M.I.C.

Your Honour, I beg to move.

In my opinion, the M.I.C.s (short for Most Important Character(s)) are ranked according to the top five in descending order:

1. FRIEDRICH
2. Herr Schneider
3. Herr Resch
4. Friedrich's friend a.k.a. Narrator
5. Frau Schneider


We shall now join a talk show where Friedrich is being interviewed. Good, we're just on time.

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The lucky interviewee on our talk show today is ...(drumroll)... FRIEDRICH!

warm applause from audience

Me: Welcome to the yawn-a-lot talk show, where we do the talking and YOU do the yawning. Great for sleepless nights. Every episode, we invite a famous charater to join us and talk about some stuff, depending on what we feel like. Today, we have Friedrich, a German-Jew. He was made famous by Hans Peter Ritcher, the author of the book Friedrich, named after the main charater, Friedrich himself! Well Friedrich, would you please tell us about your role in the Book?

Friedrich: (speaks German)

Me: Oh, I'm sorry, hold on a moment please... Could we have a translator here?

translator comes after a boring five minutes... audience yawns

Me: Yes, Friedrich. Please continue.

Friedrich: (repeats in German)

Translator: Alright. So, the story is told from the viewpoint of the narrator, which is my so-called best friend. As close friends and neighbours, we lived our lives together, in a way. So, his story is actually based on my life, from a little playful 4-year-old to a tall serious 15-year-old, orphaned (sort of), and frightened for his life. It is a really touching story, of how the narrator, a German boy the same age as me, had a father who was a member of the German Nazi Party, because of financial needs. The two families were very close, and Hitler was at the same time ruthlessly persecuting the Jews. Soon, their family had to decide where to draw the line before it got too late; should they obey the corrupted law, or should they follow their consience and help Friedrich?
Hold on, I need some water.

Audience yawns simultaneously (and very very loudly too!)

Friedrich: (mutters in German)

Translator: What's that?

Friedrich: (speaks German)

Translator: Okay. So then, continuing from earlier, it is, for them, a Man vs Self conflict. As for the Schneiders, they did nothing wrong except being born as Jews. A lot of new laws were made, very biased against Jews. Also, Herr Resch, the landlord, wanted to kick the Schneiders out of their house. Herr Schneider thus brought Herr Resch to court, and fortunately, justice prevailed. However, many unfortunate events followed - Frau Schneider died, Herr Resch was sent away to a consecration camp, leaving poor Friedrich alone. And all these sad events that hapened to Friedrich, changing his life forever, were seen through the eyes of the good freiend of the Jewish boy. So in this way, I, the main character am really important to the story. Actually, I MAKE UP the whole story. It all revolves around me. Yes, that's right. Me! Isn't that cool?

Audience yawns, no one bothers to cover his/her mouth

Me: ( looks at watch) So now there we go! See you on the next episode of the yawn-a-lot talk show, where we do the talking and YOU do the yawning. Goodbye!

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So from here, we can somehow see the importance of Friedrich in the story - he is the main character, so as he said, the whole story revolves around him. Without him, there wouldn't be any suspense in the story, no plot, no way the author would be able to allow you to experience the Holocaust yourself.

With this, your Honour, I rest my case. Thank you.


Entry by Rachel