ANNE FRANK
The Diary of Anne Frank has been published and after, read by hundreds of thousands of people. Annelies Marie Frank was a bright Jewish girl born on June 12, 1929, in Germany. On the onset of World War Two, Anne and her family were forced to go into hiding to avoid the persecution that the Jews were going through in the hands of the Nazis. Although they were eventually captured, Anne was able to write down her experiences and her feelings when being in hiding. These experiences were written in a diary she received for her thirteenth birthday. Initially, she wanted the entries of the diary to be private but when she heard about the possibility of getting her work published, she started writing it in order to hopefully get published someday. Accordingly, the understudy will analyze teenage relationships based on the diary of Anne Frank.
Anne’s Relationship with Her Mother
Like most teenagers, Anne had a strained relationship with her mother. This may be attributed to a lack of time and space that is required to form the bonds necessary to have a close mother-daughter relationship. Edith and Anne were constantly fighting as they both had similar characteristics. Edith Frank was cold and tactless, according to her daughter Anne. Anne felt that her mother always supports her sister, Margot, more. In reality, though, Edith supports her daughter, for instance, when Anne was scolded by Mrs. Van Daan for being too playful. The same is the case for many teenagers and their parents. Most of the misunderstandings revolve around teenagers feeling as though their parents do not understand them and are too hard on them. In essence, most parents just want the best for their children and are usually not prepared for the reality that their children are also growing into independent adults themselves.
Anne’s Relationship with Her Father
Otto Frank and his daughter had quite the close bond. Ann preferred her father over her mother. In her diary, she wrote, “I can even imagine my mother dying one day. But I can’t imagine living without my father.” Anne loved her father that she even prayed with him. She believed her dad supported her although once in a while, he sided with her mother and sister. This is not strange, even among teenagers today. Adolescents, in their journey to adulthood, face a lot of challenges and strained relationships, as a result, they, therefore, turn to those people and things that make them feel understood and accepted. To Anne, her strained relationship with her mother led her to believe that only her father understood what she was going through. She, therefore, devoted most of her love to her father. It is not uncommon to find teenagers preferring one parent over the other, or another close relative with whom they feel the most understood and accepted.
Anne’s Romantic Relationships
Anne had a crush on Peter Schiff. This was a boy she knew when she was in school before they went into hiding. She often wrote about how she thought about Peter Schiff all the time. When her family went into hiding with Fritz Pfeffer and the Van Daan family, she started developing feelings for Peter van Daan. Peter did not seem like a good fit in the beginning as he was very shy and this contrasted with Anne’s personality. Eventually, she develops romantic feelings for Peter who also feels the same towards her but cannot admit it as he is too shy. Adolescents develop romantic feelings during this phase in their growth curve. It is a normal occurrence and teenagers should not be ashamed of having these feelings. Care should be taken, however, to ensure that these feelings are dealt with responsibly. Parents and guardians should take the initiative to talk to the teenagers in their care about romance and the positive results as well as the consequences that may arise when such feelings are mishandled.
Anne’s Relationship with Friends
After the Frank family was forced to go into confinement to hide from the Nazis, the only other people Anne could relate with apart from her family was Fritz Pfeffer and the van Daan family, real name van Pels. There were frequent fights between these people who had been forced to live in a small room for over two years with barely any outside contact. Such kind of living arrangements, coupled with the fear of being caught by the Nazis led to strained relationships among these people. There were frequent fights between Edith Frank and Mrs. Van Daan, especially over Anne. Anne Frank also frequently fought with her sister, Margot. While this could be linked to the fact these people were overwhelmed by their living conditions, Anne’s own feelings could be attributed to her growing phase. Some teenagers lose friends through their adolescent phase as they grow apart, a normal occurrence. On the other hand, other relationships may grow stronger. As adolescents mature, they become more aware of themselves and these may result in stronger relationships or, the total opposite, broken relationships.
Conclusion
The Diary of Anne Frank was about a Jewish girl’s experience during the World War two and how this affected the relationships she had with the people in her world around that time. Anne was basically a normal teenage girl who just happened to grow up in a time when she was facing persecution for something she could not have any control over, the religion she was born in. Regardless, she continues being herself even as she grows into adulthood, through adolescence. Her story is very relatable to teenagers currently. While the teenagers in this era are not battling World War Two, they still have their personal fights and wars within themselves and in the society as a whole. Social media, drugs and substance abuse, increased mental illnesses such as anxiety and other social issues are what teenagers face today. The story of Anne Frank is a source of inspiration to teenagers today. It is a lesson that despite what is going on around them, what is important is what is within them. The publication of the diary of Anne Frank opened up an opportunity for teenagers to have a relatable person who lived through one of the worst times in history but still managed to continue making the most out of her life.