How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Granted: I'm an inmate in the mental institution […] (1.1).
This is the first thing Oskar Matzerath ever says to us. By opening with this line, he's basically warning us to take everything he says with a heavy grain of salt. It shows us immediately that Oskar probably spends a lot of his days cut off from human contact. Asylums aren't exactly homelike places.
Quote #2
The flat, which adjoined the store, was cramped and poorly laid out, but compared with the living conditions on Troyl, which I've only heard stories about, it was sufficiently middle-class that Mama, at least in the early years of her marriage, must have felt comfortable on Labesweg (3.26).
Oskar goes on to describe the family apartment in great detail, down to the color of the lampshades and the pictures on the walls. It was a definite step up from the home Oskar's mother was raised in. Like any home above a store, it was packed with overflow merchandise. Oskar was able to be around his parents most of the day, since the apartment adjoined the shop. A family business can result in a lot of closeness but also tension. Oskar was born at home, and his first sight was the light bulbs above the bed, which he claims to remember distinctly.
Quote #3
Through all the bad years of nothing but days to get through, I guarded it, hid it away, pulled it out again; during the trip in the boxcar I clutched it to my breast, a thing of value, and when I slept, Oskar slept on his treasure, his photo album (4.1).
When he talks about his family photo album, Oskar seems to get almost a little choked up. He wasn't exactly appreciative of his home and his relatives when he was younger. But he's really nostalgic when it comes to reminiscing about the past. This might be one of those cases where you truly don't appreciate what you have until it's gone. Cue Joni Mitchell.