The play, The Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, is based on the famous diary of Anne Frank, which was written by her when in hiding during the Holocaust. The Holocaust took place in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s when Adolph Hitler became the dictator of Germany. He wanted to create a master race, which concluded that all Jews must be terminated from the world. Anne Frank was Jewish along with the other occupants of the Annex which consisted of, Mr. And Mrs. Frank, their two daughters, Anne and Margot; Mr. And Mrs. Van Daan, their son Peter; and Albert Dussel. They lived in fear for two years.
Mr. Van Daan was a very selfish man, although he was very content for the first part of the play. When he realized that they were going to be locked up in this Secret Annex for a long time he began to become very greedy and hard to get along with. He was always bickering with his wife and never gave anyone a fair chance to get a glimpse of his good side. When Dussel came to the Annex, Mr. Van Daan was not very excited about the idea of having another occupant in the Annex. At one occasion he said to Dussel, “Did Mr. Kraler warn you that you won’t get much to eat here? You can imagine…three rations among the seven of us…and now you make eight.” Mr. Van Daan was a large man so not having food was probably the hardest on him.
Also, Mr. Van Daan was caught stealing food late at night one time. Everyone knew that he had been stealing on many occasions before he actually got caught, while all that Mr. Van Daan could say was, “I’m hungry.” Although he was a big man and maybe needed more food than the rest, this was no excuse for stealing food. This upset Mrs. Frank and Dussel the most, while Mr. Frank was trying to calm everyone down and let them think about what they are doing. Mr. Van Daan knew this was wrong, and felt very bad that he had been stealing from the group. Another example is that he wanted to smoke his cigarettes constantly. He didn’t even think of how the others had to deal with this smell and smoke. This shows that Mr. Van Daan was only looking out for himself, and not others.
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Mr. Van Daan was a very insistent man. He always told everyone what he thought, and never gave up until he got his way or a good reason why he wouldn’t. For instance, at one point during the play the phone downstairs in the office kept on ringing and ringing. Mr. Van Daan said, “Just pick it up and listen. You don’t have to speak. Just listen and see if it’s Miep.” Mr. Frank kindly told him, “No. I’ve told you, no. I’ll do nothing that might let anyone know we’re in the building.” Mr. Van Daan then began to get angry and annoyed at everything anyone could say. This shows that Mr. Van Daan was very used to getting his way.
In conclusion, Mr. Van Daan was almost more of a pain to the occupants of the Annex than help. He always told the others what he thought whether it was nice or not. Everything anyone could say would only give Mr. Van Daan the feeling that he had to reply with a negative comment. Mr. Van Daan was a very insecure person through the whole play.
