How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
They clowned around, parodied scenes from my trial, and to please them, as always on Visitors Day, I put on a cheerful face and managed to laugh at even their worst jokes (3.5).
As usual, Oskar takes a condescending approach to the people around him, especially the people who try hardest to be his friends. We have to ask ourselves: why does he go to such lengths to remind us of this in his memoirs? And, for extra credit: is his contempt for others a defense mechanism against self-hatred?
Quote #2
Effortlessly I freed myself from the head-first position favored by mothers, embryos, and midwives alike.
Let me say at once: I was one of those clairaudient infants whose mental development is complete at birth and thereafter simply confirmed (3.31-32).
Oskar even takes credit for his easy birth. We love the "thereafter simply confirmed." In other words, it was never in question. Pretty narcissistic, we'd say.
Quote #3
"Little people like us can squeeze into even the most crowded grandstands. And if not on the grandstand, then under the grandstand, but never in front. So says Bebra, direct descendant of Prince Eugen." (9.26)
It might be the case that the only person as vain as Oskar in this book is another little person, Oskar's mentor Bebra. Bebra's the first person to ever tell Oskar to use his tininess to his advantage. Bebra makes sure to end this comment with a flourish, mentioning again that he is the direct descendant of a great European prince. It might be this kind of swagger that makes Bebra the only person whom Oskar truly admires in this book.