Yin and Yang the Struggle Inside Us All

“It was dark and light at the same time” (41)  In this passage Mulisch perhaps brings up the most important idea in the entire novel. Mulisch reveals this idea that inside us all there is a constant struggle between light and darkness, between good and evil. Mulisch implies that this struggle is occurring inside everyone and thus that must mean that no one is truly evil or good, but that we are all in fact a mixture of both, even those considered the worst of all. This helps to explain the structure of the novel as a whole; Mulisch begins the book with Antons house being destroyed and his parents being killed by the German soldiers in that section Mulisch employs the use of a fearful and angry tone, however later on in the story Mulisch employs a peaceful and sleepy tone when speaking of the German soldiers, “In spite of the cold he had to make an effort not to drop off to sleep again.” (41) When Mulisch employs the use of these two opposing tones he creates a blurred world of ethical grays where there is no absolute darkness and no absolute light, Mulisch does this by first demonizing the German soldiers and then quickly humanizing them by creating situations where there is both strong tension and peace with the German Soldiers. By humanizing the very characters that the reader originally perceives as the villain Mulisch elaborates on the idea that inside of us all there is an inner struggle between good and evil this so called Yin-Yang where the darkness and light are at constant odds to control the body causing the Yin and Yang to mix creating this blurred area of grays where one is neither wrong or right, evil or good, dark or light, one is simply there; without identity, just a witness.