The Tin Drum

In Dusseldorf, Oskar is finally released from the hospital. He moves into the new house where Maria and Kurt are living. Kurt and Maria have taken to business. He buys and sells flintstones, while she sells “synthetic honey” (294). Oskar has nothing to do, so he feels as though he is not contributing to the family. As he wanders around the city at a loss, he finds himself in a graveyard. He has always “been attracted to cemeteries” (297).

When he sees a man named Korneff erecting a headstone, he asks whether the man can train him as a stonecutter. Eventually, he convinces Korneff to take him on as an apprentice for “practically nothing” (300). Oskar trains and then opens a stonecutting business. When Kurt and Maria's business ventures begin to falter, Oskar becomes the main source of the family's income. He feels proud of himself. At the graveyard in Dusseldorf, he meets Weird Willem, who is the local version of “Crazy” Leo.

Since he is now the chief breadwinner, Oskar decides that he needs a suit. A tailor's widow offers to make him a suit in exchange for funeral supplies for her now-dead husband. Oskar hopes that a good suit will also make his “new, vain self” (306) more attractive to women.