34 know?” asked Bruno quickly, growing irritable now despite the fact that this was
the same man who had come out to pick him up off the ground and brought him in and take care of him. “You‟re not a doctor.”....He sighed and seemed to consider it
for quiet a long time before saying, “Yes I am.”
A. The Description of Shmuel
In John Boyne‟s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Shmuel is categorized as a round character. Forster 1985 states that a round character is more complex in
temperament and motivation. Shmuel is portrayed as a major character. Murphy 1972 states that major
characters are the centre and play an important role in the story. They deserve the fullest attention because they have a crucial role in shaping and making up the
story.
1. Physical Characteristics
Murphy 1972, in his book Understanding Unseen stated the readers can get the details from the physical view of the characters such as the character‟s face,
skin, eyes, hair, build and cloth. Shmuel is a nine years old boy. He has the same age and birthday with Bruno. He comes from Poland, a country near Germany.
He is samller than Bruno. He is ugly. His skin is almost the colour of grey. He has very large eyes and the colour are caramel sweets. The whites are very white. It is
an enermous pair of sad eyes
When Bruno first approached the boy, he was sitting cross-legged on the ground, staring at the dust beneath him. However, after moment he looked
up and Bruno saw his face. It was quite a strange face too. His skin was
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35 almost the colour of grey, but not quite like any grey that Bruno had ever
seen before. He had very large eyes and they were the colour of caramel sweets; the whites were very white, and when the boy looked at him all
Bruno could see was an enermous pair of sad eyes staring back. Shmuel is a Jew, where at that time, Jews were very discriminated. Even,
they are forced to be seperated. This also happens to Shmuel. He had to be seperated with his mother because his mother was taken away from his family by
the soldiers. Shmuel is the youngest child of his family. He has one brother named
Josef. Shmuel is friendly, smart, and open minded. It can be seen from his action and speech in this story.
2. Personality characteristics a. Friendly
Shmuel is friendly. He is not awkward when meeting new people. The writer found Shmuel is friendly through his reactions to various situations and
events. It gives the clue of Shmuel‟s characteristics Murphy, 40. This is the situation which Shmuel meets Bruno for the first time in the
side of the fence. The situation points out Shmuel‟s reaction, how friendly he is even though they just met each other.
“Hello,” said Bruno. “Hello,” said the boy.
The boy was smaller than Bruno and was sitting on the ground with forlorn expression. He wore the same striped pyjamas that all the other
people on that side of the fence wore, and a striped cloth cap on his head. He wasn‟t wearing any shoes or socks and his feet were rather dirty. On
his arm he wore an armband with a star on it.
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36 There is another situation points out that Shmuel is friendly. It can be seen
through his reaction to various situations and events. Bruno likes to chat with him. He always asks anything about him. Shmuel is always willing to tell Bruno about
his life. Even, he tells about his future that he wants to work in a zoo.
“Do you know what you want to be when you grow up?” he asked. “Yes,” said Shmuel. “I want to work in a zoo.”
“A zoo?” asked Bruno. “I like animals,” said Shmuel quietly.
“I‟m going to be a soldier,” said Bruno in a determined voice. “Like Father.”
Out of the conversation and reaction of Shmuel, the writer gets some clues to shape that Shmuel is friendly. It can be found through the dialogue and
explanation when Shmuel has a conversation to Bruno and his reaction when they meet each other.
b. Smart
Through his reaction to various situation and events, it can be seen that Shmuel is also smart Murphy 20. Another evidence indicates that Shmuel is a
smart person can be seen from his past life when he lived in Poland. Murphy 20. He came from an educated family that really concerns in education too. His
mother is a teacher. He is very clever and smart. He also can speak Italian, France and English. She always teaches him German. That is why he can speak both
Polish and German p.110.
Besides knowing about languages, Shmuel also knows about Geography. It can be seen when Bruno asks the location of Poland, he can answer it. Bruno does
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37 not really know about Poland, the country where Shmuel lives in. He thinks that
Poland is in Denmark. He asks Shmuel about it to ensure his answer.
“Where is Poland anyway?” he asked after a few silent moments had passed.
“Well, it‟s in Europe,” said Shmuel. Bruno tried to remember the countries he had been taught about his most
recent geography class with Herr Liszt. “Have you ever heard of Denmark?” he asked.
“No,” said Shmuel. “I thik Poland is in Denmark,” said Bruno, growing more confused even
though he was trying to sound clever. “Because that‟s many miles away,” he repeated for added confirmation. p. 111
Shmuel is smart. We can see it through his reaction and his past life. It gives the writer some clues to shape Shmuel characters. Either his reaction and his
past life shows that Shmuel is a smart boy.
c. Open Minded
Besides friendly and smart, Shmuel is open minded too. It can be seen through his speech, from what he says, from his conversation with another, and
his opinion Murphy, 40. Shmuel shares to Bruno about everything in his life, such as the place he
lives in before he came to the camp, about his family, his brother, mother and father. He shares everything without exception.
“All I know is this,” began Shmuel. “Before we came here I lived with my mother and father and my brother Josef in a small flat above the store
where Papa makes his watches. Every morning we ate our breakfast together at seven o‟clock and while we went to school, Papa mended the
watches that people brought to him and made new ones too. I had a beautiful watch that he gave me but I don‟t have it any more. It had a
golden face and I wound it up every night before I went to sleep and it
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38 always told the right time.” p.125
Shmuel also tells why they should wear the armband and how the soldiers treat his family. He does not know why they should wear the armband and why
they have to move from Poland and live in the camp with another family. He just knows one day he came home from school, he saw his mother making the
armband for him and his brother from special cloths and drawing a star on each one. They have to use it every time they leave the house. pp. 125-126
Through his speech and conversation to Bruno, the writer can point out that Shmuel is open minded. He always tells everything about him until the
situation where the and his family have to move to Poland. They have to move to different part of Cracow where the soldiers build a big wall and his mother, father,
brother and himself have to live in one room. p.126 The story of Shmuel does not stop there. He continues his life story. There
is no awkwardness at all, he feels that Bruno is a new person and he should not tell a lot about his life.
Shmuel tells Bruno about the condition of the camp he lives in; how they live, how many family they live with and the situation while they live there.
“And not just us,” said Shmuel. “There was another family there and the mother and father were always fighting with each other and one of the
sons was bigger than me and hit me even when I did nothing wrong.” “You can‟t have all lived in the one room,” said Bruno, shaking his head.
“That doesn‟t make any sense.” “All of us,” said Shmuel, nodding his head. “Eleven in total.”
Bruno open his mouth to contradict him again-he didn‟t really believe that eleven people could live in the same room together-but changed his mind.
p.127 He continues his story again and again and Bruno just become a loyal
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39 listener while he is asking occasionally. This time Shmuel tells about a horrible
train. There is no air to breath inside the train. The soldiers sometimes ask and force them to leave the houses and take them to the train.
“Then one day the soldiers all came with huge trucks,” continued Shmuel, who didn‟t seem all that interested in Gretel. “And everyone was told to
leave the houses. Lots of people didn‟t want to and they hid wherever they could find a place but in the end I think they caught everyone. And the
trucks took us to a train and the train ...” He hesitated for a moment and bit his lip. Bruno thought he was going to start crying and couldn‟t understand
why. “The train was horrible,” said Shmuel. There were too many of us in the
carriages for one thing. And there was no air to breath. And it smelled awfull.” p.128
Shmuel never stops telling about his life. He feels he has found a person he can share everything, although they never play together. But he has found a
friend and he will become his friends for life.
B. The Motivation of Bruno and Shmuel in Building Friendship
