Mr. Van Daan In Francis Goodrich's The Diary Of Anne Frank

When someone thinks of the Holocaust, they think of destitute people, hunger, and a plethora of bone-thin children. Mr. Van Daan is a monster to take even more food away from these children. The Diary of Anne Frank is written by Francis Goodrich and Albert Hackett, and is about the time that Anne and the others spent in the annex. It shows the difficulties and problems created when many people live in a small place with small amounts of food. One of the inhabitants of the annex is Mr. Van Daan, who has a son named Peter, and a wife too. Mr. Van Daan should be grateful to the Franks for taking him in, but he is not; instead he repeatedly puts himself before everyone else. Mr. Van Daan puts himself in front of others because he is a hypocrite.

Everyone gets the same amount of food in the annex, and even though it is scarce, it appeases their stomachs. Except for Mr. Van Daan and his insatiable appetite. In the stage directions, Mr. Van Daan pilfers food: “Then [Mr. Van Daan] cautiously opens the safe, taking out a half-loaf of bread”(424). Mr. Van Daan's thievery of the food shows how insensitive of a person he is. Everyone else is just as hungry, but they have the morality to not steal and cozen their friends. Even though hunger is a strong impetus to steal, the others control themselves. Only a fiend would steal food from starving people and children. Therefore, since Mr. Van Daan is willing to purloin the others' food, he is a terrible person, who also happens to be

Van Daan. He is a very selfish and greedy man. Mr. Van Daan is willing to do anything to get what he wants. He doesn't care about anyone's else's chattels or feelings, even his own wife’s. Mr. Van Daan demonstrates this when he asked Miep to sell his wife’s ornate fur coat. He asks Miep, “ So will you please sell [the coat] for us? It will fetch a good price. And by the way, could get me cigarettes?” (414). Mr. Van Daan’s wanton ways show how he is cold-hearted enough to sell his wife’s favorite possession, especially one that her late father gave her. On top of that, he asked for cigarettes that only please him. Only the most selfish, avaricious, narcissistic person would do what Mr. Van Daan did. So, Mr. Van Daan is a poor excuse for a husband, and an atrocious person.

In this play, Mr. Van Daan is the vilest and most callous person. He blamed others for his faults, took food from the mouths of his companions, and didn't give the most minuscule hint of concern for other possessions. Even though Mr. Van Daan had a catalyst to do all the things that he did, hunger and poverty, that does not justify his immoral behavior. Mr. Van Daan did not deserve to be in the annex, and the annex would be better off without Mr. Van