Judging by
their treatment of Maria, Bruno and Gretel are certainly different: Gretel seems to feed off her
father's new superiority and harshness, while Bruno is more sensitive like his mother. Unlike
Gretel, Bruno strives to understand more deeply his surroundings and new situation, and as he
talks with Maria, he learns of her past.
In Chapter 6, Bruno lies on his bed,
looking at the ceiling, bemoaning the poor condition of the house in comparison to his Berlin
home. Maria enters with folded laundry and he says,
"I expect you're as unhappy about the new arrangement as I am...Everything here.
It's awful, isn't it? Don't you hate it, too?"
As a
servant, Maria knows not to offer her opinion. Instead, she asks, "Don't you like it
here?" Bruno replies that it is "awful"; there is no one with whom
he...
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