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

was shot, and that it was by chance that the body of Ploeg was moved to their house. This is an instant of chance because it was people that made that decision to move the body to the Steenwijk’s and it is people who roll dice. In the symbolism of the dice, the theory that fate is non-existent is explained. This theory states that there is no fate, and that everything that happens in the world is a chain of random events set off by humans, not an unseeable greater force. This fact haunts Anton, and we see that, while he is experiencing a panic attack. One of the things that stands out in his mind as his minds spins are the dice. “Gasping, he entered the house and stepped on red tiles… The black eyes of the dice! He knew that he should control himself and breathe regularly, so it wouldn’t get the better of him” (156).
Some symbols, such as the dice, appear at several points in the book, giving them a cyclical nature. The dice appear both in the beginning of the story, during the assault, and as Anton is experiencing a panic attack. During this panic attack, Anton sees the mirror as well at the dice: “…Above the fireplace hung his old mirror…” (156). The mirror has appeared in other parts of the book where there is significant action or conflict. The first time the mirror appears is on the night of the assault. “Anton heard the mirror shatter, the one with the two carved elephants over the little side table with the twisted legs” (24). The next time the mirror appears is the next ‘climactic’ point in the book: when Anton is interacting with Fake Ploeg. In the middle of their conversation, where the tension is highest, Anton suddenly focuses on a mirror. “Now, Anton realized, every word mattered. Above the mantlepiece hung a tall mirror with a intricately carved frame, bought fora song at the flea market to make his room look bigger. In the weathered glass he saw that Fake had closed his eyes” (90). Later on in their conversation, Fake becomes violent after the tension, and the mirror, as well as the allusion of a safe reality, is destroyed. “Fake took aim and threw it straight at the mirror. Anton ducked. With averted face he saw the glass break into large piece that landed in splinters…” (93). In the three pages between these two quotes, there are two instances of the mirror. The mirror could symbolize several things, and one of those is the concept of reality. With the stone that Fake threw, the mirror shattered, as well as Anton’s perception of Fake. Anton may have first perceived this reunion as fate, but it was completely by chance that Fake was involved in the riot. And it was pure coincidence that he ran into Anton. It was not fate that brought them together again, but their own actions. These circular structures cannot be ignored, because Anton is dogged by them for the rest of his life, and it is these reappearing objects of the mirrors and dice that torment him so.
Anton seems to attempt to blame things on fate in the beginning of the novel, but by the time he interacts with Karin, there is no way for him to blame fate any longer.

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

longer.
Anton is continually given snippets of information about the assault and why Ploeg was shot, and he never seems to be searching out the information when he receives it. From Fake, to Takes, to Karin, it seems like fate is bringing them together, but the information that Anton receives from these people make the events of the assault seem less and less like the work of a higher power, and more like the work of human beings attempting to serve the greater good. The symbol of the dice helped him to understand chance, and the cycle of the mirror continually shattered his perception of people like Fake. The lizards forced Anton to come to terms with who was truly responsible for the death of his parents, and how the reptiles meant everything to one man who eventually killed them, making the actions that caused the death of his family to be completely meaningless, not some high power’s grand scheme. When humans do not understand something completely, it is very easy for them to blame things on fate, but when all the facts of the matter are discovered and the puzzle is solved, there is no room for fate in the actions of humans.