As Anne recounts what is happening to the Jews in the Netherlands, she begins to develop a theme about this topic. As she relates each new atrocity, she sometimes inserts her own thoughts and feelings about them, but at other times, she allows the stories themselves to express her underlying message.
You know from previous English classes that novels often include several themes. These messages are what the author believes are important, and they are often reinforced frequently throughout the novel by events that illustrate or support that message. Themes in personal accounts, such as diaries, are also developed in this way as the diarist experiences similar or related events and expresses his or her thoughts and feelings about them.
See if you can identify a theme that runs through several of Anne’s diary entries. Answer each question below. Then check your answers against the ones provided.
At the beginning of the diary, Anne includes a list of all the things that Jews are prohibited from doing. Why does she include this list?
Before going into hiding, Anne’s sister, Margot, gets a call-up notice for a labor camp. In her diary, Anne admits that this news frightens her. The next day after getting the notice, the Franks go into hiding. How does this sequence of events in Anne’s life, as reported in her diary, shape her life?
Reread the diary entry for October 9, 1942. What topics does Anne include in this entry?
Based on these diary entries, what are some possible themes that Anne is developing about the Nazi occupation?
She wants to show how her life has changed because of the Nazi invasion. |
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The call-up notice and her family’s rush into hiding completely turn her world upside down, putting an end to her normal life. |
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She talks about Jews being deported to concentration camps where there is much suffering, how Jews are being gassed, and about an elderly Jewish woman who was left on Miep’s doorstep by the Gestapo. Anne also talks about how the Nazis take hostages to try to find innocent people. If the hostages don’t turn over the saboteurs, the hostages are shot. |
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Some possible themes might be the barbaric nature of the Nazis, her own fears and anxieties about being discovered, as well as sadness and helplessness at not being able to help others. |
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