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The Diary of Anne Frank 30971 Views


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Description:

She was just a girl who found herself in some unimaginably awful circumstances. If you feel like gaining some valuable perspective on the drama in your life, cozy up with this little book.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

Diary of Anne Frank, a la Shmoop. The Diary of Anne Frank, or as it was originally

00:11

published, Diary of a Young Girl...

00:13

...is, in some ways, much like any young girl's diary.

00:17

In it, she vents about her mother.

00:19

She talks about boys.

00:20

She talks about boy trouble.

00:23

She expresses a slew of joys, fears, insecurities and doubts.

00:30

The only difference is the setting.

00:33

One of the reasons that Anne's diary affects us so profoundly is that it is nothing like

00:40

any other books about the Holocaust.

00:43

It doesn't put the reader inside the concentration camps...

00:45

...exposing them to the abject horror of the prisoners' circumstances.

00:50

It doesn't focus on the Nazis, asking the reader to examine the soldiers' psyches in

00:54

an attempt to understand what could cause them to perform such inhumane acts of brutality.

01:00

Nope. Instead... it's a coming-of-age story.

01:05

Anne lives with her parents, she has friends and crushes... and a cat.

01:10

We can see her grow up as we read... from an innocent child, curious about the world

01:15

and filled with angst...

01:16

...to a young adult. More confident, more secure... and with the newfound wisdom to be absolutely

01:29

terrified. We are naturally drawn to stories of children

01:39

anyway...

01:40

...and when one of them is placed in such a unique, chilling situation as Anne Frank...

01:46

...our attention is held raptly.

01:48

Her diary gives us insight into a point of view we just don't have much access to in

01:54

terms of World War II literature.

01:56

Not that of a grown man, who has lived a full life and has long been aware of the potential

02:02

cruelty of man...

02:05

...but of a young, blossoming girl, who felt as if she had her entire life in front of

02:12

her...

02:13

...and could not have known the extent of the evil that lives in some men's hearts.

02:19

What makes her emotional journey even sadder...

02:22

... is that we know there was an entire generation of young children with similar stories.

02:27

Anne's diary gave a voice to all those who died far too young.

02:32

We remind ourselves that, as tragic as this account is...

02:35

...it is only a mere sampling of the agony and despair that was suffered by Jewish youth

02:41

in 1940's Nazi Germany. And, while many young girls write about...

02:46

...gossip, secret crushes, and sibling rivalries...

02:48

...Anne was a young girl just like them...

02:52

...who had far more terrible things from which to hide.

02:58

Can you imagine being in Anne's situation... trying to grow up normally... at the same

03:05

time that you are surrounded by an unspeakable evil?

03:08

How would you have handled it? Shmoop amongst yourselves.

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