Anne Frank Prejudice Analysis

In the captivating Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, the habit of prejudice reoccurs throughout Anne’s story. For example, the reason for which the Franks go into hiding, the Nazis’ and Adolf Hitler’s prejudice against European Jewry. *SPOILER ALERT* On page 4 Anne explains some of the disadvantages Jews are forced to face just because of their religion and the ruler’s opinions and perspective on it, “Jews must wear a yellow star, Jews must hand in their bicycles, Jews are banned from trams and forbidden to drive.” However, there were also small instances of prejudice in Anne’s everyday life before the holocaust and war. For instance, *SPOILER ALERT* Harry’s grandmother doesn’t think Anne is suitable to be with him because she is young.

The disease of prejudice can be influenced by the way a child’s parent, friend, sibling, etc. treat a certain race, religion, or gender. This can be seen in the book as well. *SPOILER ALERT* For example, page 94 shows that the ways the Franks judge Mrs. Van Daan affects Anne’s view on her as well. “Mummy thinks she is too stupid to waste words over, Margot too unimportant, Pim too ugly(literally and figuratively), and I, after long observation- for I was never prejudice from the start- have come to the conclusion that she is all three and a lot more!” In this quote, Anne even admits that as she was not born with prejudice, but her family’s behavior has influenced her to be infected with the “disease”. Nonetheless, will the disease of prejudice ever be cured? Why has it continues to stay so prevailing? I think this all goes back to the nature over nurture debate. Since people maintain influencing prejudice with unfair actions and words, children keep being affected with this and acting this way, which extends the cycle. So, unfortunately, I do not think prejudice will completely be cured, but it may be able to slowly become less sufficient in