Hints of danger - Critical analysis - The boy in striped pyjamas

Hints of Danger

In a pair, make notes on the following extract, showing which words and phrases hint at danger and how they achieve this.

‘Look over there,’ said Bruno, and Gretel followed the direction of the finger he was pointing and saw, emerging from a hut in the distance, a group of children huddled together and being shouted at by a group of soldiers. The more they were shouted at, the closer they huddled together, but then one of the soldiers lunged towards them and they separated and seemed to do what he wanted them to do all along, which was to stand in a single line. When they did, the soldiers all started to laugh and applaud them.

(page 37)

Your notes: ‘A group of children huddled together and being shouted at by a group of soldiers’ gives me the impression that they are being tortured.

Mocking them by ‘one of the soldiers lunged towards them and they separated and seemed to do what he wanted them to do all along, which was to stand in a single line. When they did, the soldiers all started to laugh and applaud them.’