Activity Chapter 4

Literary Device: Similie

A similie is a figure of speech in which two unlike objects are compared using the words “like” or “as”.

For example: “As they [the Nazi soldiers] left they stood in a row together like toy soldiers…”

  1. What is being compared?
  1. What does the comparison suggest about the Nazi soldiers?

“He felt as if he was about to cry again but stopped himself, not wanting to look like a baby in front of Maria.”

  1. What is Bruno being compared to?
  1. What is Bruno afraid to be compared to?
  1. What does this tell you about Bruno’s relationship with Maria?

“The flowers which grew in neat orderly sections in soil that looked as if it was tended very carefully by someone who knew that growing flowers in a place like this was something good that they could do, like putting a tiny candle of light in the corner of a huge castle on a misty moor on a dark winter’s night.”

  1. What is being compared in this quote?
  1. What does this comparison tell you about “Out-with”?

Imagery:

  1. When Gretel leaves Bruno’s room, she says she is going to her room to arrange her dolls. However, she does not. She instead sits on her bed and “ a lot of things went through her head”. Of the things they saw, which do you think she spent the most time thinking of? Which would have had the most impact on a young girl? Explain why you feel this way.

Questions:

  1. Why is Gretel surprised when she looks out the window?
  2. How are the children on the other side of the fence treated by the soldiers?
  3. How does Gretel react to the children on the other side of the fence?
  4. Look at the brief interaction between Mother and Maria near the start of Ch.5. What does Mother mean by “We should never have let the Fury come to dinner”? Why does she act nervously when she realizes that Maria has overheard her?
  5. How does the author create the impression the Father is a man admired by others?
  6. How is Father’s office different to the rest of the house?
  7. How does Father treat Bruno when he sees him? How and why does father change towards Bruno during their conversation?
  8. How would you describe Bruno in chapter 5? Is he determined, brave, foolish, rude, naïve? Explain your answer.
  9. What seems to be important to his Father?
  10. When Bruno asks his father about the people he has seen from the window, Father says, “Those people… well, they’re not people at all, Bruno.” What do you think he means by this? Discuss this attitude. How does his father’s statement make Bruno more curious about Out-with?