Anne Frank's "A Diary of a Young Girl"

          The Diary of a Young Girl is a book written, but not named, by Anne Frank. The copyright date is 1952. Here is a short summary of this book.
          The year is 1942 in Amsterdam, Holland. A 13 year old Jewish girl lives with her family in a nice, quiet, normal life. Then, everything changes when the Nazis invade Holland. Anne and her family are forced to wear Stars of David on their coats when they go anywhere, and Jews are being shipped off to concentration camps one by one. Because of this, Anne's father decides to take his family and go into hiding with another family, the Van Daans. Meanwhile, Anne is keeping a diary of everything that happens to her and her family, and describes what each experience is like. Their life in their hiding place, or the "Secret Annex" is recorded by Anne, and can only be described as interesting. Everything that happens in the Secret Annex is like a regular made up story, even though the story of Anne Frank is true, and this book really is her diary. The diary tells us what life was like, and spells out a story of love, regret, sadness, comedy, happiness, confession, and hope.
            Because the book doesn't follow one story line in particular, I could not say that there is a conflict that is made vivid and obvious to the reader, or even the author. However, if I had to choose one, I would label the conflict as being the Franks and the Van Daans not being able to get along in such an enclosed environment. For example, there is a never ending disagreement between Mrs. Frank and Mrs.Van Daan about numerous subjects. They just don't agree with each other about anything, and Anne hates Mrs. Van Daan for the same reason. No one can really get along with each other for a long period of time, but they all have to, because it's not like they have anywhere else to go. Like I said, this is the only main conflict, and there are many more in the story, but this is the most long term one.
          The theme of this book is transition and humanity. While telling us everything about how people behave with each other, what people's emotions are over this period of time, it also shows how Anne Frank grows from a naive 13 year old girl seeing the world through the eyes of a child to a 15 year old girl who sees a mature perspective and is willing to see both sides of everything, confess when she has done wrong, and look at thing from the eyes of an adult. It also tells us what people begin to do and how people begin to act when they are with each other for a long period of time, hiding from their deaths. It shows us the real depth of people, and how they can transition from one personality to an entirely different one.
          I was assigned this book to read for school. I had heard many things about it, and I was hesitant to begin. When I started the book, I thought that it was tremendously boring, tasteless, and dry. I continued saying this until I got a bit more into the book, and the story started to move a little faster. Once I started that part, I found it hard to put the book down. Everything was told, explained, and described perfectly, and everything tied in. Even though it was just a diary to her, she explained her experiences so well that I was cheering her on all the time in the book. I think that she was the most relateable and likable protagonist that I've read about in a long time. Thanks for reading! Tune in next time.