Quote 41
Everything’s going fine between Peter and me. The poor boy has an even greater need for tenderness than I do. He still blushes every evening when he gets his good-night kiss, and then begs for another one. Am I merely a better substitute for Boche? I don’t mind. He’s so happy just knowing somebody loves him.
After my laborious conquest, I’ve distanced myself a little from the situation, but you mustn’t think my love has cooled. Peter’s a sweetheart, but I’ve slammed the door to my inner self; if he wants to force the lock again, he’ll have to use a harder crowbar. (5/19/1944.2-3)
Anne enjoys giving care and happiness, but herself feels the need for greater emotional intimacy and understanding which Peter does not seem able to provide.
Quote 42
I know very well that he was my conquest, and not the other way around. I created an image of him in my mind, pictured him as a quiet, sweet, sensitive boy badly in need of friendship and love! I needed to pour out my heart to a living person. I wanted a friend who would help me find my way again. I accomplished what I set out to do and drew him, slowly but surely, toward me. When I finally got him to be my friend, it automatically developed into an intimacy that, when I think about it now, seems outrageous. (7/15/1944.9)
Anne recognizes that she didn’t fall in love with Peter, but turned him into someone else in her mind because of her desperate need to love and be loved.
Quote 43
For the umpteenth time, Mrs. van Daan is sulking. She’s very moody and has been removing more and more of her belongings and locking them up. It’s too bad Mother doesn’t repay every van Daan "disappearing act" with a Frank "disappearing act." (9/27/1942.4)
Very quickly, the inhabitants of the Secret Annex demonstrate their selfishness with their own material possessions.
Quote 44
I should explain that yesterday was November 16, the first anniversary of his [Mr. Dussel’s] living in the Annex [. . .] instead of taking the opportunity to thank us – for the first time – for unselfishly taking him in, he didn’t utter a word. (11/17/1943.3)
Mr. Dussel is an example of extreme selfishness, not caring or realizing that the Franks and van Daans unselfishly saved his life.
Quote 45
There are many resistance groups, such as Free Netherlands, that forge identity cards, provide financial support to those in hiding, organize hiding places and find work for young Christians who go underground. It’s amazing how much these generous and unselfish people do, risking their own lives to help and save others.
The best example of this is our own helpers, who have managed to pull us through so far and will hopefully bring us safely to shore, because otherwise they’ll find themselves sharing the fate of those they’re trying to protect. (1/28/1944.5-6)
In contrast to the small-minded bickering that occurs in the Secret Annex, the men and women helping the Franks and van Daans are unselfishly risking their own lives. Anne’s recognition of this shows her insight, awareness, and sense of gratitude.
Quote 46
[. . .] Mother pressed her prayer book into my hands. I read a few prayers in German, just to be polite. They certainly sound beautiful, but they mean very little to me. Why is she making me act so religious and devout? (10/29/1942.3)
This passage suggest that Anne’s mother’s behavior is different than usual. It also highlights Anne as an independent thinker. She is not interested in religion for show or for beauty, but wants it to “mean” something to her.
Quote 47
To give me a new project as well, Father asked Mr. Kleiman for a children’s Bible so I could finally learn something about the New Testament. (11/3/1943.2)
Anne wouldn’t have been exposed to the New Testament in her Jewish school, and her curiosity toward it shows her desire to experiment with religion and religious texts. It would make sense that she would start with a “children’s Bible” – she could learn the basic stories relatively quickly.
Quote 48
The best remedy for those who are frightened, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be alone with the sky, nature and God. For only then can you feel that everything is as it should be and that God wants people to be happy amid nature’s beauty and simplicity. (2/23/1944.3)
Like many before and since her, Anne sees God in the natural world. Yet, her speech is ironic. She is trapped. She can’t go outside. She also says this is the only way you can “feel that everything is as it should be.” In this desperate passage, Anne is stating, very politely, that because she is separated from nature, she is separated from God.
Quote 49
Who has inflicted this upon us? Who has set us apart from the rest? Who has put us through such suffering? It’s God who has made us the way we are, but it’s also God who will lift us up again. In the eyes of the world, we’re doomed, but if, after all this suffering, there are still Jews left, the Jewish people will be held up as an example. Who knows, maybe our religion will teach the world and all the people in it about goodness, that’s the reason, the only reason, we have to suffer. (4/11/1944.48)
Many Jewish people (and others) stopped believing in God after the Holocaust. We don’t know whether Anne did or not, as we don’t know her thoughts during her time in the concentration camps. Here, though, Anne is struggling to reconcile her belief in God with the horrible events she’s experiencing and hearing about. She is also looking for reason in something that must be described as beyond reason.
Quote 50
People who have a religion should be glad, since not everyone has the ability to believe in a higher order. You don’t even have to live in fear of eternal punishment; the concepts of purgatory, heaven and hell are difficult for many people to accept, yet religion itself, any religion, keeps a person on the right path. Not the fear of God, but upholding your own sense of honor and obeying your conscience. How noble and good everyone could be if, at the end of each day, they were to review their own behavior and weigh up the rights and wrongs. They would automatically try to do better at the start of each new day and, after a while, would certainly accomplish a great deal. (7/6/1944.9)
Even though Anne is living in fear, she finds no place for it in her religious philosophy. Anne also shows that for all her sophistication, she is still childlike. For one thing, different people have very different ideas about “honor” and “conscience” than Anne does, Hitler being case in point. Religion can be a source of great comfort, but also of great conflict.