This question is missing the options. I've found the complete question online. It is the following:
Read the excerpt from The Diary of Anne Frank.
It is early morning, July 1942. The rooms are bare, as before, but they are now clean and orderly.
Which best explains the purpose of this stage direction, which opens scene 2?
A. to remind the reader that cleanliness was not very important to the Franks during the war.
B. to demonstrate to the audience that Miep was unable to keep the attic orderly during the war
C. to remind the reader that this scene takes place three years before the war ended
D. to demonstrate to the audience that this scene takes place years after the war ended
Answer:
The purpose of the stage direction that opens scene 2 is:
C. to remind the reader that this scene takes place three years before the war ended
.
Explanation:
Scene 2 of Act I of The Diary of Anne Frank is opposed to scene 1 precisely by the condition of the rooms. Take a look at the stage direction for scene 1:
<em>The curtain rises on an empty stage. It is late afternoon, November 1945.
</em>
<em>The rooms are dusty, the curtains in rags. Chairs and tables are overturned.</em>
Not just the date, but the state in which the rooms are shows that terrible and difficult times were seen by them. This is after the war, after all the suffering. On the other hand, scene 2 goes back to 1942, to before the destruction and pain Anne and her family would have to endure in those very rooms. That is why they are clean and orderly. They are yet to see the horror of the war.
