Pavel seems to pay a great deal of attention to the carrots, but he only focuses his eyes on them because he concentrates his anxious thoughts on the possible consequences that might follow his act of having tended to the wounded leg of the Commandant's son.
After treating Bruno's leg (which was injured in a fall from the tire swing), Pavel allays Bruno's fears that he will bleed to death. Pavel then returns to the...
Pavel seems to pay a great deal of attention to the carrots, but he only focuses his eyes on them because he concentrates his anxious thoughts on the possible consequences that might follow his act of having tended to the wounded leg of the Commandant's son.
After treating Bruno's leg (which was injured in a fall from the tire swing), Pavel allays Bruno's fears that he will bleed to death. Pavel then returns to the sink and washes his hands thoroughly. But Bruno, not wanting his accident so quickly dismissed, suggests that his injury could be worse than it appears. Bruno thinks that Pavel is barely listening because the carrots he peels seem to absorb his attention. "You're not a doctor," Bruno insists.
Pavel stopped peeling the carrots for a moment and looked across the table at Bruno, his head held low, his eyes looking up, as if wondering what to say to such a thing....
Then he sighs and dares to say, "Yes I am." Naturally, the innocent Bruno does not understand why Pavel waits tables if he is a doctor. He looks closely at Pavel, and it appears that the man at one time had a beard. But Bruno is unaware that the men in the camp are juden--Jews who are imprisoned by the Nazis. Tragically, Pavel says that he thinks he has always been at Auschwitz (Out-With). Now, although his crime has only been an act of kindness, Pavel must worry that if his actions are revealed to Bruno's father, he will be severely punished. He has focused upon his act of peeling the carrots to keep from thinking of what horrific consequences may befall him.
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