The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – Book

By John Boyne

It is 1943 Germany, Bruno a nine-year-old child is forced to pack his belongings and move to a whole new place. Bruno learns the move is due to his Fathers’ “very important job” in the army, which as the reader, we discover he is actually a commandant in the German Army. Bruno is not happy with the move and finds himself very bored amongst his new surroundings. A significant moment in the text is when Bruno falls off the swing and scrapes his knee, he has an encounter with “Pavel” who works for the family as a waiter. Pavel explains that he used to be a doctor, Bruno is confused as to why a doctor would be a waiter. He soon makes the connection that Pavel lives on the other side of the fence, as he looks out the window he notices thousands of people in striped pyjamas. Bruno is not aware that his father is in charge of a concentration camp, and has no idea what a concentration camp stands for or what they do in them.  The concentration camp reflects through the ideology of one man he has had the capability to overrule a country, cleansing society. Cleansing society in a way that removed mainly Jewish citizens, homosexuals and even dark-skinned individuals sending them to their barbaric deaths in concentration camps. An exceptional example of one man’s hate towards these minority groups and how certain ethnicities were not deemed equal. 

Bruno is a symbol of innocence. He is a young boy that has no understanding about the ideeolgy Hitler had towards Jewish people. He is a child that represents all children who have hope and love and really highlights how a child can be influenced to grow into the person he is. The reader may question what did Hitler experience to come to such a dark place where he felt so much hate towards these groups and the rest of the world, I know I certainly did. One day Bruno takes a stroll along the fence line and meets a boy named Shemuel, they instantly strike up a friendship. Bruno thinks to himself “What exactly was the difference”?.  He wondered who decides which people wore the striped pyjamas and which people wore the uniforms?”. This made me reflect on how people perceive the world, it has also taught me to not stereotype or judge someone based on their gender/ethnicity or beliefs. For me to give people a chance and get to know the person, otherwise categorising someone, it could possibly limit me as an individual. People do take a long time to get to know. The way Bruno put on the striped pyjamas and could get into the camp shows how he didn’t have any preconceived ideas of Jews. His innocence was lovely in the fact that he could see a small boy to play with and talk to, a friend. The innocence made me feel glad that in those awful days of a child being so sad and kept away, that they managed to form a friendship and have some relief from the everyday horrible things that went on, being small boys and playing like normal. Through Bruno’s interactions with Pavel and Schmuel, it is obvious to the reader how he sees them to be no different from himself which completely contradicts what his family stands for. Within this book it made me realise the power of one man, Hitler and how he had the capability to turn a nation into following his beliefs. He made Germans turn on their fellow Jewish neighbours and dog in their friends, through inflicting fear amongst civilians. 

I mean he even managed to implement their skills in the army camps etc- where they acted utterly inhumanly towards their “fellow human beings” which disgusts me. 

Concentration Camps were divisions of people;  women, children, soldiers, commanders and so it goes on.  The division of people was started by populist politics, this is “the people” being contrasted to the “the elite”. “The people” are based on ethnicity, and or national lines. In a way, this ties in with the Nazi regime movement and how the Jews were seen as the “the people”  and they were seen as a lower class and not as worthy as “the elite” which could be defined as German people or Nazis. Bruno a young boy could not see these differences and was just trying to be friends with Shmuel who was a Jew and Bruno seemly didn’t see him as a Jew he was. Yet again proving his innocence.In our society today it is very common to see minorities/religions/sexual orientations or  anyone for whatever reason, be put down and treated less fairly by others. These are some examples of the flaws in today’s society, it makes me angry how this still continues throughout the world that we live in. If everyone was as open-minded like Bruno and didn’t judge, the world would be a kinder place and everyone would feel accepted. Sadly this is not the case. A public figure in the present day who has no place for discrimination is Jacinda Ardern. She treats everyone the same and does not judge them from a first look. This was shown through the Christchurch massacre when she said “let us support them as they gather again for worship. We are one –  they are us.”

Discrimination is dominant throughout the book, it is brought up when Bruno is visiting Shemuel Bruno says “We’re not supposed to be friends, you and me. We’re meant to be enemies. Did you know that? ”. How could two little boys understand this, all because  Hitler thought the Jews were conspiracists of communism. Since Bruno is so young he is unable to understand why he and Shemuel differ from each other. This text makes me reflect back on my own life and how lucky I am to attend a safe place which teaches me to learn and challenge my thinking. However the children in the Holocaust this would have not been evident, they would have been suffering the horrors of the Holocaust. Although in saying how grateful I am, on a global scale discrimination is still very evident in some societies. Some would say that it is discrimination that determines our outcomes just as it was made clear what a Jews outcome was in the Holocaust. An example in our world today is if you play rugby you are labelled as a “jock”. This is an American ideology thoroughly seen in multiple “high school” movies, which can be related back to school rugby players in our society. This year we endured a horrific terrorist attack within my own society, which goes to show that discrimination is still very much evident and how one race being the Muslim faith was treated just like the Jews were by the Nazis. It saddens me to say this, but unfortunately, discrimination is still present in our society, and as we go forward it is up to our generation. 

In conclusion, this book gave me a great deal of emotions. I came to a strong realisation of what Nazi Germany was like from a child’s perspective of innocence and love. It has re-highlighted to me the importance of not judging someone based on their appearance or status in society. However instead, on who they are as a person, what they stand for and the things they do for others.  I believe this is a very valuable lesson as in today’s society you don’t know what people have been through, and as I mentioned it is up to my generation to challenge discrimination. 

“The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” is a beautiful story which really proved to me there is no limits when a friendship is pure and authentic, “You’re my best friend, Shemuel,’ he said. ‘My best friend for life.”. 

Murder on the Orient Express –  Book  By Agatha Christie

In the novel Murder on the orient express personally, I wasn’t happy with the way the characters behaved also I found the storyline very hard to follow. At times throughout the movie I was interested but most of the time I was not. The theme of justice nicely fits into the story trying to solve one man’s death. Dexter Poirot was aboard the train when it was stopped in its tracks after a huge avalanche. Poirot noticed very quickly that there was something odd with the passengers aboard the train. The character Rachett was killed by 12 different people aboard the train working together, Rachett had had a rough but lucky in life, escaping the justice system after committing a horrendous crime. This is concluded by a private investigator coincidentally aboard the train. I feel discomforted that 12 people would want to do such a thing to one human, but after knowing what this character had done it seemed reasonable. Poirot’s clues seem a bit odd and don’t add up. After a bit more investigating Poirot comes to the conclusion that either the passengers were involved with the murder or some stranger came aboard the train and murdered Rachet. I personally liked how Agatha Christie wanted to spread the murder over the twelve passengers that poriot had suspected that committed the crime, she did this so one person didn’t have to carry the heavy crime all alone if they were punished by the justice system for this.

The book presents the idea of Justice to the readers, the film states “if we leave this to the police, they will choose a culprit, right or wrong and, they will hang him”. The police would probably choose Mr Marquez because of the colour of his skin. This quote shows that they would just choose anyone who is to be seen of a lower class and identifies as an African American.  For me, I found this unfair. I am of European descent so I have never been put in a situation where my skin colour has determined my outcomes. I live in a white-skinned majority society which means no one tends to racially differ from one another. I am very fortunate to live in a society like this but through reading this text it has also made me aware of the severity of racial discrimination especially in this quote when he says, “they will choose a culprit, right or wrong and, they will hang him”. Ultimately this quote shows that the judicial system is flawed and is not one hundred per cent accurate. And as for as long as I can remember in the news, we hear of policemen especially in America, specifically mistreating African-American citizens. This shows me that despite this book being fiction, the concepts are real-life situations. A study taken over a ten-month period from July 2018 to April 2019, showed that black drivers and passengers were four times more likely to be searched than white drivers and passengers. This is a great example of modern-day discrimination that proves the concepts of this quote is still in our society today. This just shows that the stereotypes are present within society and why Justice is rarely served by the law. The present-day in age racism is still a huge problem and everyone will point fingers at the dark-skinned person, this is sad to see because we are all the same. The text shows that the older generation agrees with the justice system and how people are punished. 

Colonel Arbuthnot says “Say what you like, trial by a jury is a Soundsystem”. This quote refers to the jury having the utmost power and can overrule and decide your fate. 

If the Jury prefers higher class people normally (white people) over black people then the lower class citizen has no control over the outcome and his/her fate is decided. The 12 people all had some relation to Daisey, the girl. 

These 12 people wanted to serve justice by getting revenge by killing Rachet. Justice can be served to the right people and for the right reasons, I believe. I liked how Agatha Christie gave the murder to the 12 different people, the power and strength of all 12 people came together and linked up to kill this one person so sophisticatedly, these 12 people all wanted to get revenge. This made me reflect on how someone’s actions can severely impact others around them, this has happened in our society this year with the Christchurch massacre, one person’s actions impacted the whole country. Just because he felt immense hate towards the Muslim religion, this inflicted multitudes if pain over a nation. I could relate and understand this in parallel to policemen and Jurys who feel hate towards dark-skinned people, individuals in the justice system that are utterly racist. I realised that one individual’s beliefs and morals literally can affect so many people or both a low and high scale. Despite the horrific acts of the massacre, through individuals strong tolerance against hate and injustices like this we came together as a nation, which affected us as a whole. This was our response, emphasising that we don’t tolerate discrimination here, and through this, our beliefs and morals were able to affect others positively by coming together. Personally, I am very against what happened in CHCH, and couldn’t quite comprehend how one person could do this to others, just as I can’t quite understand people in the justice system can appear so racist when they are supposed to be the people in our society who keep peace in order. This made me think about how great the country of New Zealand is, and when times like this happen everyone can come together and value family and friendships.

In conclusion, the passengers on the train end up getting justice for Daisy Armstrong and her family. Detective posterior played a huge part in helping solve the mystery, they all worked together as a team to get justice for the family, this showed to me that when people work together they achieve things a lot easier. Everyone who worked together to solve the mystery had some connection to Daisy and this is why they were so determined to bring justice to the Family.

Law-Abiding Citizen  – Film directed by F. Gary Gray

In the Film Law-Abiding Citizen, it is instantly clear to me how Clyde Shelton presented as a very strong-willed character and will fight right until the very end. This really appealed to me as I see myself as a strong-minded individual who will persist when times get tough. I felt constantly engaged the whole time, it kept me guessing what was going to happen next. Shelton’s family was brutally murdered right in front of his eyes by a character called Darby after two criminals invaded his house one night (Darby and Ames). After the criminals are found they do not have enough evidence to hold them accountable for the two murders. I felt sad for Clyde when I found this out because he was not able to punish the two criminals for the crimes they had committed. He would of struggled hard knowing that they had done the crime but he was unable to prove it due to lack of evidence. 10 Years later one of the criminals called Amez who was convicted was getting the death penalty, Clyde Shelton knows that Ames was not the one who killed his family, he knew it was Darby. Clyde is doing everything in his power to make sure Darby is convicted because he knows he did this and doesn’t want a murderer to be out there roaming the streets. Ames’s execution takes place but the drug used has been altered making him die in the most painful way possible.

They suspect it was Darby that had done this. Darby receives a call from a number saying: ‘I can help you escape from the Police if you meet me at this spot’, once Darby arrives he realises it is none other than Shelton. Darby tries to kill Shelton but discovers that it was a trick gun and injects himself with tetrodotoxin paralysing himself. After restraining him and making preparations to ensure his prolonged awareness, Shelton slowly tortures and dismembers Darby, saying the words Darby told him 10 years before: “You can’t fight fate.”. This quote made me realise you don’t have the power or ability to fight the inevitable or the consequences of your actions. Unfortunately, in this case, Darby had committed horrendous crimes which set him up to be not only wanted by the police but also Shelton, emphasising that he could not avoid these people. I believe we can relate this back to life, the definition of “fate” is, the development of events beyond anyone’s control. And I think there are times in life where we cannot control our fate, we cannot control other people’s actions or mother nature’s course. However, the one thing we do have in control, and potentially the greatest power we have over our life is, in fact, our own actions. I think sometimes the concept of “fate” or the common saying “everything happens for a reason” is designed as our own excuses and justifications for things we don’t believe we can do or can’t be bothered trying for. But we can control our actions, without external factors which we cannot control we can choose where we want to end up in life and if we work hard enough I believe one can make it there. So back to the quote “you can’t fight fate”, I have to disagree, however, if we look at Darby’s actions and the horrible things he did to others this determined his outcomes. I strongly believe that if he hadn’t done these crimes his outcomes would probably have been better. Which brought me to the ideology of karma, and how if you choose to treat others negatively and choose to be a horrible person karma will only catch up on you and maybe karma is the definition of fate? How you choose to behave will determine your karma and therefore determine your fate. 

In this day and age, I feel it is important that Police and the Authorities use the modern-day forensics and technology they have available to them in order to catch the real culprits as in  DNA testing etc. This means we would all feel safer in society having murderers and criminals off the street. Protecting our families and making for a more stable environment for everyone.  I would feel better knowing that the correct people had been locked up instead of them roaming the streets able to commit more offences. It is simply not acceptable that Darby could get away with his inhumane behaviour and I think it goes to show the importance of ensuring the ultimate measures are taken to access as much evidence possible to achieve justice. Currently, in New Zealand, the accused killer of Grace Milane is being trialled. On Monday he pleaded not guilty, and this made me furious, all the evidence shows he is clearly the murderer and how could he stand there with dignity saying that? It made me realise if they fail to have enough evidence against him just as they did for Darby, Graces accused murderer could walk free. This reiterated how essential it is for the system to find the most evidence in order to achieve justice especially so murderers don’t walk free and then vice versa, innocent people are not jailed. 

When Clyde was in court he said to the Judge: “Do you have any idea what justice is”? 

This highlighted Clyde’s frustration at the legal system completely avoiding justice and letting a terrible man walk free.  One may believe that there is a difference between right and wrong and if you always do something right, everything will fall into place, but yet again we, unfortunately, do not have control over other people’s actions just as Shelton can’t control the jury. This made me a question and think; what happens when things do go wrong and how do we react as a person in certain situations? We all have our own morals and expectations for ourselves, it is clear that Shelton and Darby had very different morals from one another. But we also all respond and act with different emotions, and emotions can certainly overrule our morals and how we would expect ourselves to act. This was seen with Shelton, his emotions were infuriated with anger and he didn’t care what it took, he wanted Darby dead. But before this even happened Shelton most likely never in his wildest dreams would want to hurt someone let alone kill them. I was able to think what would happen if I had been in a situation, whereby I knew I hadn’t pursued the act,  however, I was being accused and all the evidence pointed towards me being guilty. I think my emotions would overrule my practical thinking with frustration and helplessness. And simply this is dangerous because it could lead me to act in a way that would never meet my expectations or beliefs. I think this is a huge thing in life, our emotions even on a low scale really do prioritise our practicality. Darby couldn’t be accused even though he was guilty and it makes me question how can one get away with murder, but innocent people get the blame? Emphasising the quote, do our national legal system even recognise what justice is? A New Zealander called Arthur Allan Thomas was wrongly convicted of murder and was in jail for a long time. He missed out on his daughter growing up and many family moments. A man that was wrongly imprisoned by our own NZ legal system, the outcome of a lack of evidence and incorrect enquiry having a profound effect on a family. I believe if there are murderers walking and innocent people behind bars, there is a major flaw in the justice system and I think it is only essential for justice to be achieved to create a peaceful society. 

Prison Break –  Series of TV Episodes directed by Brett Ratner and Paul Scheuring

In the series Prison Break, I enjoyed how the main characters Michael Scofield and his brother Lincoln Burrows were shown throughout the film. After Lincoln Burrows was wrongfully convicted for the murder of the Vice President and framed for it, then he was executed at Fox River Prison, I admired how Michael stood up for his brother and knew that he was wrongfully convicted. Michael will do anything for his brother and try to get him out. I could really relate to this point in the series because I would do anything for my brother. I enjoyed how Michael put in so much effort and went into a lot finer detail about the prison blueprints to try and free his brother. I felt so sorry for Lincoln being framed, I would be so scared knowing that I was going to die for a crime that I had not committed. It also scares me that his life could be taken away in a matter of seconds and be over just like that. He promised LJ his son that he would make sure everything was OK and that he would be safe, Lincoln always told his son to stay away from trouble or otherwise he’ll be going down the same path as his father. I also learnt that from this film that love is so powerful and strong that it can pull people together like nothing else, this is shown by Michael doing everything he can to free his brother. 

Once things started to get tough, Michael started to choose faith, this was his trust in confidence that he would be able to get his brother out, he said: “I choose to have faith; because without that, I have nothing.” This quote shows to me that Micheal simply has hope, and this is what drives him to exceed the limits. Michael risked his life multiple times and this not only indicated the lengths he would go for his brother but also how much faith he had in achieving justice not only for Lincoln but also for LJ. It really made me realise the things you can achieve if you believe and for me, I could relate this to aspects of my life like rugby. What if I remain healthy and take the right measures to train hard, I can achieve whatever I put my mind to. I also realised without hope or believing in myself it would be pretty hard to get out of bed in the morning and go to school, ultimately it would be impossible to be motivated. And without motivation to live, you, in fact, do have nothing just as Michael stated. Ultimately the greatest lesson I learnt was to not give up on what you believe in. In our world im sure, there are many people who have encountered obstacles and have either kept going or simply given up. Michael Jordan has always appealed to me, someone who I frequently watch youtube clips on, he appeals to me in a sense that he is an elite athlete who is very good at what he does. However it seems that he didn’t get to this place easily, apparently, he was cut out of his high school basketball team being told he was too short to play and lacked basic basketball skills which wouldn’t have been an easy pill to swallow, however, look where he is. Take J.K Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter novels she said, “You might never fail on the scale I did. But it is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default.”. There are inspirational people like this in our society who really portrays the importance of sticking at something and believing in yourself to the point you are prepared to fight each obstacle as they come. I think this is a valuable lesson, failures are common and they will only make you grow as an individual, and I think if we can realise this as a society we can move forward to achieve greater problems we want to solve.

Michael forms an unbreakable connection with the prison doctor Sara Tancredi. She falls in love with Michael and she loves him so much she helps him escape the prison.  He then does things for Sara that keep her alive once he has escaped. This really emphasised the things people do for one another when they love and care for them. Sara was an example of loving someone so deeply that she was willing to act against the law for Michael. Yet again proving how love can make us do ridiculous things for someone. It also yet again highlighted to me how the justice system is so flawed. It can be used to punish people for crimes that they have not committed. This is what is wrong and unfair about the justice system. I believe that it is not 100% right and needs a serious amount of work on it to make it completely fair and unbiased. Michael is such a strong person to get his brother out of prison for his family.  Even when he finds out he has a brain tumour, he still puts his brother and Sara Tancredi before himself. This yet again proving how when you care for someone so deeply you are willing to sacrifice yourself for them. Michael goes on to have a child with Sara which is what they had always wanted. This was a feel-good factor for me knowing he had a child who could continue their legacies and carry on family lines. It made me feel that sometimes out of bad, good can also come as well. Michael knew his life was coming to an end but he would always say “I want you to promise me that you’re going to tell my child how much they are loved every day.” This quote was showing Michale’s love for his son and wife and how he wanted to rest assured his son would know he is loved immensely. I think Michael was a noble character that cared so deeply for Sara and Lincoln emphasising the objectives of his actions. I believe that the family Michael was about to create would have been a loving and well functioning family, thus being because Sara (the Mum) would have invested all of her time into giving the child everything she could. Well, functioning families tend to be the backbone of society, and when disaster strikes your family might be the only people you can rely on. I believe at the end of the day family is all you will ever have, forget the objects that life offers, your family are the people who will truly care and love you, they are the people who will fight for you. As I mentioned well-functioning families tend to be the backbone of our societies and this couldn’t be truer. We are brought up by these people who initially determine a lot of our outcomes. No society will ever be perfect, and in an ideal world every family would be supportive and loving but sadly this is not the case. And products of these situations are the people who tend to implement negativity in our society due to their hurt and pain from their upbringings. This is why I think it is so important to ensure that as individuals we don’t hate people based on their actions, but possibly seek a bit deeper to try to understand what has brought them to this place.

From the “Prison Break” series I was able to gain a stronger understanding of what it means to fight for the people you love and the importance of family and how experiences sometimes determine our actions. These two main lessons are very evident in our society, and I believe in order for our society to try to achieve peace and civilness, love must be spread because without love there will be anger and pain and with this our world will end up in another World War. 

Our law is not colour blind racist justice system  – Newspaper Article NZ Herald

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/84346494/new-zealands-racist-justice-system–our-law-is-not-colourblind

Whilst reading this article, I was brought to consider some of the dark points about the New Zealand Justice system. It hits the nail right on the head with some of the facts it brings up. Hempo claims the Justice system is “colour blind”. From 2010-2014 Maori made up 51% of Kiwi prisons and 31% received pre-charge warnings compared to 57% of pakeha who got left off freely with no warning. In other words, this means usually if ur caught with cannabis and your pakeha you’ll most likely get a pre-warning or diversion. If you are Maori there’s a higher chance that you will be sent to prison and convicted. The justice system in New Zealand is very flawed an ex correction worker Tom hempo says “The system itself is racist. If You’re Maori you’re more likely to go to jail than your Pakeha or Chinese friend. If you’re brown you’re targeted. Simple as that.” Statistics even show that this and back up the points that he is making, this is stated above. It saddens me this is still happening in today’s society like its 2019, surely racism wouldn’t have its place in our society but clearly, it still does, it made me reflect on how poorly New Zealand’s views towards racism still were. As I Was reading this I gained a better understanding of what Maori people are put through on a daily basis, it made me think how tough it must be for some of those people who get “classed” as lower people even tho we are all very much equal and should be treated the same no matter what colour skin they have. I also reflected on how my family is pakeha and that I have never been treated this way, also that I have parents the love,suppourt and care for me. I felt sorry for these other people that have been treated this way because they probably have been brought up in the environment that I have. This would have affected them because they would have not been taught some valuable life lessons which help them make decisions about what is right or wrong. Also, they would not have had the love and suppourt growing up.

Tom Hemepo who has worked at the Napier corrections facility for nearly 25 years he says wants to see a decrease in Maori imprisonment, he himself is Maori and its fighting for their rights. He doesn’t want money, he just wants the “government to think about what their doing, the system needs to change”. This quote is referring to the New Zealand justice system being flawed and not being 100% accurate and fair.  His main purpose is to try and reduce the high rates of Maori imprisonment by making it fairer towards this race. I like how he is fighting for his rights and wanting to change the way Maori are treated in this country. After all, this is their country, they were the first ones here and they are Native to the land. Also, the treaty of Waitangi is not doing them any good when this was signed to make sure there were equal rights between both Maori and NZ European. I believe its really unfair how they are treated, although the stats show that they take up the majority of the prison cells, something has to be done about this. Hempo is not just focusing on Maoris hes focusing on the whole justice system, he knows it’s unfair and that’s why it’s been failing people for so long. Society today is battling racism, not only in New Zealand but worldwide.  I have mates that are Maori and they face racism and negative comments regularly during the school day and outside of school. At times they try to laugh it off but you can tell then it actually hurts them. I feel like they are glad that they have good mates so we can stick up for them and tell someone it is not ok or right what they are saying or doing.

This article really gave me an insight into what was actually going on, I didn’t realise that it was this bad. After reading this article it has changed my perspective on how I see some people especially Maori. It has made me really think about someone’s upbringing and that I do not know their story. So in future, I will not be so quick to judge people based on my first looks at them.

England Rugby Players,  Bad Sportsmanship – Newspaper Article Daily Mail.UK

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-7642181/England-players-medals-Rugby-World-Cup-final-defeat-South-Africa.html

I read this article with interest, after following the 2019 RWC very closely all the way through and the final game was one I had been dying to watch from the beginning.  Just who the two teams were to be was the question, the teams these days are so closely matched that anyone could have been the winners. Rugby, like most team and contact sports, is all about mutual respect on and off the field.  Rugby essentially is a bit of an old boys sport steeped in lots of tradition and rules that players/coaches/referees and audiences all tend to know a bit about.  

The first example of respect where I think England started to wane, was in the semi-final whereby they formed a ‘V’ shape around the All Blacks whilst they performed the Haka.  It was a bold move, slightly disrespectful but manageable at the time and I think it was meant to be more daunting than anything. Kiwis took this as a sign of arrogance and it got us fired up.

I watched with disgust at the end of the England v South African game, the English players removing medals at the prizegiving.  ‘Ungracious in Defeat by the Daily Mail.uk’ – a quote that as a sportsman, you never want to hear being said about you or your team.  All over the world people were watching this and it made me think about what young children and aspiring sportspeople who look to this team as role models. What impact this has on anyone watching.  How not to behave? How does this behaviour reflect good sportsmanship or about being a good loser.? I know if it had been the other way around and South Africa or the All Blacks had taken their medals off at an English win, we would be vilified and told off for bad behaviour. I reflected personally that my upbringing in a loving and supportive family has taught me good morals and how to behave on and off the sports field.  I have often been in a situation where the feeling to walk off or say a remark has been on the tip of my tongue, but I have had to pull myself back and think about the long term implications. Also when playing on a field there are spectators/parents/teachers watching. But this game was broadcast worldwide so the repercussions are far worse. The backlash of these English players removing their medals after receiving them will go a long way.  These players are meant to be professionals, they are in a paid role and are representing their country. This sets a bad vibe from the English rugby team will be within society for days after the world cup leaving everyone fired up and having their strong opinions about what the “second best “ team in the world had done.

Minutes after the final, England were being bombarded all over twitter, being labelled unsportsmanlike and pathetic. Comments like this towards a national figurative sports team which people look up to is not the best thing for up and coming players.  If people can take anything from this act it is “how not to behave”. I hope that teams in the future, will remember this and not repeat it. When I saw a clip in the article of one of the players taking his medal off from around his neck straight after it was presented to him. I felt quite outraged and wondered how the winners felt as they were doing such a selfish act. It just reassured me that most English rugby players, as well as fans, are arrogant and rude. This is not giving their nation the best look as most people know what they have done in terms of history.

It really goes to show that England is such sore losers. This is evident because of the act they have just done and looked back on history what they also did when they would just invade countries and take over peoples land. This shows that their arrogance and not caring about others or the way there are perceived still carried through to the present day. Society has realised this about the English and expects this from them. Personally, I find it easy to gauge some English people and what their personality will be like based off their body language or the way they present themselves.