74 pages 2 hours read

Gunter Grass

The Tin Drum

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1959

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Essay Topics

1.

How do language and narration function in The Tin Drum? How do these elements engage with, or reflect, some of the novel’s key thematic and symbolic preoccupations?

2.

In what way is Oskar the protagonist different from Oskar the narrator? In what ways are they similar? What is the wider significance of the relationship between these two Oskars?

3.

How are the notions of sanity/insanity depicted in the novel? How do these notions function on both an individual and societal level?