How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
I didn't even try to pull the drum down from the rack on my own. Oskar was well aware of his limited reach, and in cases where his gnome-like stature resulted in helplessness, took the liberty of soliciting favors from grownups (18.30).
Oskar is destined to always rely on other people to help him get new drums. This is one of the things that keeps him in the limited relationships he does have. People are only valuable to him in terms of how he can use them for his own purposes.
Quote #8
[…] Oskar […] put on a show of pathetic weeping, and pointed at Jan, his father, with accusatory gestures, transforming the poor man into a villain who had dragged an innocent child to the Polish Post Office in typically barbaric Polish fashion to use as a human shield. […] Oskar hoped his Judas performance would produce certain benefits vis-à-vis his intact drum and his damaged one, and he was right […] (20.2-3).
Can it get any clearer than this? The lengths Oskar will go to in order to get what he wants are terrifying—he betrays his own father to certain death just to get his drums. Sounds very much like an addict's behavior.
Quote #9
Nevertheless she assumed it was the devil's giggle, but that little word devil was not to my liking, and when she asked again, but now quite timorously, "Who are you?" Oskar replied, "I am Satan, come to call on Sister Dorothea." And she: "Oh God, but why?" (41.21)
All through this book, Oskar likes to refer to himself as both Satan and as Jesus. The simplest explanation for this is that both satisfy his sense of self-importance. He seems to enjoy terrifying Sister Dorothea.