inheriting his uncle’s newly acquired wealth, he drops out of the University to move into his uncle’s old apartment and become a composer, which he later realizes and admits that he has no talent in that area. Following in his uncle’s footsteps also gave him the disappointment of his family. The odd thing is that neither Uncle Otto nor the narrator is upset or bothered by the fact that their family is disappointed in them, in fact, they are proud of what they are. In “Candles for the Madonna”, the narrator is also proud of who and what he has become. He has been honest, fair, hard working, generous, kind, and helpful in his business dealings as well as in his community. His disappointment lies not in a person, but in the failure of his business. For many years, he and his wife had worked hard in their total monetary investment of candle making. However, when their hard work was supposed to pay off, the previous rationing of electricity was abolished and large amounts of candles were no longer in great demand. He tried to find other markets to sell his candles in, but he again is disappointed with another failure. Another of Boll’s works that deals with disappointment is “Children are Civilians too.” In this story, a soldier in a military hospital wants to go outside to purchase cakes from a little girl who lives in the town. Despite the guard’s warning that soldiers are not allowed to go outside and civilians are not allowed to come in, the man leaves the building and obtains the sweets from the little girl. After the girl leaves, he finally notices the stench of the urinals, the decay of the town, and is disappointed with the conditions that surround him. The theme of disappointment is not limited to Boll’s stories. Disappointment is a common issue in much of German literature. In The Tin Drum, disappointment runs through nearly all of the characters in some fo...
