Curated set · answers marked
At the start of The Tin Drum, three-year-old Oskar Matzerath makes a conscious choice to stop his physical growth. What leads him to this decision?
AA mysterious illness strikes him, halting his development.
BOn his third birthday, he throws himself down the cellar stairs, willing himself to cease growing.✓
CA local fortune-teller curses him in the streets of Danzig.
DHe refuses to eat, gradually starving himself in protest against the adult world.
In the opening of The Tin Drum, three-year-old Oskar Matzerath makes a conscious choice to stop his physical growth. What leads him to make this decision?
AHe is cursed by a mysterious fortune-teller at a carnival
BHe throws himself down the cellar stairs on his third birthday✓
CHe is struck by a bolt of lightning during a thunderstorm
DHe refuses to eat, starving himself in protest against the adult world
Rationale
On his third birthday, Oskar intentionally throws himself down the cellar stairs, using the fall as a way to justify — and assert his will — to cease growing, opting to stay the size of a three-year-old instead of facing the corrupt adult world surrounding him.