The Tin Drum Style

The Tin Drum Style

Point of View The novel is told from Oskar Matzerath's point of view, although Oskar believes he has access to events outside his direct experience, through his drum. Oskar is both the protagonist of the novel and an extremely unreliable narrator. Oskar asserts that he willfully decided to stop growing on his third birthday in order to avoid the adult responsibilities of operating the family business. He insists that he had a carnal affair with Maria during their first summer together, and that Kurt is his biological son. Oskar insists that he decide to grow again after his father's funeral.

The point of view shifts away from Oskar briefly, and tellingly, twice. First, Oskar's joint pain causes him to dictate his autobiography to his male nurse, Bruno. Then, during the narration of Oskar's arrest, the point of view shifts briefly to Oskar's friend and accuser Vittlar. From these two sources and Oskar himself, the reader learns that others do not agree with Oskar's interpretation. Bruno, Vittlar and even Maria herself vociferously deny any carnal relations between Maria and Oskar. They uniformly refer to Maria as Oskar's stepmother, and Kurt as Oskar's half-brother. Bruno and the medical authorities believe Oskar's dwarfism has physical roots. It was caused by a fall down the stairs on his third birthday, and reversed by a blow to the head at his father's funeral. Bruno clearly views Oskar as delusional, and raises the question whether everything Oskar relates may be fictitious, or the fevered dream of...
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