Günter Grass — Quote from The Tin Drum “Believing and devouring — a peculiarly German process.” The Tin Drum (1959) Concepts: conformity, alienation, totalitarianism Resonant Quotes“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convi...” — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism Grass's 'believing and devouring' perfectly describes Arendt's ideal totalitarian subject—one who consumes ideology s...“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convi...” — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism Grass's believing and devouring as a peculiarly German process and Arendt's portrait of the ideal totalitarian subjec...“In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us: Make us you...” — Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov Both diagnose the same psychological mechanism by which people consume totalitarian ideologies that promise sustenanc...“Ideology is a specious way of relating to the world. It offers human beings t...” — Václav Havel, The Power of the Powerless Both authors expose how ideological belief systems function as forms of consumption that hollow out the very human qu...“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” — George Orwell, Animal Farm Both expose how societies consume their own contradictory ideologies—Grass's 'believing and devouring' parallels Orwe...“So long as man remains free he strives for nothing so incessantly and so pain...” — Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov Both reveal how the human drive for meaning transforms into destructive consumption—whether of ideologies or objects ...“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respect...” — George Orwell, Politics and the English Language Grass's 'devouring' belief and Orwell's deceptive language both examine how totalitarian systems operate through cons...“Nothing has ever been more insupportable for a man and a human society than f...” — Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov Both identify a destructive hunger that drives people to consume ideologies as escape from freedom's burden—Grass's '...