The Assault

The Prologue introduces us to Anton Steenwijk, a twelve-year-old boy who lives with his mother, father, and older brother on the outskirts of Haarlem in North Holland. He lives on a quay, which is a solid platform built alongside a body of water, like a wharf. His home is nestled among three other similarly-designed houses with quaint signs that announce more innocent times: “Hideaway,” “Carefree,” “Home at Last,” and “Bide-a-Wee.” Anton’s house is the one named “Carefree” (3).

Mr. Korteweg is the neighbor across the street from the Steenwijks, in Home at Last. “Formerly a second mate in the merchant marine” (3), Mr. Korteweg is now out of a job due to the war. Following the death of his wife, his daughter Karin moved in with him. Anton drops in on them sometimes, and while Karin treats him warmly, Mr. Korteweg pays no attention to him.

The Beumers—an ill retired lawyer and his wife—live in the house named “Hideaway.” The narrator intimates that Anton used to visit the Beumers “for a cup of tea and cake, in the days when there were still such things as tea and cake—that is to say, long before the beginning of this story, which is the story of an incident” (3). However, most of the neighbors within the small embankment of houses do not socialize with each other regularly.

The four houses were originally meant to be the first in a larger development, but the building progress has apparently been stunted. The houses are surrounded by unkempt “fallow fields” (4) and a few trees. The narrator also conveys that the city lights used to be visible from Anton’s home prior to the war.

Anton often observes a man, whose appearance evokes a past century, using a long pole to maneuver a boat. The narrator reveals that Anton will only realize the primitiveness of the man’s sailing style when he later recounts this experience to his children.

Anton also watches sailing barges, heavily laden ships, and motor boats on the water. Anton often observes how the motorboats create a “complex” (6)“braiding of ripples” (5) that intermingle in the water until they dissipate. Each time he observes this phenomenon, he tries to puzzle out exactly how it happens, but each time the “pattern [becomes] so complex that he [can] no longer follow it” (6).