Mr. Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank Essay Example

Imagine it is the early 1940s, it is World War II, and you are an adult, hiding in a secret annex, hiding from the evils of the Nazi regime. Accompanied by your family and a few other people, you follow a demanding schedule to remain unseen; unluckily, the police discover the annex, and everyone including yourself is sent to concentration camps, where you are the only survivor and the rest of whom you hid with die. These events are what was experienced by Mr. Frank, in the drama, “The Diary of Anne Frank” by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. Despite his hope that everything would be okay, Mr. Frank eventually found out about of the murder of his wife and daughters. Mr. Frank was emotionally stunned, as he lost his family forever. His depression is quite noticeable, and he would always be unpleasant about what had happened to him and his family. However, he had not been like that before the tragedy, Mr. Frank was instead optimistic and wise. A viewer would understand the outcome of World War II altered Mr. Frank’s personality in a grim fashion.

To start, before the war, and while in hiding, Mr. Frank was as stated, bright, intelligent, trusted, and loved by his family and the other hiders of the annex. Mr. Frank arranged an efficient and safe schedule for living in the secret annex. Mr. Frank explains to his family, “So, to be perfectly safe, from eight in the morning until six in the evening we must move only when it is necessary… We must not speak over a whisper. We must not run any water… The pipes go down through the workrooms. It would be heard” (Goodrich & Hackett 108). Mr. Frank’s plan was successful, helping the Franks stay hidden for 2 years, thanks to Mr. Frank. During their time in hiding, Mr. Frank often raised everyone’s spirits; most of the time, there was conflict among the hiders in the annex. An instance of this tension is when another hider, Mr. Van Daan was caught stealing food from the annex, which caused him remorse. Mr. Van Daan sobs to the hiders, “Please, I’m so ashamed” (Goodrich & Hackett 180). Mr. Frank brightens Mr. Van Daan’s attitude by giving him a glass of cognac and voices to him, “Here! Here! Schnapps! L’chaim!” (181). Mr. Van Daan gains a sense of joy, smiling at the rest of the group. Even when hiding in fear and cautiousness, Mr. Frank showed himself to be a leader for his hiders and family, by enlivening them, and giving them well ordered advice.

As a result of eventually being caught by the police, being sent to concentration camps, and losing all of his family members, Mr. Frank’s nature followed a drastic turn following the end of WWII. Following the event of Mr. Frank discovering the fate of his loved ones after the war, he returns to the annex one final time, where he feels embittered towards himself. Mr. Frank admits, “I’m not the person you used to know, Miep. I’m a bitter old man” (Goodrich & Hackett 103). Had he not lost the people he loved most, he would have been apt and optimistic as he formerly was to move on from the disasters of the war. While still in his last moments in the annex, Mr. Frank opens the diary of his lost daughter Anne Frank. Observing the words, he considers a certain sentence, “In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart” (Goodrich & Hackett 187). Mr. Frank responds in awe of what Anne believes, “She puts me to shame” (187). Anne and her father were very considerate people, however now, Mr. Frank disagrees with her daughter, he ponders why, after such an exhausting, terrible experience, Anne still believes people are good. Mr. Frank reveals the war has changed his personality, even though he survives, he’d encounter significant difficulty in moving on from his family.

Briefly, Mr. Frank had switched from being cheerful and knowledgeable to bitter and depressed due to the events that followed the end of WWII, most notably, the loss of his family. Throughout ”The Diary of Anne Frank” play, Mr. Frank conveyed himself to be a leader to the hiders in the secret annex. Under the unfortunate outcome of being caught by police and losing everyone he appreciated, Mr. Frank’s good persona rotted away. As what was proved, it is understandable that Mr. Frank as a whole had suffered a heavy hit because of the outcome of WWII.