How Does Mulisch Use Estrangement And Isolation In The Assault

Alexander Orndorff
Estrangement and Isolation in The Assault
In The Assault, Harry Mulisch explores the impact of a single, traumatic event upon the life of the main character, Anton Steenwijk, as well as on the lives of those around him. Mulisch uses the characters’ malformed relationships in order to communicate the alienation that they experience, as a result of the murder of Anton’s family. This social withdrawal that Anton feels leads directly to the events throughout the novel. Mulisch uses estrangement and isolation to illustrate the negative long-term and subconscious effects of trauma.
Mulisch uses Anton’s relationship with his peers in Amsterdam to characterize Anton’s isolation. The first part of the novel revolves around the second

Anton refuses to relate to those around him because he feels detached from society. Even as Anton returns to normal life, and school, he still is unable to form real bonds with his peers. In medical school, a fellow student invites Anton to a party that is in Haarlem, the city where he lost his family. Anton initially refuses to go, highlighting his reluctance to re-experience any part of the events that haunt him. However, he does eventually decide to go, and does so. While at the party he is primarily observant of those around, rather than truly conversing with people. Those people are not aware of Anton’s experiences and unwittingly upset Anton, prompting Anton to decide that attending the party “was all wrong” and that he “should never have returned to Haarlem” (61). Anton does not truly have friends, because he is not willing to share his experiences with others. Furthermore, he does not want to return to Haarlem because he is afraid that it will bring up old memories that might be painful. In addition, Anton “hardly bothered to follow” politics, causing him further separation from those around him, such as when “an English colleague questioned him about the Dutch system

Anton was with Truus during the night that he lost his family, and this has permanently affected how Anton has romantic relationships. Saskia, his first wife, matches the mental picture that Anton had of Truus, to the point that they had the same “expression in the eyes” (138). In fact, the main reason that he married Saskia at all was because “he had… imagined what the woman whose name seemed to be Truus looked like. From the very beginning he had imagined her looking like this and not otherwise—like Saskia” (130). Evidently, the extreme trauma that Anton experienced, as well as the connection that it had to Truus, has resulted in Anton entirely basing his marriage on a single encounter with a person when he was a child. Indeed, Anton even admits that “He wouldn’t be married to Saskia now if he hadn’t met that girl under the police headquarters [Truus]”(130). Furthermore, this connection that Saskia had to Truus is ultimately what caused Anton to divorce her. The relationship between Anton and Saskia is described as “particularly close”, but “it was just because of this intimacy that their marriage had not survived” (154). The reminder of Truus was simultaneously the reason for the relationship, as well as a constant reminder of Anton’s traumatic past, which is why the marriage eventually failed. Anton’s marriage of, and subsequent divorce from, Saskia