Chapter 4, The Photograph Album Summary

From his bed in the asylum, Oskar looks at a treasured album, full of photographs. He relates how in the early days of their friendship, Oskar and Klepp would have passport photos taken in a booth every week after attending the movies. The album also contains a photograph of Wranka, the arsonist, as a volunteer fireman, of Jan Bronski as a sickly child and of Agnes just before Oskar's conception. For some time, Oskar has been particularly interested in a photograph of Agnes seated between Matzerath and Jan Bronski. Using a compass and ruler, he has drawn and redrawn all the angles between the three until the photo is worn and creased. He has other pictures of Jan and Agnes or Agnes and Matzerath, but only in the pictures of the three together do they appear at...