Wednesday, August 18, 2010
The Witch
In The Tin Drum, Oskar has an obsession with the “Witch.” He first refers to this witch as he mentions a few games that the neighborhood children play, one of which is called “Where’s the Witch, black as pitch?” Later in the novel, Oskar progressively references the witch more and more as his fear of her amplifies. At one point, he mumbles about the witch in conjunction with his dread of Lucy Rennwand. Ultimately, as Oskar flees from the authorities at the end of the piece, he relates to the reader that his fear of the Witch has become incapacitating. He senses that she follows behind him as he climbs the escalator and then faces him. Although Oskar claims that he is unaware of the Witch’s identity, I have been asking myself this question. I believe that the witch represents a force of evil in Oskar’s life and the overwhelming guilt that he has accumulated through the implicit murder of his mother, Jan, and Matzerath. What do you all think the witch represents?
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7 comments:
I basically have the same view of the witch as you do, Samantha. I believe that when Oskar mentions the witch, it means he sense something bad is going to happen. The witch is almost a signal to Oskar that harm is headed his way.
It almost serves as a reminder of the deaths he is told he caused. He begins to believe himself that he was the reason the three most important people in his life died and the witch reinforces that.
I believe the “Witch” could be Oskar’s projection of death. At the end of the Tin Drum when Oskar feels the Witch creeping upon him, I also agree that the Witch is a manifestation of Oskar’s guilt. Do you all think that his shame could possibly be the reason why Oskar takes the blame for a crime he did not commit? As I was reading the Tin Drum, I thought that Oskar’s main motive in telling Vittlar to turn him in was his desire for security in the mental hospital rather than assuming adult responsibilities.
I agree with the analysis of the Witch as a symbol of guilt, but I think that such guilt is not limited to Oskar. Other people fear the Witch as well; nobody is pure and free from sin. Consider the children who first sing the nursery rhyme and their eventual misdeeds. Perhaps their chanting reflects a loss of innocence.
I think that we ought to include the Jesus motif in this discussion. I think that the two motifs are related. I will start another post on the topic.
I believe the witch represents Oskar's portrayal of evil in general. The witch creeps into Oskar's thoughts in the form of guilt when Oskar blames the death of Jan, Matzerath and Agnes on himself. The witch is also there when Oskar fears the bigger kids and their horrid concotion of soup. The witch may also represent the evilness of the Nazi regime. An example of this form of evil is projected when Oskar summons upon the witch at the end of the end of book one when the jewish toy merchant, Sigmund Markus, poisons himself after the ransacking of buisnesses and jewish synagogues.
The childhood nursery rhyme "Where’s the Witch, black as pitch?" is repeated throughout the novel. It was first said when Oskar was surrounded by the terrible children, who forced him to eat digusting soup, so he had to protect himself. Later this phrase occurs at the end, when Oskar is fleeing from the police. I think this repetition reveals that horror never ends and is still present in Oskar's life. In other words, the "Witch" may be a symbol of this "horror."
I agree that the witch could symbolize guilt, though it turns up in so many places that I would be hesitant to pin it down with a specific meaning. And yes, Julia, I agree that it was Oskar's shame and guilt that led him to seek punishment. And just a thought, I think Jesus atoned for sins in a similar manner.
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