Anne\'s Foil? Anne\'s Main Foil

¶ … Anne's foil?

Anne's main foil is Margot, Anne's older sister, who is emotionally (although not temperamentally) closer to the Frank girls' nervous, high-strung mother. Margot is more complacent and docile than Anne. Anne's frustrations, her ambitions, and her willingness to defy her mother and have a secret romance with Peter all shows her greater spirit and determination to live life to the fullest, even in the confines of the Secret Annex.

Q2) What characters display fascism? Give examples.

The most obvious fascistic characters are the Nazis, whose specter looms over the events in the attic, and the people who eventually turn in Anne and her family to the authorities. However, under the confined pressures of the attic, some of the characters themselves show intolerance and single-minded zealousness. Anne's mother, for example, has a very heavy-handed parenting style that brings her into conflict with her younger daughter on many occasions. Anne turns to her father for support, which only creates more tension between Anne and her mother.

Q3) How did fascism impact characters? be specific.

Fascism robs Anne, Margot, and Peter of their childhoods, and all of the residents of the Secret Annex of a normal life. Anne and Peter find themselves 'growing up fast,' given they know it is uncertain if they will survive the war. They must put aside many personal pleasures, like privacy, to live in close quarters with their parents and not reveal their presence to the world with undue noise. All of the residents of the attic live with the constant fear of discovery, and death looms over the Secret Annex.

However, although Anne and Peter are more grown-up in many ways than adolescents who lead a more normal childhood, they also are far more under the watchful eyes of their parents, almost as if they are small children. The growing restlessness of Anne and Peter, combined with the closeness of the environment exacerbates the normal tensions that always exist between the parents and children. The divisions between the married couples, the Franks and the Van Daans, are also amplified because of the tensions of the war, the small living quarters, and the lack of privacy.

Q4) Give an example of anti-Semitism.