The narrator and protagonist of Gunter Grass's novel The Tin Drum is unique not only for his stature, but also for his mental progress. He chooses to stop growing at the age of three and does not speak, except by beating the drum, until the age of fifteen. This lack of development and willingness to be seen as a child presents a problem for both the protagonist and 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 as representations of “personal and political themes” (79). He goes on to say that the sexual encounters depicted in the three books parallel the political forces at work in the war, relating "the rise and fall of Hitler's Empire parallel to the rise and fall of Oskar as a sexual being" ( Johnson 87). Although Johnson provides valid and sophisticated arguments in his 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 found in the first and second books: the horse's head, Niobe and the meeting with Mrs. Greff. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayIn the chapter "Happy Friday", Oskar describes a memory of a walk along the beach with Jan, Matzerath, Agnes and of a fisherman scene using a horse's head to catch eels. Johnson would have you believe that this scene is sexual in nature because the black horse's head is a symbol of male virility and that this symbol is grotesquely destroyed by disgusting, slimy eels. However, I do not agree that this horse's head represents the death of male virility, but rather the dissolution of the family. This scene represents the turning point in Oskar's family, where everything begins to fall apart. Agnes, who after seeing the eels at work, states: “I will never eat a fish again, much less an eel” (Grass 139). This turns out to be false as Agnes commits suicide with fish, ingesting so much of it that she dies while pregnant, presumably with Jan's child. The horse's head scene didn't strike me as a sexual metaphor. Johnson argues that this scene shows not only the death of male virility but also “traditional images of procreation” (82). A horse's head filled with eels does not exactly evoke a sense of procreation, but to follow this thought process and refute the statement, one can assume that the phallic symbol of an eel, expressed by Grass when he explains that "a married woman …tried to satisfy himself with a live eel” (138), is evidence that this scene is sexual in some way. That said, the sexual connotations can be linked to the audience of this show and their reactions, namely Matzerath and Bronski. The true nature of their character is represented by their reaction to Agnes' illness and shows the conflict between the two men and the conflict in Agnes that surrounds them. Bronski comforts Agnes in her time of need, feeling sympathy for her, while Matzerath does takes care of himself and his earnings. This exacerbates the dilemma Agnes faces and precipitates her eventual suicide is a situation that shows the death of male virility, nor the sexual problems that Oskar faces, but simply a representation of the. different character traits of the two men Agnes loves and the decline of her desire to be involved again. The next scene in The way Johnson connects Oskar's sexual experience toa political context is when Herbert Truczinski dies attached to the statue of Niobe, "the mythical queen of death and destruction" (82). This cursed virginity is responsible for the deaths of numerous men, all of whom committed suicide under her gaze with any object at their disposal, including a pocketknife and compass needle. Herbert is shown to describe and belittle this statue in relation to his personal opinions on women by stating, "He's not my type anyway... check out those rolls of fat and the double chin" (Grass 175). Although he does not recognize the attraction that this virginity exerts, he still impales himself in an attempt to obtain sexual gratification from it. Unlike Johnson's argument that this is an episode of rape in reverse, that virginity was violated, and that it represents an implementation of German national history (83), this demonstrates the importance of statuesque figures in the lives of Oskar. The reverential attitude and mocking gestures that Herbert takes towards this statue do not represent political aspects during this time period, but rather imitate Oskar's disdain towards the statue of Jesus in the church. Therefore, the sexual nature of this episode in Oskar's life is not a metaphor for political structures, but can be seen as an inciting moment in Oskar's disrespect of idols. Johnson briefly mentions Oskar's relationship with Frau Greff in his article, mentioning that he relates his story "to Hitler's military campaign in Russia" (84). This relationship can easily be seen as a political metaphor, thus fitting in with Johnson's argument, however, the implications of Oskar's actions with Frau Greff have a deeper meaning than that of political affairs when thinking about the protagonist's development. It is at this point in the novel that Oskar decides to become something more than the child he is seen as, and it is also the point at which he learns about his sexuality that plays an important role in the rest of the novel. If Oskar hadn't had his experiences with Frau Greff, he probably wouldn't have had his strong relationship with Roswitha Raguna. He learned a lot about the fairer sex from Frau Greff who welcomed him into her bed despite his physical appearance. If he hadn't been able to explore the female sex in this way, he most likely wouldn't have had the relationship with Raguna. Johnson states that Oskar's relationship with Greff has become “an escape from pain” (84); however, I feel that he is not only running away from the pain of losing Marie, but he is finding his place among the adults in the novel. It took him twelve years to decide to speak and even then he tried to hide as a child among men. The relationship with Frau Greff made Oskar realize that he could no longer live life playing the personality of a child and that he had to accept the advantages and disadvantages of adulthood. The complications of Oskar's relationship also play a key role in his development. She states that “it was Oskar who abandoned the bedridden woman the moment he considered his studies completed” (Grass 288). Oskar has already demonstrated on several occasions his propensity to take care of himself. For example, when he was at the Polish post office he blamed his alleged father for kidnapping him as a shield to preserve his life. He also decided to stop his growth by jumping down the stairs to stop his growth and be a child forever. These examples reinforce the thesis that Oskar's relationship with Frau Greff had no purpose other than to make himself feel better. The connotation this example gives to the political metaphor of sexual representation in the novel is not only exaggerated, but grossly misrepresents the point of the chapter. This. 2013.