Quote 21
ANNE: I have a nicer side, Father… But I'm scared to show it. I'm afraid that people are going to laugh at me… So the mean Anne comes to the outside and the good Anne stays on the inside and I keep trying to switch them around and have the good Anne on the outside and the bad Anne on the inside and be what I'd like to be. (1.4)
Anne's struggle with coming into adulthood shows when she confesses it to her father. She wants to grow up and do the responsible, more mature thing, but she's afraid.
Quote 22
ANNE'S VOICE: Then things got very bad for the Jews. (1.1)
Anne relates the background reasons why she and her family are hiding in the attic. With the advent of the Holocaust, it wasn't safe for Jewish people to live in most parts of Europe.
Quote 23
ANNE'S VOICE: We had to wear yellow stars. (1.1)
Anne tells us in her diary that Jewish citizens had to have the Star of David sewn on their clothes so they could be "identified" by the Nazis and have their rights taken away.
Quote 24
ANNE'S VOICE: But somehow we children still managed to have fun. (1.1)
Even though kids like Anne weren't allowed to go to their own schools, and couldn't ride their bicycles, they still remained children.
Quote 25
ANNE'S VOICE: Mother is unbearable! She insists on treating me like a baby, which I loathe. (1.2)
Anne's difficulties with her mom are pretty much what we all experience growing up.
Quote 26
ANNE'S VOICE: I only want some fun… someone to laugh and clown with… After you've sat still all day and hardly moved, you've got to have some fun. (1.3)
Anne's reaction to being cooped up in the Annex seems typical for a kid. She just wants to get out her restless energy and have some fun.
Quote 27
ANNE: I'm going to be remarkable! I'm going to Paris… to study music and art… I'm going to be a famous dancer or singer… or something wonderful. (1.3)
Anne's dreams of becoming something exotic and powerful show us that she still has a child's dreams and determination.
Quote 28
ANNE'S VOICE: There is one great change… A change in myself. I think that what is happening to me is so wonderful… not only what can be seen, but what is taking place inside. (2.1)
It's time to show Anne that movie we all get to watch in sixth grade about the birds and the bees—oh, and the really embarrassing one about changing body parts. It's a good thing that Anne thinks it's the most magical time in her life.
Quote 29
ANNE: We're young, Margot and Peter and I! You grownups have had your chance! But look at us… If we begin thinking of all the horror in the world, we're lost! We're trying to hold on to some kind of ideals… when everything… ideals, hopes… everything, are being destroyed! It isn't our fault that the world is in such a mess! We weren't around when all this started. (2.1)
Anne, Peter, and Margot inherited a world torn apart by war. It isn't fair, as Anne claims, that they should pay the price. They haven't even begun their lives yet. Yes Anne. It's stupidly unfair.