Justifying Hate - Page 38 close reading

In this passage, Mulisch continues to establish the dichotomy which is ubiquitous in his novel, the contrast between light and dark, between love and hate. Hate is equated with darkness, something which comes to mean Fascism. "And yet we've got to hate Fascists, and that's considered perfectly alright."(Mulisch 38). This is a comment on the double standard that exists within our society. When we hate something that society deems evil, we are fighting for the light, when we hate anything else, we become part of the darkness. We see hate as evil, unless we hate the hate itself. This creates a paradox. When we hate those that hate, we ourselves become part of the darkness. This reciprocating cycle of hate is the reason for war, why humanity, instead of uniting, turn against each other based on ideology. Thus, Mulisch makes a statement, that to be truly part of the light, one must never hold the philosophy that the end justifies the means; indeed, this is the very philosophy that destroys us. "For them everything is very simple, but for us it's more complicated. We've got to become a little bit unlike ourselves. But they don't have that problem." (Mulisch 38). This is what Mulisch believes to be the fundamental aspect of the human psyche. That every person believes that their belief is unquestionably good, that it is okay to hate the beliefs of others, because their beliefs are wrong. When defending our beliefs, we have to hate, because we hate for the right reasons. There is no reason for others to hate, because they are inherently wrong.   Through the woman in the cell, Mulisch reveals to the reader the intricacies of hate, and asks an important question about the human psychology.