The Tin Drum

Jan Bronski is a man with many identities. In Oskar’s narration, these identities are viewed from Oskar's perspective. To Oskar, Jan is a father, an uncle, and a mentor all at once. Through his extramarital affair with Agnes, Jan may be Oskar's true father. He is a constant presence in Oskar's life as he continues this affair in plain sight, seemingly with Alfred's blessing.

For the young Oskar, the situation is confusing. He comes to think of Jan as his father, but also assigns the same title to Alfred. Both men are what Oskar calls “presumptive” fathers, though Jan is also his uncle. While Oskar is emotionally distant from Alfred, he seems to share a unique understanding with Jan. He uses his powers to help Jan steal a necklace so that Jan can give it to Agnes, while Jan is one of the only people who understands Oskar's need to replace his old, worn-out drums. Jan may or may not be Oskar's father but the genuine affection he shows toward Oskar demonstrates that the biological connection is almost irrelevant. In an emotional sense, Jan is very much Oskar’s father and he adopts this role with sincerity and commitment.

The death of Agnes has a deep impact on Jan. Following her death, a divide develops between Jan and Alfred. While Alfred busies himself by rising through the ranks of the Nazi Party, Jan reaffirms his Polish identity. Though this identity puts him at risk from the fascists who seek to create an ethnically “pure” state, Jan refuses to be cowed. He is not a particularly brave man but his refusal to deny his Polish identity is an act of strength in a world rapidly descending into violence and chaos. In a tragic manner, Jan's death is caused by his love for Oskar and his Polish identity. He takes Oskar to the Polish Post Office where he works to repair a tin drum. There, he fights in the battle against the German soldiers. Though he defends the Post Office, Oskar points him out as a Pole to the soldiers and he is taken away to be executed. Jan is betrayed by his son and executed for his refusal to deny his Polish identity. He is one of the first victims of the Nazi's racial violence whose death has a profound effect on Oskar—while most of the Holocaust occurs in an ambient, background manner in Oskar's life, Oskar blames himself for Jan's death.

After Jan's execution, his presence is still felt in the novel. Oscar discovers the place where he is buried and—whenever he passes this location—he is forced to confront his role in Jan's death. While Oskar played a much more active role in Alfred's death, Alfred does not haunt him in the same way. Oskar's emotional connection to Jan is revealed in the way that his betrayal ranks among his worst crimes, at least from his own perspective. Oskar is never able to forgive himself for pointing out Jan and Jan's haunting presence becomes a literary embodiment of the ambient guilt which Oskar perceives everywhere in post-war Germany. Oskar may not have pulled the trigger, but he blames himself for Jan's death in the same way that he believes millions of others are to blame for their complicity or inaction in the rise of the Nazis.

The way in which Jan haunts Oskar's memories are equivalent to the way in which Oskar believes that the Holocaust and the violence of World War II haunt the collective psyche of the German people. Oskar craves judgement for his role in Jan's death, much as he believes the country itself should forcibly remember its past.

Agnes is Oskar's mother and, more importantly, the person who gives him his first drum. The promise of the drum is the only thing which convinces Oskar there may be a more optimistic future ahead of him and also allows him to communicate with the world. In this respect, Agnes plays an important role in his life as her first promise sets the tone for the rest of Oskar's existence.

The contrast between the moment of Oskar's birth and the period after her death create a juxtaposition which highlights her absence. After Agnes's death, Oskar and Jan lose their optimism. The promise of a drum is no longer adequate and the playing of the drum takes on a different meaning. Where once it allowed Oskar to communicate with the world and index his emotions, the drumming reminds him of the loss of his mother and his optimism. To Oskar, the memory of Agnes is a leitmotif played on a tin drum: Every time he plays, he remembers her and he remembers his grief. Agnes is inextricably linked to the tin drum.

Agnes is also a woman caught between two worlds. She loves two men and, although she marries Alfred, she refuses to abandon her love for either man. Described from Oskar's perspective, Agnes's relationship with Jan is difficult for her son to comprehend. He describes their relationship through physical acts, noting when they touch each other. However, he hints at an emotional foundation to their relationship which is lacking from Agnes's relationship with Alfred. When Agnes argues with Alfred, Jan comforts her. When she is in pain, he is the first person to attend to her. When she is sick, he tries to help her. Oskar rarely comments on the emotional ramifications of Jan's affectionate acts; he simply describes them in the same blunt and physical manner that he describes their sexual activities. Oskar cannot comprehend the mature and adult emotions which are passing between his possible parents. Furthermore, he does not try to understand. When he attempts to forge a similar love triangle with Maria and Alfred in later years, he does not have Jan's success because he never understands the emotional bond which existed between Agnes and Jan. Agnes loves Jan in a way that Maria never loves Oskar. The sincerity of her love and Oskar's struggles to understand this sincerity create problems for them both.

After being traumatized by the sight of eels inside a horse's head, then refusing to eat eels for dinner, Agnes responds to her argument with Alfred by eating nothing but fish. She eats so many fish that she develops fish poisoning and dies in the hospital. Agnes does not die alone, as she was also pregnant at the time of her death. The possibility of a child complicates Agnes's future; in a world where Oskar is already doubting his own parentage, the existence of a second child of dubious provenance may mire her in scandal. Given her deteriorating relationship with Alfred, she may not want to force the child to falsely accept Alfred as its father.

When Agnes develops an obsessive appetite for fish, Oskar does not know how to react. He cannot tell whether she is suffering from a genuine psychological crisis or whether she is eating nothing but fish as a way to spite Alfred. Oskar's inability to parse his mother's actions in this moment are indicative of his problems understanding humanity more broadly: He can never tell whether someone is sincerely suffering or acting spitefully, with his descriptions of the absurd and darkly comic collapse of society during World War II premised on the same incomprehension. Agnes's death is absurd and tragic in equal measure, much like the historic moment Oskar inhabits.