Light is a Matter of Opinion

The passage at the end of page 38 in The Assault by Harry Mulisch holds many ideas that are as true today as they were back during World War II. The passage, "In the poem I wanted...a little bit unlike ourselves."(38 Mulisch) compares love to hate, as well as light to darkness. Darkness and hate go together, juxtaposed against light and love, which also go together. The scene occurs while Anton is talking to a lady in the prison after he is taken away from his family by the Nazis. It is implied that this lady is disliked by the Nazis as she talks about the differences between light and dark and what they mean to different people. She talks about the differences between hating the lightness and hating the darkness. There is a clear distinction in her mind between these two different forms of hate.
When the woman says that, "And yet we've got to hate Fascists, and that's considered perfectly alright."(38) she is stating that it is acceptable to hate the fascists because the fascists hate them. Because she is on the side of light, it is darkness to hate her or anybody on her side. Shortened, to hate darkness is light, while to hate light is darkness. These ideas are all just a matter of the person's opinion. Hate is also described when the woman says, "It's because we hate them in the name of light, I guess, whereas they hate only in the name of darkness."(38) She is describing the specifications of hate. All people consider themselves on the side of light, so to them it is simply unjustifiable to hate the side of light. She wants to progress their side, while the Fascists are trying to repress their side, making the Fascists the villain in this scenario. The clear distinction between the light and the dark ignites the conflict throughout the novel.