Theme Of Fate In The Assault By Harry Mulisch

There are many beliefs on the concept of fate. Some philosophers believe everything is destined to happen, and others express the contradictory: that everything happens by random, and people cause everything that happens. In The Assault, Harry Mulisch uses symbolism, and the circular structure of symbols to show how Anton Steenwijk is confronted with the idea that there is no fate, and that his life was changed because of the actions of human beings. Mulisch uses the symbolism of dice to represent chance. On the night of the assault, Anton has dice in this pocket: “He noticed that he was still holding one of the dice in his hand and put it in his pocket” (Mulisch, 19). The dice symbolize the chance that it was Anton’s neighborhood where Ploeg

The symbol of the lizards now comes into play. “‘When we heard those shots and he saw Ploeg in front of the house, what he said was, ‘My God, the lizards!’’ With wide eyes disbelief Anton looked out over her head. The lizards…Was it possible? Could everything be blamed on the lizards? Were they the culprits in the end? ‘Do you mean,’ he said, ‘that without those lizards, none of this would have happened?’” (181). In this quote, we see the moment that Anton realizes exactly who is to blame, and the culprit is not fate, but the lizards that Mr. Korteweg had cherished more than the lives of his neighbors as Karin explains: “I believe it had something to do with Mothers’s death, but don't ask me what. You should have seen how much trouble he took to keep them alive through that winter of hunger. It was almost the only thing he still cared about” (181). The lizards, to Korteweg were a symbol of his deceased wife, and more importantly, his sanity. As long as they were alive, so would the memory of his wife be. To Anton, they symbolized the complete destruction of fate. With the knowledge of the lizards, he knew what had happened to his family and why, and he had no human to blame any