Reflection 138-147

This excerpt of the book “The Assault” is again a meeting between Anton and Takes at his house. This piece is mainly driven by the motif of Truus, to which different symbols and other motifs are included. Beyond that the themes avoidance, understanding and fate cover everything up. We go back into the past, and things become clearer.

“Anton has never felt so involved with another man…”(138) this shows the relationship of Anton towards Takes that they had gotten fairly close to each other over the course of the book. Both do share one special thing in common, Truus. This makes Takes the foil character of this book. Both are in love with Truus, while Anton has the idea of Truus in his head, Takes has actually met her. In these pages we learn more about their relationship.

An important symbol that appears here is the cigarette. Whenever Truus is the main topic of conversation, Takes has “a cigarette hanging from his lips” (138).  As later in the extract this is the cause for a fire, which could mean that the cigarette symbolizes on one hand the past but on the other hand the loss of something and in this case it would be Truus, either for Anton or Takes. The fire just indicates the final ending, since the mystery of who Truus is has been solved.

“Not until it ended, and with it every single memory… a blue pillar of smoke…from the ashtray…”(146) Through out the text Anton doesn’t quite have his memory gathered, but slowly recreates the situation of that one night in the cell. The memory of a photograph brings back first connections with Truus’ conversation, followed by stories of Takes’ with Truus, Anton remembers more and more. Takes remembers most details of any situatons with Truus, while the only thing on Anton’s mind is her face. The fire at the end symbolizes, he has reached the end of all memories left of Truus and can now be whipped out.

Saskia. Anton’s wife is one step towards a greater understanding of Truus. It shows how Anton has been searching all his life to recreate Truus, the way he imagines her. The use of light emphasizes understanding “finally she has risen out of the darkness”(139), and shows the connections between Truus and Saksia. The expression in her face, even though he never saw Truus, was exactly displayed in Saksia’s.

“Her face was indelibly printed in his memory” (140), the imagination of Truus’ face of Antons standpoint is juxtaposed to the ending seen, where he actually let’s all of what’s left of Truus burn.

Another symbol, which is repeated several times through out the pages, is the gun of Truus. This represents the past. With this object everything has started. “The gun in the table were a weight that dragged Anton along with it into the depth of the past”(144), the quote expresses very well that the gun signifies the past. Later the gun gets burned as well along with the past and the memories.