1. no mortal man has yet suceeded
in climbing the big glass mountain.
'i know,' said the drummer boy,
'but my heart is stout and determined
and i long for adventure, yes i long for adventure.'
- 'drummer boy' / scout niblett.in climbing the big glass mountain.
'i know,' said the drummer boy,
'but my heart is stout and determined
and i long for adventure, yes i long for adventure.'
2. 'it's a boy,' said mr. matzerath, who presumed himself to be my father. 'he will take over the store when he grows up. at last we know why we've been working our fingers to the bone.'
mama thought less about the store than about outfitting her son : 'oh, well, i knew it would be a boy even if i did say once in a while it was going to be a girl.'
thus at an early age i made the acquaintance of feminine logic. the next words were : 'when little oskar is three, he will have a toy drum.'
(...) aside from this speculation about my future, i quickly realized that mama and this mr. matzerath were not equipped to understand or respect my decisions whether positive or negative. lonely and misunderstood, oskar lay beneath the light bulbs, and figuring that things would go on like this for some sixty or seventy years, until a final short circuit should cut off all sources of all light, he lost his enthusiasm even before his life beneath the light bulbs had begun. it was the only prospect of the drum that prevented me from expressing more forcefully my desire to return to the womb.
besides, the midwife had already cut my umbilical cord. there was nothing more to be done.
- the tin drum / günter grass.
mama thought less about the store than about outfitting her son : 'oh, well, i knew it would be a boy even if i did say once in a while it was going to be a girl.'
thus at an early age i made the acquaintance of feminine logic. the next words were : 'when little oskar is three, he will have a toy drum.'
(...) aside from this speculation about my future, i quickly realized that mama and this mr. matzerath were not equipped to understand or respect my decisions whether positive or negative. lonely and misunderstood, oskar lay beneath the light bulbs, and figuring that things would go on like this for some sixty or seventy years, until a final short circuit should cut off all sources of all light, he lost his enthusiasm even before his life beneath the light bulbs had begun. it was the only prospect of the drum that prevented me from expressing more forcefully my desire to return to the womb.
besides, the midwife had already cut my umbilical cord. there was nothing more to be done.
