Chapter 39, In the Clothes Cupboard Summary

Each day Oskar tries the door of Sister Dorothea's room and finds it locked. Finally, one day he finds the room left unlocked, and enters. He prowls around the small room, stealing the hairs from her brush. Inspecting her clothes, Oskar climbs into the cupboard. Her slender black patent-leather belt, for wear off-duty, reminds him of an eel and he remembers the outing with Matzerath, Jan Bronski and Mama. Reliving that fateful day, his mother's illness and death, Oskar drums a few measures on the back wall of the cupboard, to relieve the tension.

Chapter 39, In the Clothes Cupboard Analysis

Rather than finding the object of his desire in Sister Dorothea's room, Oskar finds the eel-like belt, a symbol of death and destruction. He relives the horrible encounter on the beach with the eels, and...