Interpretation of Hermann and Dorothea for the Tin Drum

Throughout the Tin Drum people are unsure of how to respond to changes in government. Some obvious examples are Jan, Matzerath, Agnes, and even Oskar's grandmother. Jan and Matzerath are both conflicted as to what party to join. Agnes seems to repudiate Nazism through her refusal to allow Oskar to be hospitalized, and perhaps her suicide could be attributed to her ant-Nazism. Goethe's excerpt has a quote that is relevant to uncertainty within the Tin Drum. In Hermann and Dorothea Goethe writes: "For that man, who, when times are uncertain, is faltering in spirit, Only increases the evil, and further and further transmits it". It seems that uncertainty within the novel is infectious, and Jan's uncertainty quickly spreads to people such as Agnes. Greff the greengrocer's peculiar suicide could be attributed to uncertainty, and actually the mechanical nature in which Greff kills himself may also be reminiscent of the art vs. technology theme that carries on throughout the Tin Drum.