A true friend is someone you can confide in without fear

of being judged or betrayed. Write about one example

of a friend confiding in another in a story you have read.
It is always good to have a friend in whom you can confide. A true friend is a
good listener one with whom you can share your thoughts and feelings without
worrying whether they will judge you or tell other people about you. You should
be able to trust a friend, particularly when you are in need of someone to share
your problems with.
In The oy in the !triped "yjamas# by $ohn oyne, runo, the main character is
in need of a good friend. %e is unhappy, having been forced to move away from
his home in erlin and &his three best friends for life' because his father has a
new job. runo, his mother and sister accompany the new commandant to the
new house at (ut)*ith,# as runo calls it. This new house is small, dar+, and
strange. runo spends long days ga,ing out the window of his new bedroom,
where he notices people dressed in striped pyjamas and rows of barrac+s
surrounded by a barbed wire fence. *ith nobody e-cept his sister &The %opeless
.ase' to tal+ to, bored and lonely, and not really understanding the circumstance
of his new e-istence, runo sets out to e-plore the area, despite being
forbidden to do so by his parents. %e discovers !hmuel, a very thin $ewish boy
who lives on the other side of the fence and an unli+ely friendship between the
two boys is formed.
(ver the ne-t few months the two children swap life stories through the wire
fence. !hmuel e-plains how he and his family have been transported here from a
ghetto in "oland. /nable to comprehend the gravity of !hmuel's situation, runo
is simply content to have found a playmate. In particular he finds it ama,ing that
they are the same age and born on e-actly the same day. In return for !hmuel's
tales of implicit horror, runo tells !hmuel stories of his rich and fulfilling life
in erlin. runo is confused by !hmuel's constant hunger and the strange
pyjamas# he wears but nevertheless the boys forge a fast and genuine
friendship.
runo and !hmuel's friendship is tested in the story because it is a secret one.
Although they +now they can both trust one another they are also both aware
they shouldn't be friends. In the novel runo says, *e're not supposed to be
friends, you and me. *e're meant to be enemies. 0id you +now that1# Although
runo doesn't really understand the world in which he finds himself and the
actions of his father he is aware that the fence is there to divide two worlds.
%is sister 2retel also helps to point out the differences between them when she
gives runo a clear description of how he is different from a $ew.
The biggest test for their friendship comes when runo wal+s into the +itchen
one day to find !hmuel there cleaning glasses. The boys tal+ and runo gives
!hmuel food from the fridge. %owever his delight at seeing his friend ends
when the very unpleasant and vicious 3ieutenant 4otler arrives and accuses
!hmuel of stealing food. 4otler implies that the $ewish boy will be beaten as a
punishment and runo has to pretend he doesn't even +now !hmuel or their
friendship would be over. runo feels terribly guilty after this incident and
fears !hmuel will no longer want to be friends. %e is also fearful for !hmuel's
safety. %owever !hmuel forgives him, demonstrating what a true friend he is.
The clima- of the boys' friendship occurs when !hmuel tells runo that his
father has disappeared within the camp. eing a true friend runo offers to
help !hmuel find him. runo agrees to help because he wants to have a last
adventure with his friend before he returns to erlin. It is only when he has put
on a spare pair of pyjamas and crawled under a gap in the fence that the true
horrors of !hmuel's e-istence in the camp start to dawn on him. %e is shoc+ed
and frightened by what he sees in !hmuel's world. 5evertheless runo does not
turn bac+ and he gathers himself and ma+es a clear decision to face his fear in
order to help his friend.
6ven when the two boys have been herded into the gas chambers about to face
their death, runo stands by his friend, holding !hmuel's hand, forgetting even
the names of his friends in erlin and saying that !hmuel is one true friend for
life.
To conclude, runo and !hmuel's friendship is both strange and genuine. runo
confides in !hmuel, at first, because he is lonely and innocent. %owever as the
novel develops their friendship grows into something authentic which crosses
the boundaries of race, religion and culture. (ver the course of the novel there
are times when the friendship is tested, threatened and almost betrayed but
runo and !hmuel remain true to their friendship even in the dar+est and
devastating of endings.