CHILDREN'S LITERATURE
Fable for our times
NIMI KURIAN
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John Boyne, author of a book that looks at the Holocaust from a child's perspective, says there is no subject that is `inappropriate' for children.
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Honesty and sensitivity: John Boyne.
JOHN BOYNE'S book The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas takes an absolutely new look at the Holocaust. The story is simple: about Bruno, a nine-year-old, the son of a German officer. One day, Bruno returns from school to find the maid Maria packing his clothes. They are leaving Berlin. His father has been posted to another place — Out With. Bruno traces all this back to the time when "the Fury" came to dinner. In his new home he looks out of his bedroom window and sees people — all unhappy, all dressed in striped pyjamas.
Bored beyond words in his new home, he decides to go exploring. Of course, his sister Gretel is there but then he can't really play with her because she is a "Hopeless Case"! He walks along the fence until he comes across "a speck that becomes a blob that becomes a boy" and he discovers Shmuel. Boyne tells a powerful story of a strange friendship that grows between two nine-year-olds — one a German and the other a Jew.
Touching innocence
The friendship that develops between these two is touching in its innocence. Both boys know so little of what is happening around them. While Shmuel cannot understand why he should live within the fence, or how his grandfather has suddenly disappeared, Bruno cannot understand why he should be forced to stay at Out With, away from his beloved grandparents and his friends in Berlin; how his father, whom he adores, can be classed with other German officers. Both of them try to reason out why they should be living the way they do, and why they should be different at all.
Though the book tells the harsh reality of war and hatred it looks at it through the eyes of a child. And in so doing is compelling, raising questions about adult understanding and behaviour. It is not only a story set in history but also in imagination. Some discrepancies show up: for one, how is it that a nine-year-old does not know what his father does? Doesn't he ask questions? Is it possible that in the Germany of the day, Bruno is shielded from all the atrocities that go on around him? But it would be unfair to split hairs on this, for, the statement the book makes is powerful. It is book meant for children but it is likely more adults will read it. Nothing obvious is mentioned — it's Out With, The Fury, the Other Side and so on, names probably, couched to make you think this book is different. And it is the silence that speaks volumes. It is subtitled "A fable" and as such is a fable of modern times, portraying an ugly side of the adult world that would be difficult to explain or hide.
An image, a story
The Boy was shortlisted for the Ottakar Children's Book Prize and already the movie rights for the book have been sold to an English film company. In an email interview with the author, he says he began the book with a simple image in his head — that of two little boys sitting on either side of a wire fence. "I knew where the fence was, the situation that both boys were in and very quickly I began to write the novel, attempting to get in the mind of a nine-year-old boy and tell his story along with his own misunderstandings and misconceptions of the place he finds himself in. I tried to get into the rhythms of a nine-year-old's speech and remove myself, as an adult narrator from the narrative as much as possible."
Difficult theme
The Holocaust is a difficult theme, even in an adult book and so Boyne had to be careful not to scare or horrify the readers. "Instead I wanted to present them with a story that might interest them and particularly with characters who they would relate to (and like) and thus leave them asking questions and wanting to know more about concentration camps and the Holocaust." He goes on to say that he does not believe there is any subject that is inappropriate to discuss with children. "It comes down to how we — as parents, teachers or society — decide to introduce them to these matters without trivialising them or patronising our audience. As a writer, one must approach the subject with respect and sensitivity but there's also a responsibility to tell an emotionally honest story that should, ideally, resonate with children and adults alike.
Boyne feels that the book is ideal for any one over 10 years of age. Children today are aware of the Holocaust because of books like Diary of Anne Frank. "And so it seems entirely appropriate to me that a story such as this one can be read by children who are already beginning to discover the subject. I hope it leads them to ask more questions, to read more books about the genocide that took place. The whole point of any artist — writer, filmmaker, songwriter, painter — dealing with the Holocaust is to keep the subject alive and make sure the world never forgets about how many people were lost and the children's voices that were silenced forever. The Boy is probably the first book to be written about the Holocaust from a child's perspective, and more particularly a German child."
The screen version of the book will be something to look forward to. Boyne says, "I have been in conversation with director/screenwriter Mark Herman about the form the film should take and the importance of maintaining the integrity of the novel in the screen version, especially the ending. Happily, he is in agreement with me on these things. Inevitably there will be some changes but I am hopeful that the film will be a true and honest adaption."
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