Most people have heard of Anne Frank, the girl who lived in hiding during the course of the Holocaust. However, not everyone is to have read her amazing diary of her experience in the Secret Annex. Her diary tells of how she survived two years of hiding, simply because she was a Jew. It also reveals how she felt about the others in the Annex, and her personal thoughts about the war. Anne was thirteen when she entered the annex, and fifteen when she came out. Thirteen to fifteen is usually a time when children begin to mature. Her maturity can be seen as childish and immature at the beginning of her diary, but as the diary progresses, so does she. Perhaps the seriousness of the situation and the danger of her living helped shape how rapidly …show more content…
When Anne entered the attic, most all she did was quarrel, quarrel, and quarrel. It seemed as if Anne enjoyed quarreling with the rest of the Annex; there is not one person in the annex who she hasn’t quarreled with (except perhaps Peter). For example, ““Mr Dussel, I do take my work seriously. I can’t study next door in the afternoons, and I would appreciate it if you would reconsider my request!”” (Frank 7.13.1943). Anne was arguing with Mr. Dussel if she could use the room that they share as a work space two afternoons a week. However, it is noticeable that while she made her request seem simple and easy to fulfil, she gave no other evidence or explanation, other than that she needed a workspace. Maybe if she had given a reasoning and had something to back up her claim, Dussel may have listened more. Later along in the diary Anne has another debate with Mrs. Van Dann about lending materials to Mr. Kleiman. However, unlike her quarrel with Dussel, she gives supporting evidence to back up her thoughts by saying “It’s not our place to criticize the people who are helping us” (Frank 3.25.1944). Possibly, if she had the same argument with Mrs. Van Dann two years earlier, she might have only said that they should let Mr. Kleiman have part of their supplies, and not have included evidence or reason. Therefore, during the course of the time in the annex, Anne matures in her …show more content…
Anne was always sort of a chatterbox, and very disruptive in class. She also had many friends from her bright personality and cheerful demeanor. Anne thought that she was the most popular person, and thinks that if a boy meets her for the first time, most of the time “he’ll become enamored on the spot” and fall ‘in love’ with her (Frank 6.20.1942). Anne was, in a way, vain in the way she thought of herself. However, as she spends more time in the annex, she comes to realize what all her friends were before. In one entry, she writes about her past life, and how not all her friends were friends with her in genuine. She writes “I want friends, not admirers”, and that she “wasn’t altogether happy” (Frank 3.7.1944). The fact that she begins to realize things about her youthful life shows a sign of maturity. Many people her age would most likely not ponder on their past like she did. Another example of her maturity is her diary entry on June 13, 1944. In this entry, she admits that she is a know it all, but also pours out her pain that she keeps hidden from herself. She writes, “I scold and curse myself much more than anyone else does”, as an explanation of her pain (Frank 6.13.1944). She reprimands herself for her mean words to everyone else in the annex. Her maturity at this point is strongly seen from her entries. This particular entry is proof of her maturing mind, as her thoughts in