The Tin Drum
Wherever little Oskar Matzerath goes, you can bet his tin drum's going with him. Oskar even seems to make his tin drum into a part of his body, wearing it underneath his clothing at many points in...
Shattered Glass
Oskar first learns he can "singshatter" glass when he screams after his mother tries to take away his drum. His poor schoolteacher's eyeglasses explode when she tries to do the same. He often shatt...
Grandma Bronski's Four Skirts
Throughout this book, Oskar talks obsessively about his grandmother's four skirts. It was under these four skirts, for example, that Oskar's grandfather Joseph fled in order to escape the police. O...
Fizz Powder
Fizz powder is an old type of candy that Oskar can remember seeing around before World War Two. But in his present-day narrative, he realizes that it's almost impossible to find the stuff in any st...
Skat (Playing Cards)
Alfred Matzerath might be happy that he's taking Jan Bronski's money, but little does he know that Jan and Alfred's wife Agnes are feeling one another up beneath the card table. Throughout this boo...
Nurses
Nurses are Oskar's fetish. First of all, his mother was a nurse; that's how she met Alfred Matzerath. And we know Oskar was a mama's boy. Also, because of his physical problems, he spends a lot of...
The Nazi Pin
The story of how Oskar's father Alfred dies trying to swallow the little Nazi pin is a short and sweet allegory for what Grass thinks about postwar German society. The people try to get rid of thei...
The Onion Cellar
"The Onion Cellar" is a nightclub where Oskar lands a part-time gig as a drummer. People pay good money to come to the club, cut up onions, and have a good, cathartic sob fest. The fact that this h...
Oskar
Our diminutive antihero is at the center of the story, and what might Oskar symbolize? Let's see—he's cold, unfeeling, destructive, controlling, immoral, and grandiose. Hmmm. Even though he's dem...