Have you ever participated in a class discussion and found that your disagreed with a classmate's opinion? When it was your turn to voice your thoughts and ideas, what helped you explain why your thinking was different from your peer's? Evidence is the key to supporting any claim; it helps explain why you think or feel the way you do. Typically, evidence takes the form of examples, quotes, facts, and events that support your ideas and help others better understand your thinking.
To support your claim about a work of literature, you'll need to locate and summarize specific passages. Study the examples below. First, skim each diary entry listed below, and think about how you might summarize it. Then click the date to compare your summary to the example.
Anne describes what's happening in the outside world, based on what she and the others in the Annex learn from Dr. Dussel, shortly after he joins them. Anne also expresses her own feelings about Hitler's atrocities and what they represent.
Anne starts to get depressed as the war rages on and she learns of people's suffering outside the Annex. She alternates between hope for her future and the terror of knowing that she and her family could be found and killed at any time by the Nazis occupying the city.
Anne expresses sadness and frustration about the fact that she must spend so much of her childhood and adolescence in hiding, with restrictions that make it hard to have any fun. At the same time, she acknowledged that she is much luckier than most of her friends, who have been sent to concentration camps.
Anne writes about how hard it is to stay true to one's principles and ideals in the midst of such a terrible war. She wants to believe that people are mostly good at heart, but her situation and what she has seen happen around her make it hard for her to hold onto that belief.
This is Anne's last diary entry before the Annex is discovered and therefore her final words to the world. She tries to understand where she fits into the world and wonders if she will be allowed to reach her full potential—something she believes that she cannot do while stuck inside the Annex.
After you summarized a key passage from Anne's diary, you'll need to think about how to include it in your essay, as evidence for your claim. Use the questions below to practice this important skill.
Open your book and reread the diary entry written on November 8, 1943. Write a thesis statement that could be supported by this passage.
Reread Anne's final entry written on August 1, 1944. What questions could you ask yourself that could help you create a claim based on the details of this passage?
Anne's fear not only affects her mood—it also interferes with her hopes for the future. The details in the passage reveal that Anne knows life will never be the same for her or her family. |
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Why does Anne feel like she cannot fully express herself? Why is Anne afraid of showing her "deeper" side? Who keeps trying to give Anne advice, and why isn't she able to take it? |
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