Jeewan Moktan Literature [Unit Length]: 6o min

Class/Grade: 7

Lesson: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (chapter 7 and 8)

Unit Overview
Main Idea (Claim) Summative Assessment
Focus: Clothes and status in the novel.

Guiding Questions Objectives (know/understand/do/value)

What does cloth indicate in the story?
What do you think the profession of Brunos
father?
The student will:
Explain how the writer uses clothes to
indicate the status of characters, and the
way they often treat others according to
their outward appearance.
Explain how a characters outward
appearance and behavior are not always
an indication of other real person

Time Instructional Procedures and Strategies

Beginning the Lesson
5 min Share a selection of students storyboard ideas from the homework. Allow students to
choose their favourite shot and explain why they felt this was an effective way of
presenting the characters and their relationship.

As a class, read Chapters 7 and 8.

Introduction
Introduce the theme of clothes in the novel. Give pairs a minute to consider an answer to
5 min the question: How does the writer suggest through his words here that Brunos father is
just playing at being a Commandant

Fathers Uniform: On Christmas Day Father wore his brand-new uniform, the starched
and pressed one that he wore every day now, and the whole family applauded when he
first appeared in it
Grandmother was the only one who seemed unimpressed
I wonder is this where I went wrong with you, Ralf?
I wonder if all the performances I made you give as a boy led you to this. Dressing up like
a puppet on a string. (Page 90)
 Jeewan Moktan Literature [Unit Length]: 6o min
Class/Grade: 7

Elicit the following responses from students:

use of the word applauded
use of the word performances
use of the words dressing up.

Draw out that all of these are words we associate with theatrical performances. Elicit also
that this suggests that Father in his uniform is an actor, rather than the real person
underneath to whom Grandmother is talking.

Point out also the use of the phrase like a puppet on a string. Give pairs 1 minute to
discuss: What does this suggest about Brunos father? Elicit the response that puppets are
controlled by others and have to do their bidding.

Developing the Lesson

Development
15 min Explain to students that they will now do some group work built around the idea that the
clothes a person wears can change the way he or she behaves and the way that others see
him or her. We can call this theme Clothes as a symbol of status. Clarify the meaning of
status, where necessary. Students will explore this through a jigsaw activity in five
groups working on different characters.

Number students 15. Organize students into areas of the room according to number and
then give out the character sheets 15 from
Worksheet a. Ask each group (all working on the same number) to complete Worksheet
b using the sheets. Allow 15 minutes for the discussion and note-taking.

Ensure that less able students are able to write notes into the last section (What does the
writer suggest about the person or people underneath the appearance? How does he do
this?) by benefiting from the ideas of abler students in the same group. I could give one
student in each group the responsibility for ensuring that all in the group make notes
under each heading, particularly the last, more difficult one.

Allow students who are looking at the character of Father to use also the evidence
gathered in the Introduction to the lesson.

Closing the Lesson

15 min
Plenary (15 minutes)
Move students into groups which include all of the numbers 15 and allow them to share
the information on their worksheets. Draw the class back together and ask them to frame
a few sentences expressing how John Boyne uses clothes as a symbol of status in the
book. You may wish to use the following as an example:
 Jeewan Moktan Literature [Unit Length]: 6o min
Class/Grade: 7

John Boyne cleverly uses clothes as a symbol of status in the novel by ensuring that
uniforms in particular show the characters place in society. In this way, the snugly
fitting, bright, smart uniforms of the Commandant and the other soldiers show how
powerful they are. Similarly, the dull, dirty, loose-fitting pyjamas show that the prisoners
have a very low status.
5 min
Homework (5 minutes)
Ask students to think of two other examples of people whose clothes show their status:
one with low and one with high status in society. Ask them to describe how these people
dress and how this relates to their status.

Formative Assessment Differentiation

Mixed group with high and low ability students
Worksheet: a jigsaw character sheets

Resources
OXFORD ROLLERCOASTERS The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Lesson 6

Worksheet a
Jeewan Moktan Literature [Unit Length]: 6o min
Class/Grade: 7

Jigsaw Character Sheets

1 Kotler
On most days the young lieutenant looked very smart, striding around in a uniform
that appeared to have been ironed while he was wearing it. His black boots always
sparkled with polish and his yellow-blond hair was parted at the side and held
perfectly in place with something that made all the comb marks stand out in it, like a
field that had just been tilled. Also, he wore so much cologne that you could smell
him coming from quite a distance. Bruno had learned not to stand downwind of him
or he would risk fainting away.

He looked so much younger today that Bruno was surprised; in fact he reminded
him of the big boys at school, the ones he always steered clear of.

(Pages 7172)
2 Father
Down below he saw the door to Fathers office standing open and a group of five
men outside it, laughing and shaking hands. Father was at the centre of them and
looked very smart in his freshly pressed uniform. His thick dark hair had obviously
been recently lacquered and combed, and as Bruno watched from above he felt both
scared and in awe of him. He didnt like the look of the men quite as much. They
certainly werent as handsome as Father. Nor were their uniforms as freshly pressed.
Nor were their voices so booming or their boots so polished
Father held a hand in the air, which immediately caused the other men to fall
silent. It was as if he was the conductor of a barbershop quartet.

(Pages 4243)

3 Pavel

Then he caught sight of Pavel the old man who came every afternoon to help peel
the vegetables in the kitchen for dinner before putting his white jacket on and serving
at the table
(Page 75)

Pavel came towards them and Kotler spoke to him insolently, despite the fact that he
was young enough to be his grandson. Take this little man to the storage shed at the
back of the main house. Lined up along a side wall are some old tyres. He will select
one and you are to carry it wherever he asks you to, is that understood?
Pavel held his cap before him in his hands and nodded, which made his head
bow even lower than it already was. Yes, sir, he said in a quiet voice, so quiet that
he may not even have said it at all.
Jeewan Moktan Literature [Unit Length]: 6o min
Class/Grade: 7

And afterwards, when you return to the kitchen, make sure you wash your
hands before touching any of the food, you filthy
(Page 76)

Bruno had no idea what Pavel meant but something about what he had said made
him look at him closely for the first time. He was quite a small man, and very skinny
too, with long fingers and angular features. He was older than Father but younger
than Grandfather, which still meant he was quite old, and although Bruno had never
laid eyes on him before coming to Out-With, something about his face made him
believe that he had worn a beard in the past.
(Pages 8283)

4 Maria

he looked across at Maria and realized for the first time that he had never fully
considered her to be a person with a life and a history all of her own. After all, she
had never done anything (as far as he knew) other than be his familys maid. He
wasnt even sure that he had ever seen her dressed in anything other than her maids
uniform. But when he came to think of it, as he did now, he had to admit that there
must be more to her life than just waiting on him and his family. She must have
thoughts in her head, just like him. She must have things that she missed, friends
whom she wanted to see again, just like him. And she must have cried herself to
sleep every night since she got here, just like boys far less grown up and brave than
him.
(Pages 6061)
Run me a bath, Maria, will you? she asked.
Why cant you run your own bath? snapped Bruno.
Because shes the maid, said Gretel, staring at him. Thats what shes here
for.
Thats not what shes here for, shouted Bruno Shes not just here to do
things for us all the time, you know. Especially things that we can do ourselves.
Gretel stared at him as if he had gone mad and then looked at Maria, who
shook her head quickly.
(Page 63)
5 The Jewish prisoners
Some stood perfectly still in groups, their hands by their sides, trying to keep
their heads up, as a soldier marched in front of them, his mouth opening and closing
quickly as if he were shouting something at them.
(Page 36)

And one final thought came into her brothers head as he watched the hundreds of
people in the distance going about their business, and that was the fact that all of
them the small boys, the big boys, the fathers, the grandfathers, the uncles, the
people who lived on their own on everybodys road but didnt seem to have any
relatives at all were wearing the same clothes as each other: a pair of grey striped
Jeewan Moktan Literature [Unit Length]: 6o min
Class/Grade: 7

pyjamas with a grey striped cap on their heads.

(Page 38)

Worksheet b
Jigsaw Activity: Clothes and Status
Exploring your character
Make notes on the following things.

Describe the persons clothes or any other aspects of their physical appearance.

Think of 3 adjectives that describe their general behavior, e.g. happy, proud, quiet.

How do other people treat them?

What does the writer suggest about the person or people underneath the
appearance? How does he do this?
Jeewan Moktan Literature [Unit Length]: 6o min
Class/Grade: 7