Arhythmic Drumming

            In the novel The Tin Drum, written by The use of the photograph motif and the frequent shift between the first and the third person reflects the major theme of displacement and lack of agency within the novel as well as within the psyche of Oskar. We know that the novel thus far is composed of a man in a mental hospital who is recounting his youth and family history. The retelling is interspersed with photographs that the narrator illustrates for us.  Each of these photographs is of Oskar as a young boy holding his favorite toy, a small tin drum. The fixation on these concrete images illuminates his desire for something concrete, which hints at unrest in other parts of his life.

            The second thing that suggests a displacement or lack of agency is the consistent shifting between the first person narration and the limited third person. This shift can happen quite suddenly when for example, the narrator questions, “is it any wonder if to this day I can’t abide the sound of women urinating in chamberpots? Up in the attic Oskar appeased his ears with drumming” (98). While in this circumstance the shift in perspective occurs when he is speaking about his present or past self, this is not always the case. It suggests that he is aware of a fragmentation of himself, which, besides being a marker of post-modern literature, is something that suggests an imbalance.

            The novel also points to reasons behind his displacement or imbalance. For one, he is a young man growing up in Poland in the late 1930’s, and while we don’t know the outcome in this novel, history suggests that this will not end well. Additionally, the fact that he is unsure of his parentage, adds to this imbalance. The final piece of information that we get suggesting to his imbalance (and possible reason behind his stay in the mental hospital) is the sudden death of his mother. These three major changes/states of unrest lead to the instability in Oskars psyche.