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Character Sketches

Anne Frank

One of the victims of the Holocaust, Anne Frank is the precocious young writer of The Diary of a Young Girl. Her picture emerging from The Diary is of a playful yet introspective teen forced to live under extraordinary and trying conditions. Over the course of The Diary, Anne seems to grow from an impudent and stubborn girl into an emotionally independent young woman.

Despite having a loving family and several friends, Anne is unable to share her thoughts with any of them. Instead, she turns to her diary for this purpose. She has a troubled relationship with her mother who she believes falls short of her ideal mother. She is close to her father; yet, in her mind, even he fails to provide her the emotional comfort she seeks. Like any growing teenager, she has a rebellious spirit; desires to be treated as an adult; and hopes to make a name for herself in the world. 

Accounts of Jewish suffering anguish Anne to the point of remorse at her own good fortune. She is conscious of the demoralising effect of the cruelty and devastation prevailing in the world outside the “Secret Annexe”. Nevertheless, she holds on to her ideals of honesty, hard work and self-improvement, and her trust that humans are essentially good.Otto Frank was the only member of his immediate family to have survived the Holocaust, dying much later in 1980. Post his marriage to Edith Frank and the birth of their two daughters Margot and Anne, Otto Frank had immigrated to Holland in 1933 due to his Jewish descent and became the managing director of the Dutch Opekta Company. The Diary was published by him in the memory of his daughter.

Otto Frank had a remarkable presence of mind and fiercely protective instinct about his family; he was a reassuring and thoughtful figure in their…

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