* Time: The story takes place in the 1940s.
* Location: The story takes place in a concentration camp called Auschwitz.
* Social Class: The story focuses on the lives of two boys from different social classes: Bruno, the son of a Nazi commandant, and Shmuel, a Jewish prisoner.
* Physical Setting: The story is set in a rural area of Germany. The concentration camp is surrounded by barbed wire fences and watchtowers. The barracks where the prisoners live are dark and crowded.