Fear

The sense of fear is developed in chapter 6, when Maria is talking to Bruno in his room. John Boyne uses Maria's voice and language to establish fear and even Bruno's reaction to add to the mystery. This casts a light on the extract in chapter 13 where Lieutenant Kotler is over for dinner, in particular when he hits Pavel. Bruno also notices fear in the atmosphere that night at dinner when Lieutenant Kotler speaks about his father. Also, there is a sense of fear whenever Shmuel talks about his side of the fence and especially the soldiers. In particular one time when Shmuel comes to see Bruno with a black eye. All these things have cleverly been put into the story to show fear by John Boyne.