Themes

Our detailed Themes section focuses on the important issues of Anne Frank's narrative. We first examine several aspects of the daily life of the eight people in hiding in the secret annex in Amsterdam. For example, we look at the well-organized life of the people in hiding, the spatial confinement and the frequent conflicts, the food supply and rationing, and the constant fear of the people in hiding and their longing for the outside world.

The next section deals with the coexistence of the teenagers and the adults in the hideout and the generational conflict this brings about, as the three teenagers have to grow up in a confined space with their parents for two years. We first define the terms adolescence and puberty, since there are very clear behavioral differences between the pubescent Anne and the adolescents Margot and Peter, who are three years older. We describe Anne's relationships with the other two teenagers and with her parents in more detail.

The last three sections deal with the main character and cover the following topics: friendship, love, and growing up. In this context, we look at Anne's road to maturity, how she develops over the course of two years from a rather carefree schoolgirl to a reflective adolescent. In this period, her falling in love with Peter and his conquest allow her to experience her first kiss. Here we also discuss Anne as a person who likes disputes, her loneliness, her acquired self-confidence and her reflections. 

Our in-depth interpretation of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (1947) follows the text closely, therefore all statements are backed up by the relevant passages or quotations.