Bruno's parents shield the nine-year-old boy from the reality of what their move from Berlin to Auschwitz means, implying that they understand, at least on some level, their complicity with evil--and want to protect their child from it. They simply will not answer his questions, except in generalities. So he has no context for understanding what is happening all around him, even when he moves next to the barbed wire concentration camp fence. Ignorance helps...
Bruno's parents shield the nine-year-old boy from the reality of what their move from Berlin to Auschwitz means, implying that they understand, at least on some level, their complicity with evil--and want to protect their child from it. They simply will not answer his questions, except in generalities. So he has no context for understanding what is happening all around him, even when he moves next to the barbed wire concentration camp fence. Ignorance helps keep him innocent.
Bruno symbolizes how innocence can be manufactured by keeping people in the dark about what is happening in plain sight. His innocence also symbolizes the way context colors our perceptions: he comes from a very comfortable background. His Berlin home was large and his family had servants. He had never been hungry or forced to dress in rags or face death. Therefore, he has no experiential basis for understanding the plight of those behind the fence. His innocence also exposes the cruelly arbitrary nature of who suffers and who prospers in this world: his lack of ability to understand arises from the inherent irrationality of the system in which he lives. His ability to accept people as who they are, rather than to label, abuse, and kill them on the basis of a "racial" category, contrasts sharply with his culture.
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