Sometimes people have a hard time living with their loved ones. They get in arguments over one person being troublesome. Mr. Van Daan from the play, “The Diary of Anne Frank” by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, was a troublesome individual living in a secret annex during World War II and he and the Franks were hiding from the nazis. Mr. Van Daan was the most difficult person to live with in the annex. First of all, when Mr. Van Daan was arguing about starving all the time due to the lack of food in the annex, he ended up blaming his starvation on Peter, his son’s cat Mouschi, and even ended up saying that he is going to throw him out that night. A quote that supports this is, “I’m sick of seeing that cat eat all our food…” and Peter responds, “That’s not true… I only give him scraps… bones” and Mr. Van Daan responds to that with, “He is getting fatter every day! Damn cat looks better than any of us. He goes out tonight!” (737) This quote obviously portrays Mr. Van Daan in a bad light, and it shows that he doesn’t care about his own son and his loved ones. He is making trouble by increasing the tension and arguing in the annex. …show more content…
Van Daan is the person who causes the most trouble in the annex is that he was stealing food in the middle of the night while his family was convinced that rats were stealing the food. Mr. Van Daan is causing trouble because he is taking more than his given ration. A quote that supports this is, “Mr. Van Daan, in bare feet, dressed in underwear and trousers is dimly seen coming stealthy down the stairs into the main room…” “Then he cautiously opens the safe, taking out a half-loaf of bread.” (762) This demonstrates that Mr. Van Daan is very cautious when it comes to committing his crimes. He stole a half loaf of bread, which is clearly a lot of food, probably way past his ration amount. He left children starving. This means Mr. Van Daan causes the most trouble in the
While living in the secret annex, the Franks and the van Daans faced many strict rules to ensure their safety. The annex residents imposed the rules of no talking during the day, no walking during the daytime, and no outdoor activities or exit outside of their hiding area. The rule of no talking and no walking around during the daytime was put in place so the members of the annex would not be discovered. During the day, the office building had workers inside until 5:30 which made life in the annex quite difficult. If the workers were to hear the movement or voices of the members upstairs, they could call the police which would result in the capture of the Franks and van Daans. The hardest rule to adhere to would be the rule of no speaking during
Despite several notable contrasts between Anne Frank’s life presented in the play, “The Diary of Anne Frank,” and other accounts of Jewish people in hiding during World War II, the lives of these Jews had more similarities than differences. These people were similar in the way that they lived the same schedule every day. Anne and the other Jews relied on their helpers, who risked their lives willingly, to provide food and other human necessities for them, as well as tried to include aspects of their old lives before the Holocaust into their new lives in hiding. The Jews lived with fear of getting caught by Nazis in the back of their minds. Even though Jewish people may have had different
But in the play by Melissa Muller shows that he cared about others in the Secret Annex and his family, which shows the readers that he is completely different then who Goodrich and Hackett made him because they wanted to make more tension. Although Goodrich and Hackett changed Mr. Van Daan’s role to a selfish man to add tension to the Secret Annex, this gives humanity a different view of him in a negative way for years on. From the biography by Melissa Müller, Mr. Frank’s role was to help the others, but Goodrich and Hackett made him a leader instead. When the SS officers went through the Secret Annex, Mr. Frank talked about him being in World War I. Mr. Frank says, “I was a reserve officer in the First World War” (Müller 9). This quote means that Mr. Frank was in the First World War and tries to help the others by talking to the other SS officer [Silberbauer]. Also, he is trying to help the others by reasoning with the officers that he was helping in the war, but this war made them go into the Great Depression. Müller says that he was helping the others through the arrest to prevent it, or save more time before they were taken away to the concentration camp. Another thing is that he was shown better at
It's a warm summer night in Aruba. 18 year old Natalee Holloway was out with friends, celebrating their recent high school graduation. At about 1 am Holloway's friends see her leave in a grey Honda, with 17 year old Joran Van Der Sloot, and his friends. No one thought this would be the last time they saw Natalee Holloway. It's clear that Joran Van Der Sloot is to blame for the murder of the blonde haired, blue eyed Natalee Holloway. There are two pieces of evidence that supports the accusation made against Van Der Sloot. The first piece of evidence is the witnesses testimony. The second piece of evidence is Van Der Sloot's different "confessions" and the changes in them.
On an early morning in July of 1942, the Van Daans and Franks meet up for the first time at the annex. All of them are covered in layers of clothing to carry as much to their new home as possible. They are all introduced to each other. Living in the secret annex is Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan, Peter Van Daan, Mr. and Mrs. Frank, Margot, and Anne Frank. Mr. Van Daan is a selfish, greedy man. Mrs. Van Daan likes the finer things, thinks pretty highly of herself and adores her husband. Peter is shy, quiet, and just truly doesn’t say much. Mr. Frank is a kind, caring, leading man. Mrs. Frank is motherly, caring, and sweet. Margo does as others say and tries to keep a low-key profile. Anne is wild and unique. She doesn’t let others push her around, and she is very independent. Everyone in the annex is very different.
Wisps of burnt-out curtains drape over shattered window frames, fluttering helplessly like a bird with injured wings. Pieces of wood collapse snapping once they hit the ground. Smoke swirls around in the wind. No sound can be heard except for the occasional sobs escaping the chapped lips of people visiting what is left of their homes. The once busy city of Amsterdam is now nothing but a city of forgotten souls. In 1942, the Franks and the Van Daans moved into a warehouse located in Amsterdam to escape the perilous world outside, where the Holocaust was taking place. Jews like the Franks and the Van Daans had their rights taken away from them. The Gestapo, the police working for the Nazis, rounded up people to be sent to concentration camps, where people worked to death. Margot Frank was one of them. Many Jews had to leave the country to escape, while the two families, and later on a man named Dussel, lived on the top floor of the warehouse called the Secret Annex. Living in such a small space and having sparse food with so many people was not easy. On weekdays, not a noise was to be made otherwise the workmen below would hear them. Food and other items had to be brought in by Miep and Mr. Kraler, who risked their lives to help the members of the Secret Annex. To keep herself company, Anne Frank wrote in her diary almost every day. Later on, her diary was published, and two authors decided that they would write a play based on the published diary, named The Diary of Anne Frank. Goodrich and Hackett created memorable characters in their play. Among these people, Otto Frank stood out, who emerged as a good leader because he put himself before others, made rough decisions when problems rose, and stayed positive and optimistic even dur...
The boy constantly begs his father to be sympathetic and charitable to the drifters that they encounter on the road, but the father usually refuses or either puts up an argument before finally giving into the boy, and handing over one or two cans of food to the stranger. Although “the man” is in survival mode, he expresses no compassion for humanity and therefore represents “the bad guys”. “They came upon him shuffling along the road before them, dragging one leg slightly and stopping from time to time to stand stooped and uncertain before setting out again.”(McCarthy 49). “They followed him a good ways but at his pace they were losing the day and finally he just sat down in the road and did not get up again.”(McCarthy 49). “He was burntlooking as the country, his clothing scorched and black.” “One of his eyes was burnt shut and his hair was but a nitty wig of ash upon his blackened skull.”(McCarthy 49, 50). “What is wrong with the man?” “He’s been struck by lightning.” “Can’t we help him?” “Papa?” “No.” “We cant help him.” “The boy kept pulling at his coat.” “Papa?” “Stop it.” “Cant we help him Papa?” “No.” “We can’t help him.” “There’s nothing to be done for him.” “They went on. “The boy was crying” “He kept looking back.” (McCarthy 50). I was agitated with “the man” during this part of the novel, because I feel that he should have at least stopped and checked on the fee...
In the book of Anne Frank there are the Van Daan’s and the Franks. Then there's the people that help them which are Mr. Kraler and Miep. the Van Daan’s and Frank’s are in hiding because they were taking jews to concentration camps and had to go into hiding. They were hiding in a place called The Secret Annex in Amsterdam. In my Essay today I will be talking about who showed courage, compassion, and sacrifice.
At first, Anton could not comprehend why they had to murder Pleog where they did, if they had chosen another location his family would have been spared. Takes had said, “We had chosen that spot because it was the most secluded and the easiest to get away from. And we had to get away, for we had a few more scum like that on our list.” (Mulisch, pg.113). The resistance was not known for violence, so the fact that they had decided to kill Ploeg and others must have meant that these people were truly dangerous and better off dead. According to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) the Dutch resistance “operations consisted primarily of organizational and networking functions, as well as gathering intelligence on the occupation forces.” (Bentley, Stewart). Not only did the resistance gather intel on the enemy but they conducted “the hiding and sheltering of Netherlands Jews and young draft-age Dutch men and women by other Dutch...” (Bentley, Stewart). This proves that although out of the ordinary, violence from the resistance was sometimes necessary at such a dark time. If Anton were older when this event unfolded perhaps he would have better understood the logic behind the murder, he would have better understood the resistance and their motive. Children are often shielded from certain aspects of the conflict happening around them, but now since Anton is grown he has a
Yelling, anger, and selfishness. This is what you usually get from Mr. Van Daan. In the Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, Mr. Van Daan is a very ill-tempered man, always yelling at the kids. He is also pretty self centered which leads him to be very hypocritical too. These three traits show strongly throughout the play when times her a little rough and there are a lot of quotes backing these claims up too.
“Then suddenly Peter grabs her awkwardly in his arms, kissing her on the cheek.” Anne Frank and Peter Van Daan mature as the play The Diary of Anne Frank documents their lives from when they go into hiding to their deaths. Anne (ages 13-15) and Peter (ages 15-18) both experience many changes, physically. mentally, and spiritually, as they grow closer to each other. On this topic Anne says, “There is one great change, however. A change in myself.” (Act II, Scene I, Page 600)
There are many examples where there have been disagreements in this play. To start off, the home lives have shown the siblings’ rivalry. The conflicts between adults, marriage problems, and “favoritism” between parents and children have proved that there have been problems at home for an immense part of history. This play also shows greediness for many adults today. There are many assumptions that the only problems of this depressing time period is where people only worried about Nazis. Falsely understood, there was much more to worry about; such as money, food, safe places, families, and health. The Diary of Anne Frank has shown many home lives relatively
Like the others, Mrs. van Daan is sent to a concentration camp and does not survive. Anne's biting commentary comes out in full force when discussing Alfred Dussel—whose actual historical name is Fritz Pfeffer. And while we can usually take a step back and view Anne's annoyance as a byproduct of her horrifying living conditions (and the amount of fear prevalent in the Annex), we have to admit: Dussel sounds like a nightmare roomie.
Act two, scene four fits into the overall structure of the play because this scene is the conflict or climax, the problem of the play. The play’s major theme is during tough times, have hope. This scene adds to the major theme of the play because when Franks, Van Daans, and Dussel were caught by the natzis, the families kept their hope. The play, “The diary of Anne Frank” is based off of the diary of Anne Frank, a teenager who spent more than two years hiding from Natzis during the Holocaust. When Anne’s family was found by Natzis, they were sent to concentration camps, where she died. During this part of the scene, Peter talks to Anne about how he cannot stand being cooped up anymore and Anne tries her best to comfort Peter. For example, In the play the Anne
Have you felt so dark and dismal that you think you are never going to get through the day? In the non-fiction book Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl written by Anne Frank she tells us about her time in a secret annex and her life before and after going into hiding. She also explains that without the companionship of her friends and family she wouldn’t of been able to get up every day. Anne show us that in times of crisis, one needs love, friendship, and to be tolerant to guide them through struggles.