Helping with The Assault essay

Time: What does Harry Mulisch use in the book, both in structure and words, to describe time for us

In the assault, time is something that is easily referred back to, especially at the start of each episode, where once the episode number is displayed, the year this episode takes place is right below; for example, in the first episode, the year of the assault is 1945. Time also helps with memories, as seen within the book; Anton is able to either forget memories more easily with time, or sometimes actually remember better. In episode 5, time is talked about philosophically, talking about how time is portrayed as a moving line, but for time to be on a moving line, that moving line must have its own time, and that own time must have its own moving line, and the list could go on infinitely, making us as the reader realize how looking at the past, present, and/or future all really depends on perspective, and what you’re willing to actually look at and focus on.

Truus Coster: The woman from the cell

Truus’ name reminds me of the English word “Truce,” which in my mind ties two “enemy” forces together for either a permanent or temporary time, for any reason. Her symbolism with her blood at the start of the book, which continues on throughout the rest of the book serves as a poignant reminder of the violence and trauma that pervade the narrative, embodying the consequences of war and the unexpected connections formed between characters. It is also interesting that Anton realizes that he marries someone who reminds him of Truus, which serves as an illustration of how meaningful the connection between these two characters really was, even if Anton only knew her for a few hours of the night. And she brings in an important piece of symbolism within the book between the light and darkness within the world in contrast to the war, or just life in general.

Symbol: A symbol I’ve found in the course of the novel that I find to be important to the novel

The symbol that I previously talked about on numerous occasions that I deem important is the contrast between light and darkness, which easily represents good vs. evil. We are first introduced to these symbols and comparisons with Truus in the cell, when she states things relating to good vs. evil, light vs. darkness, and how everyone has hate, but the type of hate really describes the person. “Evil hates in the name of evil, while good hates the evil in the name of good.” After the chapter with Truus, these symbols continue to pop up in almost every single chapter of the book (when I say chapter, I mean CHAPTER, not just each episode), even in moments where the story seems to be drifting away from the actual main story, or main idea of the episode.