keynotes of the novel 'the diary of a young girl '
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Plot Overview
Anne’s diary begins on her thirteenth birthday, June 12, 1942, and ends shortly after her fifteenth. At the start of her diary, Anne describes fairly typical girlhood experiences, writing about her friendships with other girls, her crushes on boys, and her academic performance at school. Because anti-Semitic laws forced Jews into separate schools, Anne and her older sister, Margot, attended the Jewish Lyceum in Amsterdam.
The Franks had moved to the Netherlands in the years leading up to World War II to escape persecution in Germany. After the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, the Franks were forced into hiding. With another family, the van Daans, and an acquaintance, Mr. Dussel, they moved into a small secret annex above Otto Frank’s office where they had stockpiled food and supplies. The employees from Otto’s firm helped hide the Franks and kept them supplied with food, medicine, and information about the outside world.
The residents of the annex pay close attention to every development of the war by listening to the radio. Some bits of news catch Anne’s attention and make their way into her diary, providing a vivid historical context for her personal thoughts. The adults make optimistic bets about when the war will end, and their mood is severely affected by Allied setbacks or German advances. Amsterdam is devastated by the war during the two years the Franks are in hiding. All of the city’s residents suffer, since food becomes scarce and robberies more frequent.
Anne often writes about her feelings of isolation and loneliness. She has a tumultuous relationship with the adults in the annex, particularly her mother, whom she considers lacking in love and affection. She adores her father, but she is frequently scolded and criticized by Mr. and Mrs. van Daan and Mr. Dussel. Anne thinks that her sister, Margot, is smart, pretty, and agreeable, but she does not feel close to her and does not write much about her. Anne eventually develops a close friendship with Peter van Daan, the teenage boy in the annex. Mr. Frank does not approve, however, and the intensity of Anne’s infatuation begins to lessen.
Anne matures considerably throughout the course of her diary entries, moving from detailed accounts of basic activities to deeper, more profound thoughts about humanity and her own personal nature. She finds it difficult to understand why the Jews are being singled out and persecuted. Anne also confronts her own identity. Though she considers herself to be German, her German citizenship has been revoked, and though she calls Holland her home, many of the Dutch have turned against the Jews. Anne feels a tremendous solidarity with her aggrieved people, and yet at the same time she wants to be seen as an individual rather than a member of a persecuted group.
During the two years recorded in her diary, Anne deals with confinement and deprivation, as well as the complicated and difficult issues of growing up in the brutal circumstances of the Holocaust. Her diary describes a struggle to define herself within this climate of oppression. Anne’s diary ends without comment on August 1, 1944, the end of a seemingly normal day that leaves us with the expectation of seeing another entry on the next page. However, the Frank family is betrayed to the Nazis and arrested on August 4, 1944. Anne’s diary, the observations of an imaginative, friendly, sometimes petty, and rather normal teenage girl, comes to an abrupt and silent end.
Otto Frank is the family’s sole survivor, and he recovers Anne’s diary from Miep. He decides to fulfill Anne’s wishes by publishing the diary. Anne’s diary becomes a condemnation of the unimaginable horror of the Holocaust, and one of the few accounts that describe it from a young person’s perspective.
Since Anne’s diary is a true personal account of a life in hiding, it is inappropriate to analyze it as a novel or other work of fiction. Parts of the diary were intended for public view, but others clearly were not. To appreciate and interpret the diary, it is necessary to consider its horrible context, World War II and the Holocaust, before any discussion of plot development or thematic content
Anne’s diary begins on her thirteenth birthday, June 12, 1942, and ends shortly after her fifteenth. At the start of her diary, Anne describes fairly typical girlhood experiences, writing about her friendships with other girls, her crushes on boys, and her academic performance at school. Because anti-Semitic laws forced Jews into separate schools, Anne and her older sister, Margot, attended the Jewish Lyceum in Amsterdam.
The Franks had moved to the Netherlands in the years leading up to World War II to escape persecution in Germany. After the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, the Franks were forced into hiding. With another family, the van Daans, and an acquaintance, Mr. Dussel, they moved into a small secret annex above Otto Frank’s office where they had stockpiled food and supplies. The employees from Otto’s firm helped hide the Franks and kept them supplied with food, medicine, and information about the outside world.
The residents of the annex pay close attention to every development of the war by listening to the radio. Some bits of news catch Anne’s attention and make their way into her diary, providing a vivid historical context for her personal thoughts. The adults make optimistic bets about when the war will end, and their mood is severely affected by Allied setbacks or German advances. Amsterdam is devastated by the war during the two years the Franks are in hiding. All of the city’s residents suffer, since food becomes scarce and robberies more frequent.
Anne often writes about her feelings of isolation and loneliness. She has a tumultuous relationship with the adults in the annex, particularly her mother, whom she considers lacking in love and affection. She adores her father, but she is frequently scolded and criticized by Mr. and Mrs. van Daan and Mr. Dussel. Anne thinks that her sister, Margot, is smart, pretty, and agreeable, but she does not feel close to her and does not write much about her. Anne eventually develops a close friendship with Peter van Daan, the teenage boy in the annex. Mr. Frank does not approve, however, and the intensity of Anne’s infatuation begins to lessen.
Anne matures considerably throughout the course of her diary entries, moving from detailed accounts of basic activities to deeper, more profound thoughts about humanity and her own personal nature. She finds it difficult to understand why the Jews are being singled out and persecuted. Anne also confronts her own identity. Though she considers herself to be German, her German citizenship has been revoked, and though she calls Holland her home, many of the Dutch have turned against the Jews. Anne feels a tremendous solidarity with her aggrieved people, and yet at the same time she wants to be seen as an individual rather than a member of a persecuted group.
During the two years recorded in her diary, Anne deals with confinement and deprivation, as well as the complicated and difficult issues of growing up in the brutal circumstances of the Holocaust. Her diary describes a struggle to define herself within this climate of oppression. Anne’s diary ends without comment on August 1, 1944, the end of a seemingly normal day that leaves us with the expectation of seeing another entry on the next page. However, the Frank family is betrayed to the Nazis and arrested on August 4, 1944. Anne’s diary, the observations of an imaginative, friendly, sometimes petty, and rather normal teenage girl, comes to an abrupt and silent end.
Otto Frank is the family’s sole survivor, and he recovers Anne’s diary from Miep. He decides to fulfill Anne’s wishes by publishing the diary. Anne’s diary becomes a condemnation of the unimaginable horror of the Holocaust, and one of the few accounts that describe it from a young person’s perspective.
Since Anne’s diary is a true personal account of a life in hiding, it is inappropriate to analyze it as a novel or other work of fiction. Parts of the diary were intended for public view, but others clearly were not. To appreciate and interpret the diary, it is necessary to consider its horrible context, World War II and the Holocaust, before any discussion of plot development or thematic content
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The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank details approximately two years of the life a Jewish teenager during World War II. During much of the time period covered by her journal, Anne and her family are in hiding in an attempt to escape Hitler’s anti-Jewish laws and genocidal desires. Anne’s diary ends abruptly in August, 1944. On that day, she and her family are taken into custody by the Germans and transported to concentration camps.
Shortly after Anne gets her diary as a gift on her thirteenth birthday, her sister Margot gets call up orders by the German army. These call up orders force her Jewish family into hiding from Hitler and his men. Anne and her family are joined in the “Secret Annex” — a portion of Otto Frank’s office building — by the three members of the van Daan family and a dentist named Albert Dussel.
Anne’s diary entries are written to a fictitious girl named “Kitty” whom Anne treats as her best friend. She initially writes mostly her thoughts, interactions, and occurrences that she believes might entertain her friend. In her March 29, 1944 entry Anne’s emphasis changes as she hears that Mr. Bolkestein, the cabinet minister, speaks of his desire to put together a collection of diaries and letters about the war. Anne starts detailing the news she gets about the war and the way the war is affecting them. She tells what they eat and what they talk about during their days in hiding.
Anne spends most of her life in a terrible time when Jews were persecuted; yet, her belief in the goodness of people is amazing. She states several times in her journal, even when the family is in hiding from those who want to kill them, that she still believes that people are inherently good. Perhaps, it is the resiliency of Anne’s positive nature that is the most memorable theme in her writing. In addition to news of the war and everyday occurrences, Anne gives details about her relationship with her mother. She also journals about love and her desire to be a better person
Shortly after Anne gets her diary as a gift on her thirteenth birthday, her sister Margot gets call up orders by the German army. These call up orders force her Jewish family into hiding from Hitler and his men. Anne and her family are joined in the “Secret Annex” — a portion of Otto Frank’s office building — by the three members of the van Daan family and a dentist named Albert Dussel.
Anne’s diary entries are written to a fictitious girl named “Kitty” whom Anne treats as her best friend. She initially writes mostly her thoughts, interactions, and occurrences that she believes might entertain her friend. In her March 29, 1944 entry Anne’s emphasis changes as she hears that Mr. Bolkestein, the cabinet minister, speaks of his desire to put together a collection of diaries and letters about the war. Anne starts detailing the news she gets about the war and the way the war is affecting them. She tells what they eat and what they talk about during their days in hiding.
Anne spends most of her life in a terrible time when Jews were persecuted; yet, her belief in the goodness of people is amazing. She states several times in her journal, even when the family is in hiding from those who want to kill them, that she still believes that people are inherently good. Perhaps, it is the resiliency of Anne’s positive nature that is the most memorable theme in her writing. In addition to news of the war and everyday occurrences, Anne gives details about her relationship with her mother. She also journals about love and her desire to be a better person
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