IDENTITÄTSKRISE DER AUßENSEITER AUSNAHME UND REGEL IN GÜNTER GRASS´ DANZIGER TRILOGIE
THE IDENTITY CRISIS OF AN OUTSIDER: EXCEPTION AND RULE IN GÜNTER GRASS´ DANZIG TRILOGY

Summary/Abstract: Prior to World War II the government led the German people into a mindset of warfare mood, so that most of them observed the entire world as enemies and were ready to sacrifice their lives for the Nazi Party and Hitler, firmly believing in his plans and vision for the future. The national socialists prescribed the modes of behaviour for every aspect of everyday life, and introduced a strict control system in order to rule over the people with power and constant fear. They established a strong community feeling as the highest ideal, and to wander off route and stand out as an exception at that time was regarded as an act of breaking a rule and sometimes even a law, which was regularly punished very severely. Günter Grass (1926–2015), in his Danzig Trilogy (The Tin Drum – Cat and Mouse – Dog Years), depicted exceptional existences, who are not like most of the Germans before, during and after World War II, resulting in their isolation and the absence of guidance and support from the adults around them. The small-statured Oskar Matzerath critically observes and challenges the world from a frog’s perspective and uses his tin drum as a means of provoking the people around him. Joachim Mahlke, tortured by an inferiority complex, is not able to stand the pressure of social isolation. The half-Jew Eduard Amsel establishes his own underground world, in order to flee the dangers of the aggressive real world. They all experience a deep identity crisis and struggle to strike the right path in their lives, with a greater or lesser degree of success. The subjects of the analysis in this paper are these main figures, their common features and differences, their identity crises and their struggle to deal with these crises. The concept of an identity crisis is discussed here from two aspects: as identity deficit and identity conflict. An identity deficit (crisis of motivation) is the lack of a guiding commitment and struggle to establish personal goals and values. When going through an identity conflict (legitimation crisis), a person has several commitments, and in some situations at least one of them has to be betrayed. One of the most common conflicts refers to the choice between agreement with oneself (asocial agreement) and agreement with society (social agreement). The decision to adjust to one’s surroundings and to give up a part of one’s personality in order to be accepted by others is difficult and problematic by itself in any circumstances, but it is almost obligatory in a time of crisis, when it becomes life threatening to step out of line. The identity crisis in such cases is a consequence of the agreement conflict in Brecht’s sense: agreement with oneself and with the unfriendly world mostly exclude each other, which puts an individual in a difficult situation. As survival is an imperative, the choice is mostly clear, but the question is: what is the sense of integration if someone has to betray oneself and one’s own values? The three protagonists in Grass’ trilogy respond to their dilemma in different ways, yet their paths show similarities. Oskar, the antihero of the novel The Tin Drum (1959), has no guidance in his family, as his parents live in a triangle with his uncle Jan, and Oskar therefore does not know who his real father is. His mother is constantly plagued by feelings of guilt; he has no friends and cannot stand school. Therefore, he finds guidance in books, in the strange connection between Goethe and Rasputin as representatives of harmony and the demonic, of dualism in the world, life and his own soul. As an outsider, he is capable of deep insight from a distance, and the tin drum becomes the means of expressing his individual resistance and protest against the world, as well as of creating chaos at every opportunity. Doing so, he does not act in a responsible way, but rather follows his artistic interests and his whims, until he meets Bebra. The Lilliputian, who is the only one to really understand and guide him, opens Oskar’s eyes to the political reality, despite he himself being an example of an artist who chooses the path of compromise and the problematic “inner emigration”. He carries guilt, playing a role in murders, and he later pushes the responsibility for them onto Oskar, which Oskar readily accepts after Bebra’s death. Neither of them offers any real guidance or insight to their audience, and they are critically depicted as representatives of artists in Germany: as small, egoistic and self-centred “children” who only follow their own interests and do not care for anyone else. Only after Oskar starts to grow and after he comes of age is he capable of admitting his own guilt and able to take responsibility for the death of his family members, but surprisingly, he also shows an inclination to take responsibility for the guilt of others. As such, he confronts the Germany of the Adenauer Era, its suppression of the past and refusal to discuss the guilt and responsibility for deeds committed during the time of the Third Reich. Although Oskar lives for a certain time in agreement with the society (during and after the war), his final decision is to stay tuned to his own moral views and to remain an outsider, though he is not allowed to stay in safe reclusion at a clinic, but is forced to face reality again. Joachim Mahlke, the protagonist from the novella Cat and Mouse (1961), is not able to live in agreement with himself. As he was raised without a father, alone with two women, he does not grow up to become a typical boy, but is rather soft and gentle, unconsciously acquiring a fatherly role of moral authority, because of which he does not fit in with others due to his attitude, values and behaviour. He finds guidance in the memories of his father, who died a heroic death saving people in a train accident, and tries to copy his actions. However, the values of his father lose credibility in the age of National Socialism, and Mahlke feels increasingly isolated for his viewpoints and looks, since he has a huge Adam’s apple (his mouse). He feels constantly endangered by society (the cat) and as a result, he tries to overcompensate his weakness through sports activities and later through military accomplishments, with only one goal: to gain a decoration that would qualify him to hold a speech in his old school and finally to achieve the desperately needed acknowledgment and integration. Although the war makes no sense to him and stands in absolute contrast to his own religious values, he accepts it as an obligatory and inevitable activity, becoming a typical conformist. However, when he gains the decoration, a mistake from his school days (stealing a knight´s cross from another soldier) follows him from the past, and he does not get a second chance to be accepted and admired, which brings about his breakdown and his decision to disappear under the sea. Although Mahlke betrays his own values, decides to live in agreement with the society, and gives up the guidance of his father and the Church, it is all in vain. In contrast to Oskar, he never achieves the state of coming of age, and of taking responsibility for his own decisions, deeds and his own life. He puts everything on one card and when he loses, he gives up, finding no guidance or support from anyone, and therefore no motivation to continue his struggle with life. The third protagonist, Eduard Amsel from the novel Dog Years (1963), also grows up without a father, who lost his life at war, and left him as legacy his Jewish descent and the book by Otto Weininger Sex and Character, as a sort of instruction on how not to be Jewish. According to Weininger, being Jewish is a question of psychology and of one’s own decision, not of blood, in contrast to the attitude during National Socialism, legalized by The Nuremberg Race Laws. Therefore, the Amsels choose activities which are in contrast to what is considered to be typically Jewish, and they get into an identity crisis – the regime sees them as Jews based on their blood, despite their own choice and decision not to be Jewish and to regard their identity from the aspects of psychology and culture. Growing up without a father figure, Eduard Amsel finds a substitute in Kriwe, who gives him advice on practical things and on business. He also has a protector in the form of his peer and blood brother, Walter Matern, who one day unexpectedly attacked Eduard with a group of young national socialists. Afterwards, Eduard also decides to disappear like Mahlke, but only temporarily and seemingly. He changes his name and activities a few times; he becomes a rich businessman and creates an underworld with his scarecrows, which mirror the society on the surface in a grotesque way. All his creatures show the behaviours and attitudes of historical and real figures, highlighting certain features in order to bring them into the consciousness of spectators and to “scare” them away from there. He learns to live in agreement with the society on the surface and with himself in private, underground, creating his own secret world, hiding his true identity in order to survive, to stay safe and gain riches. Like Oskar, he is also guilty as an artist, of choosing the world of art, without being aware of the political situation at first, and later compromising with the government, never using his own works as the means of enlightenment and open criticism, as his scarecrows remain hidden in safety. Both Amsel and Matern represent German society during and after World War II, neither of them willing to see himself critically or to accept responsibility. Matern projects onto others the guilt for his own actions and the consequences of his choices, and Amsel will not become an active part of society using his art in order to incur changes. Comparing all three figures, their initial common feature is that they all have family issues: they have no father figure, hold viewpoints and values in contrast to those of the society, they struggle to find their guiding commitment and their own position in the world (identity deficit). They also stand out biologically – Oskar is of small stature, Joachim has a huge Adam’s apple, and Amsel is of Jewish heritage – which makes them all outsiders in the time of the Third Reich. In order to become a part of society, they choose to act in agreement with the imposed expectations and rules and to betray their own values (identity conflict). However, only for Oskar is it a temporary choice, when he becomes a recluse in a clinic for two years, now forced to face reality again. Joachim Mahlke becomes obsessed with his goal of decoration and the dream of integration, but as he fails in his intentions, and has no other guiding commitment, he chooses to disappear, just like Eduard Amsel. However, Amsel finds a way to lead a double existence, one public, in agreement with the world, and one secret, in agreement with himself, hidden underground. Although not public, his choice is still creative, not destructive, either towards himself (Mahlke) or to the world (Oskar). In conclusion, the examples of Oskar and Eduard show that art is and remains the only successful means to overcome the discord between the agreement with oneself and with society, and to overcome the identity crisis, which is the result of loss and/or inadequate choice of guiding commitments and values. However, Grass was of the opinion that it is the duty of artists to use their creative potential and talent with a responsibility towards society, to bring enlightenment with their criticism, and therefore help the people to become aware of the reality as it is.

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