Essay: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank – An Analysis

‘The Diary of a Young Girl,’ written by Anne Frank is feasibly the most notable, and intimate account of the Holocaust itself. It encapsulates the struggle of the human spirit in vicissitude, and epitomises a grappling journey throughout juvenescence; and the idea of growing up. As presented in Anne’s entries, at the root of conflict are unresolved tensions between herself and the world in which she lives. Further exploring the concept of maturing both emotionally and physically, Anne recognises her shift from childhood to adolescence; where her thoughts start to become more thorough, and she begins to understand how naive her understanding was when she first started writing in her diary. At the same time, the way in which Anne starts to dwell on her place in the world, all as a consequence of her confinement in the annex. Relative to the ideas demonstrated by Anne in her diary, a supplementary text of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee will be used to substantiate the concept of growing up.
Undoubtedly, Anne’s journey into adolescence encompasses constant questioning and assessing the actions of the adults that are congested around her, as a consequence of her constraint within the annex. In spite of her own circumstances, and dealing with her own feelings of isolation, rebellion, alienation, and curiosity about adulthood, Anne continues to observe the behaviour of the adults quite meticulously. As reflected in her entries, Anne gradually thinks about whether their attitude is thoughtless and inconsiderate, or if it is simply just an element of human nature. This is evidenced in Anne’s entry from January 15th, 1944, where the annex dwellers have taken to rationing all of their food into separate portions. Anne describes Mrs Frank as getting extra sugar for her birthday, which prompted discontent in Mrs van Daan. Meanwhile, Mr Dussel supposedly provides himself with more than he is entitled to at supper, to which she comments “Are most people so stingy and selfish?” This emphasises that Anne is getting a realistic glimpse into the adult world, and learning that the world which she envisioned as being reasonable, moral, and steady, is much more complicated, and is filled with both positive and negative occurrences. However, Anne is conflicted by her perception of the adult world, where she reflects on Biep Miep, Jan, Mr Kleiman, and Mr Kluger, and their selfless and generous actions. Specifically referring to their assistance to the Frank family, Anne’s reflection provides more evidence to her growing maturity; as she is learning to be more indebted and thankful for the people in her life, in a way that she hadn’t when she was younger. Anne, similar to the characters of Scout and Jem in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ are innocents at the start of their novel, with an uncomplicated sense of what is right and wrong. Eventually, towards the end of the book, they have lost their naivety and gained a more elaborate understanding of the world, in which both good and bad are present and detectable in almost everyone. Moreover, Anne possesses the attributes of Scout by the way she acknowledges conflicts and tries to determine its origins by relating to people in terms of their decency, rather than their anger.
As shown in Anne’s entries, she persistently compares her younger, pre-annex self with her more matured, and developing adolescent self. Alternatively, she also differentiates between her inner self and outer self, which are seemingly non-identical and mismatched. Anne mentions frequently that she is surrounded by admirers, who are attracted to her chatty and playful personality. She refers to this in an earlier entry in her diary, where she mentions, “Peter says I am attractive, and it is also true that a lot of boys in my class like me too.” However, as time goes by, she looks back on her life in 1942 and struggles to believe how tranquil and undisturbed it was in comparison to her being within the annex. “I look back at that Anne Frank as a pleasant, amusing, but superficial girl, who has nothing to do with me.” The feeling that she is quite literally separated into two might be exaggerated, given the close territory of the annex. Supposedly, if she had more time to herself, where she didn’t have to carefully manage her external self (apprehensive of upsetting those around her), she wouldn’t be contradicting herself. “What does ‘contradiction’ mean?”, she asked — further justifying the way that Anne relies on this question as a foundation for formulating her opinion on her own personality. Ultimately, she feels that she is “split in two,” and as her thought process becomes more distinctive, her shift from childhood to adolescence is evidenced by her predilection for going back and commenting on her previous entries. One in particular, she gives the impression of being embarrassed by her younger self. “I wouldn’t be able to write that kind of thing anymore… my descriptions are so indelicate.” These feelings, have obviously been caused as a repercussion of her unresolved tensions within the annex between herself and the adults. Consequently, causing Anne to re-evaluate who she is as a person, as the adults around her succumb to the stress of confinement, and find themselves conflicted between being generous and venal. This is represented in one of Anne’s final statements, “…I keep trying to find a way to become what I’d like to be… if only there no other people in the world,” which uphold the idea of Anne wondering whether someday she could live life peacefully, as the Anne she is when she’s by herself. Likewise to the children within ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ as they approach the adult world, they don’t just embrace what they see. They question what doesn’t make sense to them, and respect the righteous character that Atticus stands for, in which Jem would one day like to stand for himself.
In summary, ‘The Diary of a Young Girl’ by Anne Frank demonstrates unresolved tensions and conflicts between Anne herself, and the world in which she lives. It accurately explores the concept of growing up, and the difficulties associated between the shift from childhood to adolescence, where Anne begins to ask complex questions and dwell on her place in the world. Correlative to the themes and ideas presented in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee, links a relationship to the characters of Jem and Scout, to Anne’s personal experiences and encounters.