The Secret Anne Frank Conflicts

Anne Frank’s conflicts are rooted in her being trapped as a result of her religion. Since Anne is a Jew living in Holland during Hitler’s reign, she could not have a regular life and receive the opportunity to fulfill her dreams. Her conflict begins once her father Otto Frank moved the family to Holland in 1933 to escape Adolf Hitler’s constraints on Jews living in Germany. Nazi treatment of the Jewish people was squalid. Anne tells how the Jews are forced to wear yellow stars and can’t own bicycles or cars. Jews are restricted to shopping in Jewish shops during certain hours and from being outside after dark. Jews cannot go to the theater or movies or visit Christians. Once Adolf Hitler invaded Holland in 1940, Anne was forced to leave her
school to attend a Jewish one. She feels alienated and alone at her school which pushes her towards writing, “‘Paper has more patience than people…I’m back to the point that prompted me to keep a diary in the first place: I don’t have a friend.”
As the abysmal conditions for Jews intensified and Margot Frank receives a call-up, Otto Frank prepared a refuge for his family.
In July 1942 the Franks and the Van Daans moved into what is referred to as the "Secret Annex", a sanctuary in the building where Otto Frank worked. When the van Daans join them in the annex, Anne is more trapped physically and emotionally. The confined living quarters become even more crowded and less private. Anne is constantly criticized by Mrs. van Daan, who she finds irritating. Mrs. van Daan is constantly bickering with her husband and nagging the others in the annex, which disturbs Anne’s peace. Then Anne has to endure sharing her room with the elderly Mr. Dussel into the annex, thus giving her absolutely no privacy. She longs for a normal life with friends, school, independence, privacy, and
freedom.
Anne struggles with finding her identity.
She is torn between who she thinks she is and what she can achieve and what those around her and society tell her she is and what she will be. She contemplates about her place in society as a female, and how she can overcome the obstacles that have defeated the ambitions of women previously, namely her mother. Anne struggles with how she can be a good person with so much evil present. She is pained once she hears that the Dutch have become anti-Semitic, and does not know if she wants to continue to identify as Dutch. “I have only one hope: that this anti-Semitism is just a passing thing, that the Dutch will show their true colors, that they’ll never waver from what they know in their hearts to be just for this is unjust!” She also struggles to find her identity because she feels as though she lies in her sister Margot’s shadow and is restricted by her mother. Many had thus far considered Margot to be more beautiful and intelligent than Anne. Anne feels her mother, whom she feels is overly protective and faultfinding. She says of her mother, “She’s the one whose tactless comments and cruel jokes about matters I don’t think are funny have made me insensitive to any sign of love on her part…there was no more love between
us.”
Anne Frank learns how intense the Jewish persecution is, with Jews being captured and sent to concentration camps to be killed with the firing squads, the gas chambers, or the crematoriums. Anne lives in a constant underlying fear of being discovered and imprisoned as she hears on the radio. The constant air raids and bombardment of Amsterdam inflict great distress the other occupants of the annex. The realization that a bomb can hit the building at any time they are in become startlingly real, but Anne says, “I decided to grit my teeth and practice being courageous.”
Anne’s diary entries show that she is content and optimistic despite the constant threats and danger that she and those around her face. Her monotonous and cramped life in the annex does not stop Anne from always trying to maintain a positive outlook on life. Even though good news is rarely heard on the radio, Anne continues to hope that the British will come to eliminate the Nazis from Holland so she can live freely again.
Anne is forthright and perceptive about topics she comes to be passionate about: women’s rights and politics. Anne’s political discussions become more complex, giving detailed analyses of the war. Anne’s interest in politics is fervent, making bold statements such as that found in her entry on May 3, 1944. “I don’t believe the war is simply the work of politicians and capitalists. On no, the common man is just as guilty…There is a destructive urge in people, the urge to rage, murder and kill. And until all humanity…undergoes a metamorphosis wars will continue to be waged.” Anne begins to explore issues of women’s rights.
She becomes more introspective and thoughtful when it comes to philosophy and religion. She uses her observations and conclusions about life to offer guidance to humanity. On Thursday, July 6, 1944 Anne writes, “How noble and good everyone could be if, at the end of each day, they were to review their own behaviour and weigh up the rights and wrongs…Those who don’t know will have to find out by experience that ‘a quiet conscience gives you strength!’” She gives advice to those who may feel lost or alone, telling them to “…go outside, somewhere they can be quite alone with heaven, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As long as this exists, it will certainly always be a comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.”
Despite being frequently criticized by those in the annex and previously at school, Anne's constant determination to improve herself is inspiring. She recognized that she could occasionally be mean to those around her, and she tried to examine herself so she could prevent any of her reproachable behavior. On June 13, 1944 Anne writes, “…I know my various faults and shortcomings better than anyone else, but there’s one difference: I also know that I want to change, will change and already have changed greatly!”
Anne is quite immature at the beginning of the diary, evident from her inability to recognize the seriousness of her situation. It is not until she is disturbed by the lack of privacy, the necessity of staying quiet, the impossibility of leaving the annex or going outside, the constant bickering with her anxious mother and sister that she realizes how grave her living conditions are.
During her first year in the annex, Anne struggles to coexist peacefully with the adults. Her parents and the van Daans find her exasperating, insolent and obstinate. Anne feels extremely lonely and in need of kindness and affection, which she feels her mother is incapable of providing.
She also wrestles with her inner self and considers what type of person she wants to become as she enters womanhood. Anne tries to understand her identity in the microcosm of the annex and attempts to understand the workings of the cruel world outside. As she matures, Anne comes to long not for female companionship, but intimacy with a male counterpart. She becomes infatuated with Peter, the van Daan’s teenage son, and comes to consider him a close friend, confidant, and eventually an object of romantic desire.
Anne takes refuge in her diary, using it to express her innermost thoughts and feelings, and revealing her adolescent struggles. She documents her frustrations and her process of maturing. She works at holding her temper, controlling her argumentative ways, being less judgmental, acting kinder to the other occupants (especially her mother and sister), and thinking more positively. At times she succeeds, and at times she feels herself a failure. In her last entry she confides, “If I’m being completely honest, I’ll have to admit that it does matter to me, that I’m trying very hard to change myself, but that I’m always up against a more powerful enemy.”
Anne challenges the social norms of her generation, deciding she wants to become a writer or a journalist, not just a housewife and mother. She also comes to terms with her present situation, and realizes she can at least control her chatter and her poor behavior to improve the already miserable conditions present in the annex.
Anne’s growth is demonstrated through the eloquence of her writings that become profound musings with tinges of bitter irony.