The Secret Anne Frank Analysis

How long would it take most people to do self-improvement; eliminating bad habits and replacing them with good ones? The common answer is probably several years, depending on the magnitude of the change. However, in the case of Anne Frank, being forced into confinement to avoid the Nazis has made her mature and make several large changes in just a little over a year, a remarkably short amount of time. In fact, if you were to take a look at her entries written in 1942 compared to 1944, you might have thought they were written by two different people had it not been specified that the whole diary was written by Anne herself. Over the course of her diary, Anne has undergone many dramatic changes such as her views toward the conflicts between the Franks and Van Daans, her views towards her mother, and her feelings for Peter.

Throughout their time in the Secret Annexe, the Franks and Van Daans were often quarrelling with each other over many different issues. Anne is her new view towards the quarrels with the Van Daans. In 1942, she
believed that the Van Daans were solely responsible for all of the conflicts, but in 1944 she came to the realization that her family was partly to blame as well. For example, Mrs. Van Daan thought that Anne’s mother, Mrs. Frank, was going to share linen sheets with everyone in the Annex. However, Mrs. Frank, upon discovering this, decided to keep her linen sheets only for her family, which sparked much tension between the two families.

Anne has always showed a preference for her father over her mother, but in 1942, she wrote of her mother in an almost contemptuous way. She felt that her mother never understood her, and that she was being criticised unfairly. Constantly, she kept trying to distance herself from her mother, feeling very independent and capable. However, over time, she came to the understanding that her mother was not entirely wrong in scolding her. Anne understood that given their treacherous and dangerous situation, it would only have been natural for her mother to get angry with her more often than usual. This view of her mother is something unanticipated compared to how she complained about her mother at first.

Peter Van Daan was a seventeen year old boy, the son of Mr and Mrs. Van Daan, who was also staying in the Annexe. When he first came over, Anne immediately found him to be of no company for her. She wrote that “I still don’t like Peter any more, he is so boring; he flops lazily on his bed half the time, does a bit of carpentry, and then goes back for another snooze. What a fool” (24). Likewise, he found her to be overly talkative and outgoing for him. However, as she got to know him better, she began to feel differently about him. Gradually, she became attracted to him, and even held romantic feelings towards him. This is a completely unexpected twist when you consider how she wrote about him at the beginning.

As you can see, Anne has really made quite the transformation since she started writing her diary.
She began as the childish, talkative thirteen year old girl to an intelligent, mature young woman. Even her views about her pet peeves, such as the supposedly quarrelsome Van Daans, her mother behaving not like she wants, and the quiet Peter, gradually evolved into those of more sensitivity and consideration for others. It seemed so unlikely that she could come to change these viewpoints, and yet she did. What is even more amazing is how quickly she did this. Which brings me back to the question: how long does it actually take for a person to reform? Does it take many years? Considering Anne’s example, I believe the answer to this is really as long as the person wants to take. No matter how difficult the change, a person that is willing to improve will just take a short amount of time, for that is the remarkable determination of
humans.