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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the flashback to Christmas in Chapter Eight: "Why Grandmother Stormed Out,” what name does Grandmother call Bruno’s father?

2. What covers the walls in Bruno’s father’s office in Chapter Five: "Out of Bounds at All Times and No Exceptions"?

3. What are the names of the three best friends of Bruno’s that he must leave behind in Berlin?

4. Whose father is described as being a teacher in Chapter One: "Bruno Makes a Discovery"?

5. How old was Bruno when his mother told him about the local “madman’s” terrible injury during the Great War and how it led to his madness?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Bruno experience of his grandmother’s argument with his father in Chapter Eight: "Why Grandmother Stormed Out"?

2. Whom does Bruno ask for help in finding a tire in Chapter Seven: "How Mother Took Credit for Something that She Hadn't Done"? Why?

3. What leads Bruno to go exploring in Chapter Nine: "Bruno Remembers that He Used to Enjoy Exploration"? Where does he first go?

4. What does Gretel ask about the people in the camp in Chapter Four: "What they Saw through the Window"?

5. How does Bruno come to discover his family is moving in Chapter One: "Bruno Makes a Discovery"? How does Bruno respond?

6. How does Gretel go about attempting to cheer up her brother in Chapter Three: "The Hopeless Case"?

7. What is revealed on the plaque that Bruno reads in Chapter Nine: "Bruno Remembers that He Used to Enjoy Exploration"?

8. What led up to Bruno’s grandmother storming out of his house in Chapter Eight: "Why Grandmother Stormed Out"?

9. How does Bruno’s mother feel about her family’s relocation to Out-With? What are her main concerns about this setting?

10. How does Bruno become injured in Chapter Seven: "How Mother Took Credit for Something that She Hadn't Done"? Who helps him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe the setting of Berlin in Nazi Germany in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Against whom were the Germans fighting in World War II? When did the Third Reich begin? How is the setting described in Chapter One: "Bruno Makes a Discovery"?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the theme of family in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. How does Bruno feel about his family in the beginning of the novel? How does Maria’s story about Bruno’s father change his perception of him? How is the theme of family represented symbolically in the end of the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Analyze and discuss the narrative style established in the beginning of the novel. Is the story told from a first, second, or third-person perspective? Why do you think the author chooses this narrative style? Is the narrator’s perspective omniscient or limited?

(see the answer keys)

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