The Diary of a Young Girl (1947) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Summary edit see section history

People edit see section history

• Anne Frank: This is her diary. 14-year-old Daughter of Edith and Otto Frank. Sister of Margot Frank.
• Kitty aka Kit: The name that Anne gave to her diary. She addresses her entries in form of a letter to Kitty.
• Margot Frank: Anne's older sister.
• Otto Frank: Father of Anne and Margot Frank. Husband of Edith Frank. Anne often calls him by a pet name, Pim.
• Edith Frank: Mother of Margot and Anne. Wife of Otto. Called 'Mommy'
• Mr. Hermann van Daan: Mrs. Van Daan's husband; father of Peter.
• Mrs. Petronella van Daan: Mr. Van Daan's wife; mother of Peter.
• Peter van Daan: Son of Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan.
• Albert Dussel: The dentist that shares a room with Anne Frank and Margot Frank. Dr. Dussel goes into hiding with the Franks and the Van Daans.
• Mr. Victor Kugler: A friend of Anne's father who helps them while their stay at the Secret Annex
• Miep Santrouschitz Gies: One among many family friends who help Anne's family out in the Annex
• Mr. Johannes Kleiman: One among many family friends who help Anne's family out in the Annex
• Elizabeth "Bep" Voskuijl Wijk: One among many family friends who help Anne's family out in the Annex
• Jan Gies: Miep's husband
• Peter Schiff (Petel): The boy on whom Anne has a huge crush on
• Hanneli Goslar: Anne's ex best-friend. She's called Lies at school. She's usually shy--outspoken at home, but reserved around other people.
• Mr. Pieter Gerbrandy: He was the Prime Minister of the Dutch government in exile in London.
• Evangelista: no comments- but..hey! that's my name above there.
• Anne Frank: Anne and her family have to go into hiding after their country is overrun by the Nazis.
• Hitler: Adolf Hitler, the Führer in Germany at the time of WWII.
• Anne Frank: Add a description of this character.
• Jacque
• Mr Van Hoeven
• Bertus
• Boche
• Mr Dreher
• Hans
• Mr Voskuiji
• Mouschi: The cat that lived with them in the Annex
• Hello Silberberg: He likes Anne
• Moortje: The Franks' cat
• Ilse Wagner: Hanneli's best friend. She is a nice girl with a cheerful disposition, but she's extremely finicky and can spend hours moaning and groaning about something. She's very smart, but lazy.
• Jacqueline van Maarsen: Anne met her at the Jewish Lyceum. She used to be Anne's best friend.
• Sanne Ledermann: Anne's best friend.
• Aunt Helene: Anne's aunt
• Aunt Stephanie: Anne's aunt
• Aunt Leny: Anne's aunt
• Betty Bloemendaal: Anne's classmate. She looks kind of poor, and she probably is. She lives on some obscure street in West Amsterdam.
• D.Q.: She is a very nervous girl who's always forgetting things.
• E.S.: She talks so much it isn't funny. She's always touching one's hair or fiddling with your buttons when she asks you something.
• Henny Mets: She is a nice girl with a cheerful disposition, except that she talks in a loud voice and is really childish when playing outdoors. She has a girlfriend named Beppy.
• J.R.: She is detestable, sneaky, stuck-up, two-faced gossip who thinks she's so grown-up. She is easily offended, bursts into tears at the slightest thing and she is a terrible show-off.
• Nannie van Praag-Sigaar: She is small, funny and sensible. She's nice and pretty smart.
• Eefje de Jong: She is terrific. Though she's only twelve, she's quite the lady. She is very helpful.
• G.Z.: The prettiest girl in Anne's class. She has a nice face, but is kind of dumb.
• Maurice Coster: One of Anne's many admirers, but he is pretty much a pest.
• Sallie Springer: He has a filthy mind, and rumor has it that he's gone all the way. But he's terrific because he's very funny.
• Emiel Bonewit: He is G.Z.'s admirer. He's pretty boring.
• Rob Cohen: He used to be in love with Anne, too. For Anne, he's an obnoxious, two-faced, lying, sniveling little goof and has an awfully high opinion of himself.
• Max van de Velde: He is a farm boy from Medemblik, but eminently suitable.
• Herman Koopman: He has a filthy mind, just like Jopie de Beer.
• Jopie de Beer.: He is a terrible flirt and absolutely girl crazy.
• Leo Blom: Jopie de Beer's best friend, but has been ruined bu his dirty mind.
• Albert de Mesquita: He came from the Montessori School and skipped a grade. He's really smart.
• Leo Slager: He came from the Montessori School, but isn't as smart as Albert.
• Ru Stoppelmon: He is a short, goofy boy from Almelo who transferred to Anne's school in the middle of the year.
• C.N.: He does whateverhe's not supposed to.
• jacques Kocernoot: He is Anne's classmate.
• Harry Schaap: He is the most decent boy in Anne's class. He's nice.
• Werner Joseph: He's also nice, but all the changes taking place lately have made him too quiet, so he seems boring.
• Sam Salomon: He is one of the tough guys from across the tracks. He is a real brat. He is an admirer of Anne.
• Appie Riem: He is pretty Orthodox, but a brat too.
• Hello Silberberg: He is Wilma's cousin and a nice boy. He is sixteen and good at telling all kinds of funny stories.
• Mr. Voskuijl: Bep's father who works in the company's workhouse.
• Mr. van Maaren: The man who works in the warehouse who was suspicious about the Annex.
• Mr. Gerrit Bolkenstein: He is the Cabinet Minister who wanted to create a collection out of letters and diaries during the war. He was the Minister of Education.

Quotes edit see section history

• “Thursday, July 6, 1944..."How noble and good everyone could be if, at the end of each day, they were to review their own behavior and weigh up the rights and wrongs. They would automatically try to do better at the start of each new day and, after a while, would certainly accomplish a great deal. Everyone is welcome to this prescription; it costs nothing and is definitely useful. Those who don't know will have to find out by experiment that "a quiet conscience gives you strength!""”

  Anne Frank

• “In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”

• “And finally I twist my heart round again, so that the bad is on the outside and the good is on the inside, and keep on trying to find a way of becoming what I would so like to be, and could be, if there weren't any other people living in the world.”

• “Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!”

• “Oh dearie me, I see nothing but strawberries, strawberries at breakfast, strawberries stewed by Miep, I smell strawberries, must have a rest from them and go upstairs--what is being washed up here...strawberries.”

  Kraler

• “I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too will end, that peace and tranquility will return once more.”

  Anne Frank

• “Riches, prestige, everything can be lost. But happiness in your own heart can only be dimmed; it will always be there, as long as you live, to make you happy again.”

  Anne Frank

• “Paper has more patience than people.”

  Anne Frank

• “Memories mean more to me than dresses.”

  Anne Frank

• “I've learned one thing: you only really get to know a person after a fight. Only then can you judge their true character!”

  Anne Frank

• “Deep down I know I could never be that innocent again, however much I'd like to be.”

  Anne Frank

• “Don't condemn me, but think of me as a person who sometimes reaches the bursting point!”

  Anne Frank

• “Every act of carelessness begins and ends.”

  Anne Frank

• “But feelings can't be ignored, no matter how unjust or ungrateful they seem.”

  Anne Frank

• “Crying can bring relief, as long as you don't cry alone.”

  Anne Frank

• “You can be lonely even when you're loved by many people.”

  Anne Frank

• “People will do almost anything to satisfy their longing.”

  Anne Frank

• “I loved him so much that I didn't want to face the truth.”

  Anne Frank

• “Time heals all wounds.”

  Anne Frank

• “And yet it still hurts to think he'd forgotten me completely.”

  Anne Frank

• “I love you, with a love so great that it simply couldn't keep growing inside my heart, but had to leap out and reveal itself in all magnitude. ♥”

  Anne Frank

• “As long as you can look fearlessly at the sky, you'll know that you're pure within and will find happiness once more.”

  Anne Frank

• “I fall asleep with his image before my eyes, dream about him and wake up with him still looking at me. ♥”

  Anne Frank (Referring to Peter)

• “People can tell you to shut up, but they can't keep you from having an opinion.”

  Anne Frank

• “A person who's happy will make others happy; a person who has courage and faith will never die in misery!”

  Anne Frank

• “The weak shall fall and the strong shall survive and not be defeated!”

  Anne Frank

• “What could be nicer than sitting before an open window, enjoying nature, listening to the birds sing, feeling the sun on your cheeks and holding a darling boy in your arms? ♥”

  Anne Frank

• “Why are millions spent on the war each day, while not a penny is available for medical science, artists or the poor? Why do people have to starve when mountains of food are rotting away in other parts of the world? Oh, why are people so crazy?”

  Anne Frank

• “Every child has to raise itself.”

  Otto Frank

• “Deep down, the young are lonelier than the old.”

  Anne Frank

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• 263 Prinsengracht: Address of Dutch Opekta Company
• Annexe
• England
• Germany
• Italy
• Britain
• Russia
• Cherbourg
• Belgium
• Frankfurt
• France
• London
• Amsterdam
• Secret Annex: The part of Otto's office where the Franks and the others hid.
• Dutch Opekta Copany: This is where Otto works.
• Jewish Lyceum: Anne's school.

Organizations edit see section history

• Nazis: Hitler's army who took Jews hostage and killed them
• Hitler Youth: A youth group sponsered by Nazis.
• Zionists: Add a description of this organization.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Kitty: The name Anne has given to her diary. (Dear Kitty...)
• Food Cycle: It is a period in which one have only one particular dish or type of vegetable to eat.
• Pim: The nickname that Anne called her father.
• W.C.: The "water closet" was another name for the bathroom.

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• The Loneliness of Adolescence: Anne Frank’s perpetual feeling of being lonely and misunderstood provides the impetus for her dedicated diary writing and colors many of the experiences she recounts. Even in her early diary entries, in which she writes about her many friends and her lively social life, Anne expresses gratitude that the diary can act as a confidant with whom she can share her innermost thoughts. This might seem an odd sentiment from such a playful, amusing, and social young girl, but Anne explains that she is never comfortable discussing her inner emotions, even around close friends. Despite her excitement over developing into a woman, and despite the specter of war surrounding her, Anne nonetheless finds that she and her friends talk only about trivial topics.We learn later in the diary that neither Mrs. Frank nor Margot offers much to Anne in the way of emotional support. Though Anne feels very connected to her father and derives strength and encouragement from him, he is not a fitting confidant for a thirteen-year-old girl. Near the end of her diary, Anne shares a quotation she once read with which she strongly agrees: “Deep down, the young are lonelier than the old.” Because young people are less able than adults to define or express their needs clearly, they are more likely to feel lonely, isolated, and misunderstood. Living as a Jew in an increasingly anti-Jewish society, in cramped and deprived circumstances, heightens the isolation Anne feels and complicates her struggle for identity.Anne occasionally turns to the cats that live in the annex for affection. Noticing that Peter van Daan also plays with the cats, Anne speculates that he must also suffer from a lack of affection. Anne’s observation softens her view of Peter, whom she once considered obnoxious and lazy, and these thoughts cause her to think that they might have something in common. Their ensuing friendship and budding romance stave off their feelings of loneliness. Margot, who like the other members of the annex witnesses the changing nature of Anne and Peter’s relationship, expresses her jealousy that Anne has found a confidant. Evidently, Anne is not the only one in the annex suffering from the deprivation of friends.Feelings of loneliness and isolation also play out in the larger scheme of the annex. All the inhabitants feel anxious, fearful, and stressed because of their circumstances, yet no one wants to burden the others with such depressing feelings. As a result, the residents become impatient with one another over trivial matters and never address their deeper fears or worries. This constant masking and repression of serious emotions creates isolation and misunderstanding between all the residents of the annex.
• The Inward versus the Outward Self: Anne frequently expresses her conviction that there are “two Annes”: the lively, jovial, public Anne whom people find amusing or exasperating; and the sentimental, private Anne whom only she truly knows. As she comes to understand her actions and motivations better over the course of her writing, Anne continually refers to this aggravating split between her inward and outward character.Anne is aware of this dichotomy from a young age. In her early diary entries she explains that though she has many friends and acquaintances, she feels she does not have one person to whom she can really open up. She regrets that she does not share her true self with her friends or family. Anne expresses frustration that she does not know how to share her feelings with others, and she fears that she is vulnerable to attacks on her character. When her relationship with Peter begins, Anne wonders whether he will be the first one to see through the outer, public Anne and find her true self beneath.Anne struggles with her two selves throughout the diary, trying to be honest and genuine, while at the same time striving to fit in with the rest of the group and not create too much friction. On January 22, 1944, Anne asks a question—“Can you tell me why people go to such lengths to hide their real selves?”—that suggests she realizes she is not alone in hiding her true feelings and fears. With this realization, Anne starts to read into other people’s behavior more deeply and starts to think about their true but hidden motivations.In her final diary entry, on August 1, 1944, Anne continues to grapple with the difference between her self-perception and how she presents herself to others. She arrives at a greater resolve to be true to herself and not to fold her heart inside out so only the bad parts show. Anne’s inner struggle mirrors the larger circumstances of the war. Both the residents of the annex and the Dutch people who help them are forced to hide themselves from the public. They must take on a different identity in public to protect their livelihood because their true identities and actions would make them targets of persecution. This is yet another manifestation of the hypocrisy of identity that Anne is trying to come to terms with in her diary.
• Generosity and Greed in Wartime: Anne’s diary demonstrates that war brings out both the best and the worst traits in people. Two characteristics in particular become prominent defining poles of character in the annex—generosity and greed. The group’s livelihood depends on the serious and continual risks taken by their Dutch keepers, who are generous with food, money, and any other resources they can share.Although the annex is hardly luxurious, the Franks and van Daans feel their situation is better than that of the thousands of Jews who are in mortal danger outside. As a result, they extend Mr. Dussel an invitation to join them and to share their limited resources—an act of true generosity. The fact that Mr. Dussel accepts the others’ offer but never makes any attempt to acknowledge or reciprocate their generosity might be attributed to the extreme circumstances. More likely, however, is that Mr. Dussel is the kind of person in whom hardship brings out the qualities of greed and selfishness. Indeed, the two people Anne most reviles, Mr. Dussel and Mrs. van Daan, share the tendency to look out for themselves far more than to look out for others.Generosity and greed also come to bear on Anne’s feelings of guilt about being in hiding. Although by the end of their time in the annex the residents have practically run out of food, Anne feels lucky to have escaped the fate of her friends who were sent to concentration camps. She struggles with the idea that perhaps she and her family could have been more generous and could have shared their resources with more people. While Mr. Dussel and Mrs. van Daan feel that greed is the only way to protect themselves from the horrors of war, these same circumstances of hardship inspire Anne to feel even more generous.
• Becoming a Woman: Anne is thirteen years old when she first goes into hiding in the annex, and she turns fifteen shortly before the family’s arrest. Thus, her diary is a powerful firsthand record of the experience of a young girl as she matures. Although Anne faces the challenges of puberty under unusual circumstances, the issues she struggles with are universal. She frequently contemplates the changes in her body and her psychology. Because Anne does not readily confide in her mother or her sister, she turns to her diary to understand the changes she perceives and to question issues about sexuality and maturity. In later entries, as Anne begins to see herself as an independent woman, she compares herself to her mother and to other women of her mother’s generation, imagining what she will be like in the future. She often thinks about what it means to be a woman and a mother, typically using her mother as an example of the type of woman she does not want to become. Instead, Anne seeks to overcome the obstacles of gender bias and prejudice, just as she hopes to escape the persecution faced by the Jewish people.
• Fear: The Franks and the van Daans are fortunate enough to have made advance plans to go into hiding should the need arise, but they still know they are not completely safe from the Nazis. Their security depends on the cooperation of many different people outside the annex, as well as a good amount of luck and hope. Their fear grows each time the doorbell rings, there is a knock on their door, or they hear that there is a break-in at the office building. They hear reports from the outside world about their friends who are arrested and about non-Jews who are suffering from a lack of food. As the war rages on around them, all people—Jews and non-Jews—suffer. Anne knows that her family’s situation is precarious, and she spends much of her time trying to distract herself from this frightening reality. However, each scare does color her diary entries. She knows what would happen to her and her family if they were discovered, and this fear that permeates life in the annex likewise permeates the tone of Anne’s diary.
• Hanneli: Hanneli is one of Anne’s close friends who appears in Anne’s dreams several times as a symbol of guilt. Hanneli appears sad and dressed in rags, and she wishes that Anne could stop Hanneli’s suffering. A young Jewish girl, Hanneli has presumably already been arrested and deported to a concentration camp. For Anne, Hanneli represents the fate of her friends and companions and the millions of Jews—many of whom were children like herself—who were tortured and murdered by the Nazis. Anne questions why her friend has to suffer while she survives in hiding. Anne continually struggles with the guilt that her friend is dead while she is still alive. Hanneli’s appearance in Anne’s dreams makes Anne turn to God for answers and comfort, since there is no one else who can explain why she lives while her friend does not.
• Anne’s Grandmother: Anne’s grandmother appears to Anne in her dreams. To Anne, she symbolizes unconditional love and support, as well as regret and nostalgia for the life Anne lived before being forced into hiding. Anne wishes she could tell her grandmother how much they all love her, just as she wishes she had appreciated her own life before she was confined in the annex. Anne misses living a life in which she did not have to worry about her future. She imagines that her grandmother is her guardian angel and will protect her, and she returns to this image to sustain her when she feels particularly afraid or insecure.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and followed by Tuesdays With Morrie.

Preceded by The Blue Lotus, and followed by Tristes tropiques.

Preceded by Holes, and followed by Deception Point.

Preceded by Wuthering Heights, and followed by Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.

Preceded by Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages. (Revised and Expanded Edition)., and followed by The Great Terror.

Preceded by Lord of the Flies, and followed by One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Preceded by The Book Thief, and followed by Of Mice and Men.

Preceded by Midnight's Children, and followed by A Clockwork Orange.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Anne Frank (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. B. M. Mooyaart (Translator)
2. Susan Massotty (Translator)
3. Mirjam Pressler (Editor)
4. Otto Frank (Editor)
5. Helmut Salden (Cover Artist)
6. Bantam (Publisher)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: DS135.N6F73313 2010
• Dewey: 940.5318092

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Death and bisexual feelings.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Biographies & Memoirs › People, A-Z › ( F ) › Frank, Anne
• Books › Teens › Authors, A-Z › ( F ) › Frank, Anne
• Books › Biographies & Memoirs › Specific Groups › Women
• Books › Biographies & Memoirs › Historical › Holocaust

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• The Freedom Writers Foundation: This website contains information about a story in which a class full of 9th graders tell their own personal stories in the format of a journal/diary. It was made into a movie that ties in perfectly with The Diary of Anne Frank, and is an excellent way to teach students how each one of them - and all of us as well - must be advocates for peace. We must all stand united to stop the prejudice and hate in the world.

Movie Connections edit see section history

• The Diary of Anne Frank (IMDb): 2009
• Forget Me Not: The Anne Frank Story (IMDb): 1996
• Anne Frank Remembered (IMDb): 1995
• The Diary of Anne Frank (IMDb): 1959
• The Freedom Writers: This story is about a whole class of students who write diaries and read The Diary of Anne Frank, which gives them the courage to stand up for change.

More Books Like This edit see section history

Books That Cite This Book edit see section history