The Diary of a Young Girl

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | YA | Published in 1947

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction-Foreword

June 12, 1942-July 12, 1942

August 14, 1942-October 29, 1942

November 2, 1942-April 27, 1943

May 1, 1943-December 30, 1943

January 2, 1944-April 1, 1944

April 3, 1944-Afterword

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Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

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Themes

Everyday Life Under Hardship

Perhaps the most apparent theme in The Diary of a Young Girl is how people handle life in hiding and in fear of persecution and death. If the Secret Annex was betrayed or discovered, the residents faced death or deportation to a concentration camp. Trusting the wrong person or being heard by a neighbor could prove fatal. Despite the pressure, the Annex residents still observe and exchange gifts on birthdays and holidays, even when their resources grow scarce. For example, on Mrs. van Daan’s birthday, “Her husband, Dussel and the office staff gave her nothing but flowers and also food. Such are the times we live in!” (114). The residents also keep daily habits, like exercising, studying, and working.

Even before entering the Secret Annex, Anne’s diary illustrates how everyday life continues even under extraordinary circumstances, like occupation under a foreign army and the enactment of racist laws. Because of anti-Semitic legislation, Anne cannot ride a streetcar, but she still must go to the dentist and to school (18). Even as the situation for Jewish people in the Netherlands grows harsher and more extreme, Anne’s diary shows they still try to maintain a sense of normalcy. Anne claims that “all we ever do is try to make the days go by as quickly as possible so we’re that much closer to the end of our time here” (81).

Daily activities, like Anne and Margot learning shorthand and the adults taking correspondence classes in foreign languages, help the Annex occupants feel like they are preparing for a future in the outside world. Although Anne describes these courses as “time killers” (81), she always thinks of the future, such as when she tries to find out what Margot “wanted to be when she was older” (52). For her part, Anne harbors ambitions to become a published writer, and she continues journaling and writing short stories in pursuit of that goal. Anne also writes, “The war is going to go on despite our quarrels and our longing for freedom and fresh air, so we should try to make the best of our stay here” (141). Although Anne is addressing the frequent conflicts in the Secret Annex, her words also suggest that fighting off boredom and staying active are key to making the most of a bad situation.

Becoming a Young Woman

One of the more controversial themes in the book, which was edited out of earlier editions, is Anne’s discussions of her own sexuality. These changes were made because open discussions of sexuality, especially in a book for a young audience, were far less accepted in the 1950s, when the book was first published. One example of Anne’s discussion of her anatomy and sexuality occurs on January 16, 1944, when she expresses excitement about her first period: “I think that what’s happening to me is so wonderful […]. So even though it’s a nuisance, in a certain way I’m looking forward to the time when I’ll feel that secret inside me once again” (134).

Anne also experiences growing romantic and sexual feelings for Peter van Daan. She is attracted to him and enjoys spending time with him, yet she struggles with the development these strong feelings, writing, “I’m afraid of myself, afraid my longing is making me yield too soon” (225). At the same time, Anne does not see Peter as a serious future partner. In the same entry where she admits she is in love with him, she also writes that she sees him as “still a child, emotionally no older than I am” (225). Anne loves Peter, but her perception of herself as a girl forced to mature quickly makes her dismiss the possibility of Peter as a serious boyfriend.

Anne spends many of the diary’s later entries reflecting back on her “childish innocence” (56). How much this colored her revisions of her diary is still debated by scholars, who question how much Anne changed her earlier entries. As Francine Post points out in the Introduction, these revisions gave Anne’s narration a “remarkable consistency in tone […] between the earliest and latest diary entries” (xi). Nonetheless, the later entries see Anne growing more introspective and feeling like she has matured and become more independent. In a letter to her father, Anne declares, “Don’t think of me as a fourteen-year-old, since all these troubles have made me older…” (230). However, aside from feeling more distant from Peter, Anne does not find this maturity alienating. Rather, it fuels her hopes and ambitions: “I finally realized that I must do my schoolwork to keep from being ignorant, to get on in life, to become a journalist, because that’s what I want!” (204).

The Jewish Experience in the Holocaust

The Nazis persecuted Jews and sent them to concentration camps in Germany and in the countries they invaded and occupied. Every Jewish person who lived under Nazi rule was in danger and knew it. It is very important for readers of The Diary of a Young Girl to realize that Anne also knew what was at stake. Throughout the diary she is aware of what is happening to other Jews. She is not at all sheltered from the violence of World War II or knowledge of the Holocaust. At age 13, Anne writes, “It’s impossible to escape their clutches unless you go into hiding. They often go around with lists, knocking only on those doors where they know there’s a big haul to be made. […] No one is spared. The sick, the elderly, children, babies and pregnant women—all are marched to their death” (62-63).

As Anne’s entries go on, she tries to understand the horrors facing the Jewish people. She compares her family’s situation in hiding to that of Jewish people who could not hide. Despite the hardships, Anne still sees herself as “[l]uckier than millions of people” (71). Later on, she becomes more aware of her Jewish identity and takes pride in it. She is shocked and disappointed when Peter admits “after the war he’d make sure nobody would know he was Jewish” (158). Anne also sees herself as having responsibilities as a Jewish woman suffering persecution, as she writes, “We must put our feelings aside; we must be brave and strong, bear discomfort without complaint, do whatever is in our power and trust in God” (213).

In these entries Anne also struggles to reconcile her Jewish faith with the reality of the Holocaust. On April 11, 1944, she wonders whether the Jewish “religion will teach the world and all the people in it about goodness, and that’s the reason, the only reason, we have to suffer” (214). In this way, Anne finds her own explanation for why she believes in God, even as she and other Jews endure considerable suffering. Like many people who try to rationalize their pain or trauma, Anne is trying to find a reason for her and her family’s suffering. The April 11 entry shows Anne doing exactly that through her faith and belief that things will improve.