People can be attracted to their opposites because one opposite has characteristics that the other opposite doesn’t have. It is kind of like putting lemon into your plain water because the water sometimes doesn’t have any taste, and adding the lemon allows the water to have taste. Opposites can attract, but they can also not go together. Some examples are shown in Anne Frank’s diary through Otto Frank and Mr. Van Daan’s personalities as well as their parenting styles and how they react around children.
Otto and Mr. Van Daan have extremely different personalities and have different views on certain subjects. First of all, Otto is very unselfish whereas Mr. Van Daan only cares about his own wellbeing. I say this because on page 174, Anne writes
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Van Daan have differences in how they parent. Similarly, Otto and Mr. Van Daan both have children, Otto having Margot and Anne, and Mr. Van Daan having Peter, but each father treats their children very differently. Anne is very close to her father and writes that she adores him and will modify her behavior to be lie her fathers. Otto tries to make it as though they are friends and he tries to help her in school, advice, etc. However, Mr. Van Daan does not pay very much attention to his son Peter, talking to him rarely and not giving him support in school or what he might be going through and need help with. Otto then realizes that Peter needs help on his school work and begins to help him, bringing out his caring, fatherly nature with children that aren’t even his! In another entry in the diary, May 6, 1944, Otto gives Anne advice on her relationship with Peter, and wants them to only be friends. She disagrees and writes a hurtful letter to him, explaining why she does not care, and how she is her own person. This letter causes Otto to feel hurt and explains to her calmly that he is doing all that he can and they are giving her all the love that they think she needs. Peter doesn’t communicate to his father this way and doesn’t have his own father to look up to, showing how Mr. Van Daan is not aware of the people around him and only himself. When Peter and Anne begin to talk and get closer, he explains to Anne that he feels alone and that his parents are