In 'The Tin Drum', what instrument does Oskar Matzerath play?

In Günter Grass’s “The Tin Drum,” Oskar Matzerath plays a tin drum. He receives his first drum as a present on his third birthday and treats it as a treasured possession throughout the novel.

Oskar’s drumming is more than a child’s pastime. He uses it to resist the adult world around him, especially the violence, hypocrisy, and political extremism of wartime Danzig. His playing can become extraordinarily powerful, even disrupting public events and expressing emotions he cannot or will not communicate directly.

The drum also connects the novel’s personal and historical stories. Oskar’s life unfolds against the rise of Nazism, World War II, and the postwar division of Europe, while his refusal to grow becomes a magical-realist symbol of his rejection of adult responsibility. Readers sometimes confuse the drum with Oskar’s other supernatural ability: his piercing voice, which can shatter glass.