Anne Frank: the Diary of Young Girl

February 11, 2021 by Essay Writer

Throughout the book, The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, Anne developed and changed into a young woman. In the beginning of the book, Anne felt a lot of self-pity and regret for her actions. She always was compared to her sister Margot who was described as the perfect daughter who never talked back or got in fights with people like Anne often did. Anne questioned herself, “Am I really so badmannered, conceited, headstrong, pushing, stupid, lazy, etc., etc., as they all say? Oh of course not. I have my faults, just like everyone else, I know that, but they thoroughly exaggerate everything” (Frank, pg. 54). Mrs. Van Daan often made Anne feel weak miserable about herself and made her dread being in the Secret Annexe. Since she was just a young girl, Anne didn’t really know how to be strong and have confidence in herself.

As the book goes on, Anne Frank gains some knowledge and reflects on her past and her family and tries to move on. She meditates on her earlier life and thinks, “I just didn’t want to see all of this, and pitied myself very much, but that, too, is understandable. Those violent outbursts on paper were only giving vent to anger which in a normal life could have been worked off by stamping my feet a couple of times in a locked room, or calling Mummy names behind her back” (Frank, pg 170). Because Anne looked back at her past mistakes, it makes her stronger and helps her develop into a better, happier person who doesn’t dwell on everything questionable she has done.

As the book comes to an end, Anne realizes that she has two sides to her personality. She explains, “I’ve already told you before that I have, as it were, a dual personality. One half embodies my exuberant cheerfulness, making fun of everything, my high spiritedness, and above all, the way I take everything lightly. This includes not taking offense at a flirtation, a kiss, an embrace, a dirty joke. This side is usually lying in wait and pushes away the other, which is much better, deeper and purer” (Frank, pg. 340). Anne finally comes to realize that she isn’t perfect and most people haven’t seen her better side. She wishes people like her parents and Peter didn’t always have to see her lesser side, but that’s just the way it is.


Daphne du Maurier, the author of Rebecca, used a lot of very wonderful descriptions which had deeper meanings throughout the book. For example, Manderley’s library was described, “There was an old quiet smell about the room, as though the air in it was little changed, for all the sweet lilac scent and the roses brought to it throughout the early summer. Whatever air came to this room, whether from the garden or from the sea, would lose its first freshness, becoming part of the unchanging room itself, one with the books, musty and never read, one with the scrolled ceiling, the dark panelling, the heavy curtains” (du Maurier, p 69). This description of the room possessed a dull and somber mood. Deep down it really meant that Rebecca’s essence and existence still appeared in the room, therefore that was why why it was so dreary and dead in the library. Anything fresh that came to the room would never thrive and prosper. Also, it inferred that the library didn’t have a lot of liveliness because of her death and how it gave the narrator a bit of uneasiness and dread living in Rebecca’s house as her “replacement”.

In the book, the narrator’s name and background is never revealed due to a deeper and more symbolic meaning. The narrator is the new Mrs. De Winter and has replaced Rebecca, the old Mrs. De Winter. It is very hard for her to move on and be happy because she believed that everyone loved and missed the old Rebecca and doesn’t care about her because she deserves to be unknown. Also, she always felt that Rebecca was still there in the house and will always be there. The narrator explained, “Unconsciously I shivered, as though someone had opened the door behind me, and let a draught into the room. I was sitting in Rebecca’s chair, I was leaning against Rebecca’s cushion, and the dog had come to me and laid his head upon my knee because that had been his custom, and he remembered, in the past, she had given sugar to him there” (du Maurier, p 79). In conclusion, this was the reason why her name was never revealed. Rebecca was the type of person who knew how to make everyone love her when she was alive and mourn her existence forever when she was dead. The narrator would’ve had to overcome the dead Mrs. De Winter for it to be important for her name to be revealed because she was the lesser one of the two and could never out grow her legacy.

To Kill a Mockingbird

The book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a book that was seperated into two different parts. It is divided into two parts because both sections have a different topic. The first part of the book is all about Boo Radley and the town of Maycomb. It is basically explaining Scout and Jem’s normal lives during the time period of the 1930s in the south. On the other hand, the second part of the book is all about the scandalous trial in which Atticus is defending Tom Robinson, the black man accused of raping a white woman. Also, another reason the book is divided into two is because Jem and Scout have grown up. The second part of the book shows the more “mature” version of the children. In the beginning of the book Scout was six and Jem was ten. In the beginning of part two Jem was twelve and scout was eight. Since scout was becoming an older boy, he was starting to change his attitude and lose most of young playful mood. His new self was described, “Jem was twelve. He was difficult to live with, inconsistent, moody” (Lee, pg. 109). This showed how part two of the book also illustrated how people change as they grow up in life.

A concrete symbol in To Kill a Mockingbird was the knot-hole in the tree at the edge of the Radley lot. The situation when Scout first saw the knot-hole was described, “Some tinfoil was sticking in a knot-hole just above my eye level, winking at me in the afternoon sun. I stood on tiptoe, hastily looked around once more, reached into the hole, and withdrew two pieces of chewing gum minus their outer wrappers” (Lee, pg. 35). This was a key symbol in the book because it was Boo Radley’s way of communication with the kids through giving them little presents. Although he didn’t leave the house much, it still showed that he was a good person who just wanted a friendship. The knot-hole was a sign of friendliness and also a sign of awareness of Boo Radley being a normal human being and not some crazy neighbor they have.


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