"The Tin Drum" and its Complex Themes

Paper Summary:

The purpose of this paper is to discuss and analyze the book "The Tin Drum" by Gunter Grass. Specifically, the paper focuses on two particular chapters. Firstly, Chapter 27 (Inspection of Concrete, or Barbaric, Mystical, Bored), and Chapter 28 (The Imitation of Christ). Gunter Grass' "The Tin Drum" is an historic look at a Polish family with a young son stunted by an accident. Oskar turns out to be a performing midget, who is ludicrous and yet endearing. The writer claims that the themes of the book are complex and the style is demanding, but it is a rewarding read that causes the reader to think, to feel, and to sometimes agree with the author's clearly defined themes.

From the Paper:

"Chapter 27 of "The Tin Drum" is entitled "Inspection of Concrete, or Barbaric, Mystical, Bored," and in it, Oskar's theater troop inspects several German concrete bunkers along the Atlantic Wall. During their visit, the groups inspects the fine concrete of the bunkers, (inlaid with shells from the nearby beaches), and discovers one of the soldiers was an artist before the war. The artist, named Lankes, titles one of his "Oblique Formations" (pillboxes) "Barbaric, Mystical, Bored" (Grass 337), and the troupe leader Bebra replies, "You have given our century its name" (Grass 337). Grass uses the pillboxes as an art form to signify the sheer waste of war."

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