《铁皮鼓》是一部第一人称小说或自述体小说，即由主人公奥斯卡自述人生经历。小说的主要素材则是作者格拉斯本人的经历与见闻。小说采用的是框架结构。开篇是奥斯卡在疗养与护理院（精神病院）以白漆栏杆病床为隐居地，让人买来"清白"的纸，敲响铁皮鼓回忆往事，写下他的自供状。原来奥斯卡成名之后又产生厌世情绪，便心生一计，让他的朋友告发他，警方把他当作杀人嫌疑犯关进精神病院监视。末篇是谋杀案真相大白，奥斯卡将被无罪开释，迎来他的是三十岁生日。整个故事情节就在这个框架结构内展开。(In The Tin Drum, the story revolves around the life of Oskar Matzerath, as narrated by himself. The main line of the novel is the experiences and stories of Grass himself. In frame structure, the novel has its opening chapter describing Oskar made the white-paint rail bed as its retreat in the rehabilitation and nursing homes (asylum). He asked others to buy "clean" paper and rung the tin drum for recalling to write down his confession. It turned out Oscar was pessimistic when he gained fame. An idea came to him. He asked his friend to denounce him and the police put him into mental hospital for monitoring after considering him as a murder. In the end of the novel, Oscar was acquitted when the truth came out. Then it was his thirty years birthday. The whole story is described within this framework. )