Elements of Storytelling
The Diary of Anne Frank Play is a play based on the book called The Diary of Anne Frank in which a Jewish girl is hiding from Nazis during the time of the holocaust. There are ten characters, eight of which are in the Secret Annex (Anne’s hiding spot) with Anne. This play has many elements of storytelling in it including point of view, setting, characters, plot, and theme.
Point of View
In The Diary of Anne Frank Play the story is told by Anne. Some portions of the play are her voice using pronouns while recording in her diary. For example, on page 229 Anne’s Voice says, “Every time I hear a creak in the house or a step on the street outside, I’m sure they’re coming for us.” This is how I know that these portions of the story where she writes in her diary is told in the first person. The rest of the play doesn’t use pronouns, so it is third person. No thoughts of characters are revealed, but actions are told by the narrator so I know that it is a third person objective point of view in the portions of the play where Anne is not writing in her diary.
Setting
In The Diary of Anne Frank Play, the story is told as a flashback. In the beginning of the play before the flashback begins, the story take place in November of 1945, mere months after the holocaust ended. This takes place in Secret Annex, which is located in Amsterdam. Mr. Frank and Miep Gies visit the annex where Otto hid a long time ago. After a brief conversation, the flashback begins. Here, the next part of the story starts. It is still in the Secret Annex in Amsterdam, however it takes place in July of 1942. The next few scenes take place at different times between 1942 and 1944. It is 1944 when the last non-flashback scene takes place and they are taken by the Green Police. The final scene takes place in 1945 once again after the flashback ends. The time is revealed to the reader by the narrative in most cases, for example on page 219 the narrator says, “It is late afternoon, November 1945.”
Characters
As previously stated, there are ten characters in The Diary of Anne Frank Play, but only eight lived in the Secret Annex. Anne Frank was a young Jewish teenage girl. She is described in the play as, “quick in her movements, interested in everything, mercurial in her emotions.” While this is all that is directly revealed, we can also infer that she is optimistic. On page 281 there is a quote by her that says, “In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.” This reveals her optimism. Margot is Anne’s sister. She is 18 and “beautiful” as described from the text. She is quiet, which reveals that she is shy. In the story she does well in her studies and is quite obedient to her parents. Otto Frank is a European in his middle ages. In the play he acts very kind, generous, and smart. He always seems to calm down arguments in the annex. Mrs. Frank has good manners and is younger that Mr. Frank. She is often nervous and has trouble getting along with Anne. Peter Van Daan is a shy, awkward 16 year old boy. Mr. Van Daan is a tall but portly man that is almost 50. He is very selfish and was even caught taking extra food for himself once. Mrs. Van Daan is described by the narrator as “a pretty woman in her early forties.” She often only cares about herself her husband Mr. Van Daan. She is also nervous sometimes. Mr. Dussel came into the Secret Annex later than the others. He is in his late fifties and pays close attention to detail, like when he ordered that Mrs. Frank cut the cake because she divided better. He gets annoyed easily by Anne.
Plot
Another element of storytelling in The Diary of Anne Frank Play is plot. The exposition is given in scene two when the flashback begins. We know that Anne is going into hiding with her family and another family in the Secret Annex to hide from Nazis. We also know that Anne has a diary that she writes her thoughts in. Tension begins to rise as the residents of the Annex begin to argue with each other. They get less and less food as time goes on. At a few points, things happen that cause them to question their safety in the “Secret” Annex. At one point Peter makes a loud crash when he knocks a lamp on the floor after they hear a robber below them. Later, Peter and Anne begin to fall in love and Anne talks to Margot about it. The residents also catch Mr. Van Daan stealing food for himself. So the point when tension is highest occurs. The climax happens in The Diary of Anne Frank Play when the residents hear many calls on the phone in a row and wonder what is going on. They all listen and tension is very high. Dussel demands that Mr. Frank answer it, but he doesn’t. I know that this is the climax because even the narrator says that tension is high. The narrator says, “There is a sense of great tension” and, “They are all rigid listening tensely.” Falling actions include Anne talking to Peter one last time (recorded in the play), Anne’s final entry, and Nazis coming to arrest the family. The second part of the flashback is the resolution. Mr. Frank finds Anne’s diary after returning to the Annex for a last time. Only him and Miep survived the Holocaust.
Theme
There are multiple themes of The Diary of Anne Frank Play. One of them is optimism. Anne Frank’s situation was hard and she often used her diary as an escape, and despite her situation she wrote many positive things in it. This includes, “In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.” If she had thought negatively, then she would have had more trouble getting through her time in the Secret Annex. Optimism is important, and without it we would all be pessimistic.
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