The Diary Of A Young Girl
by Anne Frank
Table of Contents
Discussion Questions
1. Discuss the ways in which Anne matures throughout the course of her diary. How is her maturation process affected by the adversity of her circumstances?
2. For Anne, what function does the diary serve? Discuss Anne’s belief that “paper is more patient than people.” How does having the diary help Anne to deal with her situation?
3. Anne often writes of her gratitude and respect for the non-Jewish friends who help to protect those in the annex. In her book Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman who Helped to Hide the Frank Family, Miep Gies says that she is not a hero but simply an ordinary person who was willing to do “what seemed necessary at the time.” She also explains that “more than twenty thousand Dutch people helped to hide Jews and others in need of hiding during those years. I willingly did what I could to help. My husband did as well. It was not enough.” Discuss Miep’s assertion that she did not behave heroically. Do you agree or disagree? If members of a group you did not belong to were being systematically persecuted and killed the way Jews were in World War II Europe, do you think you would behave like Miep and the other thousands of Dutch people she mentions?
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