A personal response that offers an individual’s reaction to a particular text will vary for each reader. The chapter “Why I’m Not Where You Are (4/12/78)” builds on earlier chapters with the same title but dated in 1963; those chapters are also narrated by “Thomas.”

By this point in the novel, the reader has learned that this Thomas is Oskar’s grandfather rather than his father, who is likewise named Thomas Schell. Although this chapter has a later date, it refers to events that happened before the first chapter with that title. One significant aspect of this chapter which could make a strong impression on a reader is the explanation it provides for the separation of Thomas and Anna during the war. A different facet that some will find memorable is the images of unusual events in which Thomas participated in the war. The chapter can help the reader look at Thomas differently by helping them understand why he was silent later in life.

Thomas the narrator reveals, by writing to his unborn child, how he survived the real-life event of the bombing of Dresden, Germany during World War II. Before the bombing, he received a letter telling him that Anna was pregnant. Because the entire city was destroyed, very few people survived; Thomas was one of them. In those dangerous, chaotic days, Thomas apparently lost track of Anna. Salvaging only a typewriter, he became a refugee.

The vivid descriptions of the horrors of war are accentuated with references to animals as well as people. An especially memorable image shows Thomas killing animals at the zoo, putting the burned and injured animals out of their misery.