Question

Why is the cake so important in this part of the scene? What things does it reveal about events that have gone on "off stage" as well as what does it reveal about the characters? Pages 325-327

Answer 1

The cake in this scene is important because of a number of reasons:

- it serves as a symbol of celebration of the beginning of a new year - 1944

- there was scarcity of food in the shelter

- some refuges were not trusted with distributing the cake because of having been caught stealing previously

Step-by-step explanation:

What the cake scene reveals about the "off stage" events is the distrust between the refuges. Some of them were caught stealing previously in the novel, and due to this, they were not trusted with cutting the cake, if at all. This is the reason why Mrs Frank had to do it instead of those 'thieves.' Of course, this created very high tensions in the annex and the whole cake scene only made things worse. It is there to show us how degraded the relationships in the shelter have become.