Reading help? Super confused!?

Anne changed in many ways over the two years she was writing her diary. Some of these changes can be described as “growth.” She became an astute observer of politics, and of human nature, and she became a very practiced and well-educated writer. Many of her diary entries suggest a mind mature past her years, and we forget we are reading the work of a teenager.

We should also consider that some of Anne’s changes were because her so-called growth was being stunted. By the end of the diary, we barely recognize the Anne we knew from the first diary entries – and she barely recognizes herself. We see a shell-shocked, alienated, half-starved young woman. Her final diary entry is a cry of despair from someone who just can’t take anymore.

I absolutely love what you have written. You did a great job. But go back in and describe why? What did you see in the story that gave you those opinions?

Anne was like many teens her age. She wanted to laugh, love, be inspired, and try new things. She was filled with the normal curiosity of young people her age. She wanted to experience life outside the confines of the attic where she and her family were hiding. And yet, sadly, she never could.

What Anne did so well in her diary was show us the tragedy of her young life. She was at a point in her life where she should have been dancing, singing, going to church to meet a boy, and planning a bright future, but she didn't get to do any of that. Anne lived in fear of losing her life every day. Stress, worry, restlessness, boredom, confusion, frustration and anger were emotions that she experienced constantly. She came to know what it felt like to be very hungry, even half-starved. She witnessed the brutality of the Germans; the shouting, screams, sirens, gunfire, fires, endless torture, desolation, and the degraded state of her people. She knew first hand what it felt like to hope endlessly...without the promise of a rainbow.

I first read the book when I was a young girl myself. The desire to meet Anne, to help save her from the tragic imprisonment and her eventual death became overwhelming to me. And yet, I knew she had lived long before me. Still, Anne carved a place in my heart that I have never forgotten.

Will men greedy for power never cease to cause corruption and eventual war? Brave human beings like Anne remind us to fight against tyranny of any kind that might threaten and destroy the freedoms our ancestors so gallantly fought to defend...even the Obamas!