The Summary of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
As one may tell from the title of the book, this entire memoir consists of epistles from the diary of a young Anne Frank, and is, in my opinion, absolutely breathtaking. To be able to get a one-on-one feel of the conditions Anne, and many other Jews, had to live like is horrifying but also immensely interesting. Through her diary we watch Anne grow up into a young lady through pages, a rather beautiful blossoming. She received her diary as a birthday gift for her thirteenth birthday, June 12th and less than a month later, Anne and her family went into hiding into what Anne refers to as the "Secret Annex" as to avoid the German concentration camps, and so does Anne’s diary.
Although Anne’s father doesn’t wish to explain why the Jewish people were being forced out of their homes to his naive daughter, Anne knows that her life will be different for the get-go. At first, the decrees banning Jewish people from doing certain things went above her head, and she focused on her happy life, her school work and friends, her gentlemen suitors being the biggest problem, but soon, Jews weren’t allowed to ride in public transportation, could only shop at certain stores, had to identify themselves by wearing patches, and couldn’t be in a school with other children—this is when Anne started to notice how things were changing, and when some of her friends stopped coming to school, she understood, although not so thoroughly, the situation she, and Jews all over Europe, were about to be put in. So did her father, apparently, because he was the one who readied the “Secret Annex” for their arrival.
During their time in the "Annex" the Franks allow the family of the Van Daans— Mr and Mrs Van Daan as well as their son, Peter— and later on, Mr. Dussel to live with them, also. The families went into hiding during the year of 1942 until 1944. They do not get to go outside, are given only a small variety of dried or canned food, their 2 or 3 set of clothes which are being shared with one another growing far too small, and what Anne describes worst of all, the quarrels; Mr. Van Daan fighting with Mrs. Van Daan, Anne with her mother, Anne with Margot, Anne with Mr. Dussel, Mrs. Van Daan with Mrs. Frank, of course such fights can only be expected when people, who previously did not live together and aren’t used to seeing each other day and night, are thrust into the position where they live together for 2 years.
From her diary entries you can tell Anne matures very much in the two years she lives in the "Annex", in my opinion, perhaps Anne has seen and knows far too much than any other 13 or 14 year old should. Instead of focusing on her school work, riding bikes, playing outside, and slowly maturing as most girls of this age do, Anne thinks of war, how her mother is not the ideal motherly figure she craves for her to be and how because of being hurt, she pushes her away, which in turn, hurts her mother as well more than she lets on, she takes pills to fight depression, and realizes that even though she's constantly reprimanded for "talking too much" Anne must talk in order to close the void she feels which is building inside of her. Anne realizes how wrong it is to judge people, not just by their religion or culture, but by their ethics, habits, race, color and anything else because she, herself, is inspected every day by the elders, who seem to be just waiting for Anne to slip up. Anne realizes that out of anyone, she judges herself the most, thinking over all her actions of the day at night, whether she could have done something differently, or better, or if this was irresponsible.
Nearing the end of the diary, Anne writes several entries dedicated to one topic- Peter Van Daan. In early January of 1944, Anne finds herself liking Peter as more than just a friend, and soon realizes that her feelings are returned. Anne and Peter form an unofficial relationship. Even though I’m happy Anne found a source of happiness in Peter and they are able to help each other cope through the difficult time they are in, I don’t think Anne would have chosen Peter as her love interest if for not being in hiding. In the beginning of the story Anne talks about Henry, a boy who fancies her, and she’s all but in love with, and so I think Peter, he’s not really one of the runners or candidates for Anne’s love, but the whole election. And although she feels happier when she’s with Peter, despite their precious moments spent together, Anne finds herself still unhappy.
In the months to come, talk of a revolution and the end of the war is very hopeful, and all the residents in the “Secret Annex” are very optimistic, in fact, Anne even tells her diary about D-Day, June 6th and all of the Franks as well as the Van Daans and Dussel hope to soon be out of the confined space which they have been living in, to get fresh air, to take luxury baths, and to eat warm meals, already picturing how wonderful it will be after the war. Anne however, refuses to let herself hope too much, because she fears her expectations might be let down.
August 1st, 1944 is Anne’s last journal entry. In this rather short entry, Anne takes a break from talking about the war and talks about herself and how others perceive her- the loudmouth, the “Bundle of contradictions”, the “Boy Chaser After”, all these titles, Anne admits, were only given to her by others who don’t understand her. People think of her to be far too loud and talkative, but Anne confides that she only talks as a way to distract herself. To convince her mind she is happy, although in her heart, she’s really not. However, as you can tell from the many quarrels described with Mrs. Van Daan over this topic, others do not understand this.
The end of the book are not pages from Anne’s diary but a telling of what experts believe to have happened to the Frank family: on August 4th it is predicted a Dutch informer told the Gestapo of the “Secret Annex” and the eight Jews were taken to their headquarters in Amsterdam and after a few weeks of imprisonment, were sent to Westerbork. On September 3rd, the Allies captured Brussels, but alas, the Franks were among the last 1,000 shipment of Jews to leave Holland.
The families were separated, the Frank women in one camp and Otto Frank in another. Soon Anne’s mother and sister, Margot, died. Although, from claims of people who survived, Anne was never informed, perhaps she sensed something to be amiss, but her speculations were never clarified. Anne soon also dies. Two weeks later, Allies win the war and invade the concentration camps. I personally think it’s almost too tragically horrible to be real. She could have lived if only the Allies came 2 weeks earlier. 14 days. That’s all it would have taken, and after surviving all she’s been through, Anne dies only a little too soon. Now Mr. Otto Frank is the only living member of the Frank family and returns to the “Annex” to see paper all over the floor, this turns out to be Anne’s diary.
At reading the diary, Mr. Frank is said to have cried immediately after, and at first, he chose to keep the diary his own special possession, which no other eyes could see, but after being urged by a professor, Mr. Frank submits Anne’s diary to be made into a book.
Once published, the book became a best seller, selling over a million copies, then translated into over 20 languages, selling approximately five million more copies. The name of Anne’s diary was changed, from the German name, Het Achterhuis, this is the name Anne originally wished to call the diary if it was ever published, although there’s no exact translation, the closest means The Secret Annex, however, this name was changed to Anne Frank, and now simply, it is known as Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl.
I feel so thankful after finishing the book, for all that I have, and I feel horrible for how we take things for granted when people like Anne have to live in a box almost, isolated from the world for two years and to no avail. Germany also feels shameful because the story was turned into a play, which when performed in Germany, received no applause at the end but a single despondent cry. There are many schools and places named after Anne as well, including the school Anne went to, before their family went into hiding.
Overall, the book was an absolutely amazing read of the struggles Jews faced during World War 2 as well as a major reality check for yours truly, and I now understand what all the hype for this book was about. I think if Anne knew how many she was inspiring with her stories, she’d feel just as proud of herself as I, and I’m sure millions of other people, do as well.
Thank you Anne.
No comments:
Post a Comment