I think Frank is an unappreciated character. He's just as important as George, but he's given 1/3 of the lines. Think about it; if Frank was scrapped as a character, there would be a lot missing.
For one, the whole horoscope thing would be gone. That eliminates an important scene and concept. There would be no irony to the whole favorable day thing and he wouldn't be able to interrupt the confrontation with George. There would also be even less hope for a good ending for the reader/audience. But that point is obvious.
The more subtle missing piece is with Lydia. If Frank isn't there, there's little point to her as a character. Because of Frank, she's able to claim him as her husband when seeing George. If Frank were absent from the story, she could claim she's single which could very easily be enough to convince George to forgive and stick around.
Frank may not be the lead, but he's definitely a necessary supporting role for the story. Personally, I think Jim and Susan (neighbors) are a little on the useless side. If you guys can think of even more reasons why Frank is important, please leave a comment.
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Reading your post, I started to think about the neighbors in a new way. It seems Frank and Lydia are there to add new dimensions to George, while Jim and Sue are adding tension to Chris and Ann (Sue's confrontation with Ann, their constant fighting about money--which Ann says doesn't matter to her but is a central anxiety for Chris--etc.)
ReplyDeleteI completely agreed. I really felt that Frank added a lot, despite his ridiculousness. A lot of people didn't like the neighbors, but they were really necessary in the show.
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