Sexual Escapades of a Magical Midget: The Meaning of Oskar’s Encounters in The Tin Drum Anonymous College

The narrator and protagonist in Gunter Grass’ novel The Tin Drum is unique in not only his stature, but by his mental progress as well. He chooses to stop growing at the age of three and does not speak, except through the beating of his drum, until the age of fifteen. This lack of development and willingness to be viewed as a child presents both a problem to the protagonist and to the reader when Oskar is presented with sexual encounters. Susan M. Johnson states in her article, “Sexual Metaphors and Sex as a Metaphor in Grass’ Blechtrommel”, that Grass uses these sexual metaphors aa representations of “personal to political themes” (79). She goes on to say that the sexual encounters represented in the three books parallel the political forces at work in the war, relating “the rise and fall of Hitler’s Empire parallel Oskar’s rise and fall as a sexual being” (Johnson 87). While Johnson makes valid and sophisticated arguments in her article, I disagree with the interpretation of the sexual encounters and what they mean for the characters. In particular, I will focus on three scenes that are located in books one and two: the horse’s head, the Niobe, and the encounter with Mrs. Greff.

In the chapter “Good Friday Fare”, Oskar...