The Tin Drum Characters

Where to begin with this complicated character? Well, let's begin with his creator. Günter Grass wanted to write a novel that would confront postwar German society with the memories of the Nazi er...

Oskar describes his mother as like her father—she needed to hide, and as a child was always sensitive, fearful and seeking security under her mother's skirts. After her father's (presumed) death,...

Oskar's father meets his mother while he's recovering soldier in a hospital where his mother's a nurse. He's an ethnic German. Even though she's in love with someone else, he wins her heart with hi...

Jan is a bit of a sad sack who's only happy when he's with his cousin Agnes. He's turned down by the army because of his poor health, and gets a job at the Polish Post Office. This position eventua...

Sigismund is a Jewish toy dealer who supplies Oskar with tin drums. Sigismund knows about Agnes's affair with Jan and begs Agnes to break it off, telling her: "Don't bet on the Poles, if you got to...

Maria's the young woman Oskar declares to be his "first love" (21.22). She's seventeen when she enters his life after his mother's death, when his father hires her to help him at the store. Oskar's...

Anna is Oskar's grandmother. Oskar begins his family saga with the story of how his mother was conceived by an escaped arsonist, Joseph Koljaiczek, whom Anna hid from the police under her skirts. T...

Bebra's a little person working as a musical performer in a travelling circus. Oskar meets him when his parents take him to see the circus. He's Oskar's mentor and role model. From his first meetin...

The DustersThe Dusters are a group of children and young men who travel around Danzig in packs. Basically, they're hooligans who engage in guerrilla acts of terror and destruction. The Dusters atta...