitting at her dressing table, experimenting with her hair.
    ‘Nothing,’ said Bruno.
    ‘Then go away.’
    Bruno nodded but came inside anyway and sat down on the side of the bed. Gretel watched him from out of the side of her eyes but didn’t say anything.
    ‘Gretel,’ he said finally, ‘can I ask you something?’
    ‘If you make it quick,’ she said.
    ‘Everything here at Out-With—’ he began, but she interrupted him immediately.
    ‘It’s not called Out-With, Bruno,’ she said angrily, as if this was the worst mistake anyone had ever made in the history of the world. ‘Why can’t you pronounce it right?’
    ‘It is called Out-With,’ he protested.
    ‘It’s not,’ she insisted, pronouncing the name of the camp correctly for him.
    Bruno frowned and shrugged his shoulders at the same time. ‘But that’s what I said,’ he said.
    ‘No it’s not. Anyway, I’m not going to argue with you,’ said Gretel, losing her patience already, for she had very little of it to begin with. ‘What is it anyway? What do you want to know?’
    ‘I want to know about the fence,’ he said firmly, deciding that this was the most important thing to begin with. ‘I want to know why it’s there.’
    Gretel turned round in her chair and looked at him curiously. ‘You mean you don’t know?’ she asked.
    ‘No,’ said Bruno. ‘I don’t understand why we’re not allowed on the other side of it. What’s so wrong with us that we can’t go over there and play?’
    Gretel stared at him and then suddenly started laughing, only stopping when she saw that Bruno was being perfectly serious.
    ‘Bruno,’ she said in a childish voice, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world, ‘the fence isn’t there to stop us from going over there. It’s to stop them from coming over here.’
    Bruno considered this but it didn’t make things any clearer. ‘But why?’ he asked.
    ‘Because they have to be kept together,’ explained Gretel.
    ‘With their families, you mean?’
    ‘Well, yes, with their families. But with their own kind too.’
    ‘What do you mean, their own kind?’
    Gretel sighed and shook her head. ‘With the other Jews, Bruno. Didn’t you know that? That’s why they have to be kept together. They can’t mix with us.’
    ‘Jews,’ said Bruno, testing the word out. He quite liked the way it sounded. ‘Jews,’ he repeated. ‘All the people over that side of the fence are Jews.’
    ‘Yes, that’s right,’ said Gretel.
    ‘Are we Jews?’
    Gretel opened her mouth wide, as if she had been slapped in the face. ‘No, Bruno,’ she said. ‘No, we most certainly are not. And you shouldn’t even say something like that.’
    ‘But why not? What are we then?’
    ‘We’re …’ began Gretel, but then she had to stop to think about it. ‘We’re …’ she repeated, but she wasn’t quite sure what the answer to this question really was. ‘Well we’re not Jews,’ she said finally.
    ‘I know we’re not,’ said Bruno in frustration. ‘I’m asking you, if we’re not Jews, what are we instead?’
    ‘We’re the opposite,’ said Gretel, answering quickly and sounding a lot more satisfied with this answer. ‘Yes, that’s it. We’re the opposite.’
    ‘All right,’ said Bruno, pleased that he had it settled in his head at last. ‘And the Opposite live on this side of the fence and the Jews live on that.’
    ‘That’s right, Bruno.’
    ‘Don’t the Jews like the Opposite then?’
    ‘No, it’s us who don’t like them, stupid.’
    Bruno frowned. Gretel had been told time and time again that she wasn’t allowed to call him stupid but still she persisted with it.
    ‘Well, why don’t we like them?’ he asked.
    ‘Because they’re Jews,’ said Gretel.
    ‘I see. And the Opposite and the Jews don’t get along.’
    ‘No, Bruno,’ said