The Assault – Memory

Memory is defined as â€Å"The faculty of the mind by which it retains the knowledge of previous thoughts, impressions, or events. † Memories are units of information that have impacted one’s life and are stored in the brain for years. In some cases, dramatic events may not let the brain register every single detail about a situation. This is much like Anton’s case of the winter of 1945 of the novel The Assault by Harry Mulisch. The events of that winter affected him like no other would. The loss of his mother, father and brother and the burning of his house left an impact on him but the events were so grave his brain did not allow him to remember the smaller details. As he meets important people from his past, he begins to remember the smaller things he has experienced. Throughout the whole novel memories begin to slowly flow back to Anton. Every person he meets allows his memories to develop. First, he sees his former neighbours, the Beumers’, who not only jog his memory but allow him to learn new things about that night. Although the memories should have been vivid in his mind, Anton had forgotten some of the events of that night. Simply seeing the Beumers’, and being in their presence helped jog his memories. They had him over for supper while he was in the neighbourhood for a friends’ birthday. It had been evident that Mrs. Beumer’s memories were certainly more vivid than Anton’s. Next had been his meeting with Fake Ploeg junior, the son of the Nazi who had been killed that terrible night. Ploeg had not been over his father’s death, He and Anton both had arguments defending their fathers, and why that night may have happened. This allowed Anton to open his mind to new ideas, and question his theories as if they had not been thought out correctly. Another happens later when Anton meets Takes, a friend of his father-in-law’s. In the first episode Anton is thrown in a cell with an older woman whom he cannot identify. He has an emotional conversation with her about what had happened the night of Ploeg’s death and became extremely friendly with the woman. She becomes some sort of a mother figure to Anton. Although Anton felt as if he could remember every word, every feeling and every scent that night in the cell, he drew a blank. Takes explains that the woman in the cell with him was one of Ploeg’s killers. This was one of those important moments in your life that is so grave you can’t allow yourself to remember. It may have been due to the fact that Anton didn’t remember, or didn’t want to remember the details that remind him of the death of his family members. After he meets Takes he meets Karen Kortweg one of the more important characters in the plot. The Kortweg’s were the ones who took Fake Ploeg’s body and dragged it in front of Anton’s family’s house, the Steenwijk residence. When meeting Karen, she finally explains the reasoning behind why she left the body in front of the Steenwijk’s house and not any of the other two neighbour’s houses. Once she goes into detail about the families and her and her father’s reasoning’s Anton begins to understand and remember the neighbourhood he grew up in and the events of that night. It is amazing how memories can be jogged by a single person, object, sound or scent. The people Anton has met and the places he revisits allow him to remember the events of his torturous past, which permit him to determine his future. Without memories people would not be able to be happy and reminisce on all the great moments in their lives. They wouldn’t be able to learn from their mistakes to better their future. With all these memory lapses Anton was having, he was stuck. There was nothing to learn from, no pain harboured inside of him, and all the happy moments he shared with his family were gone. Once he began to remember certain events his mind had been open to new and old feelings. Ones he hadn’t felt since he was twelve years old living peacefully in Holland with his family. He also began to create a direction for himself. The only question he was left with was who was guilty and who had been innocent? In the end memories are extremely important. They help form a person and guide them through life. As well as learn from their mistakes and prepare them for the future. Memories are like a dream you can’t remember. Once it’s over, you forget completely. But that one feeling, smell or sound lets it all come back to you and you are finally able to allow yourself to experience the state of euphoria we call remembering.