Independence Day | Characters & Character Analysis

Independence Day Characters

Frank Bascombe

Frank Bascombe sees himself as a decent guy, and in many ways, this is true. He is kind-hearted and has an earnest desire to help humanity in his own small way, through his real estate practice, his efforts as a father, and his reading to the blind. However, Frank's lack of self-awareness prohibits him from seeing his own fundamentally destructive nature. For, despite surface appearances, Frank is a cruel man. He is the author of his family's destruction, but disguises his cruelty as hesitancy, and fails to recognize the depth of pain for which he is responsible.

Perhaps Frank values himself so little that he doesn't realize the worst cruelty a human being can perpetrate is to deny others his heart. His ex-wife, Ann, explains to Frank that he has been largely absent as a husband and father, despite his physical presence in his family's life. Frank acknowledges what Ann...
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