“Anne Frank: The Diary of A Young Girl”, is a diary written by a Jew girl named Anne. During World War II, the Jews were being chased by the German armies, so the Frank family went to live for 3 years to a secret place. During her time in the “Secret Annex”, Anne went through different maturity stages. But all these changes happened because of the social issues, physical settings, and the political views that Anne had. The most interesting thing is that Anne realized how she grew, internally and externally. The maturity stage that Ann reached at the end, helped her deal with all the final conflicts, before they were caught.
Through the 3 years, the social issues were a problem that Anne faced. The constant fights with Mrs. Van Daan were a big influence based on Anne’s maturity. Anne was really upset when Mrs. Van Daan criticized her with the food, although she controlled herself, and she realized it. Also Anne had her constant fights with her mom because they have different personalities, although sometimes Anne tried to do the best so that they would not fight, but when Anne was really upset, with her harsh words, she could make her mummy cry. A great influence on Anne’s feelings was the romance that happened between Peter and her. Before going to the “Secret Annex”, Anne had the attention of all the boys, but Harry was the one that caught her attention. Harry used to take Anne to the school every day, but when the war started Anne never say Harry again. Because she was used to having all the boys’ attention, she wondered why Peter did not liked her. After some time living in the Annex, Anne started falling for Peter. And it was a good thing, because she was not depressed anymore because her life had an “object” now. Although all her social issues were complicated, some of them had a positive effect on her life.
Certainly, the physical settings were a factor that made Anne’s mood depend on that. The “Secret Annex” certainly did so. There were some days that were really hot. Anne was a little altered with that situation. Because of this temperature, the butter was melting and it was so hot that Anne could not wash the dishes because her legs hurt too much. But sometimes Anne felt lucky to be on the Annex; when she thought of what was happening on the outside world, she felt like if it was a paradise compared to the outside. The outside world made Anne feel anxious and nervous because she did not know what was happening. The burglars altered not only Anne but the whole family. There was a burglar in whom the people stole the food coupons and some money. The constant movements made suspicious the warehouse man, although they went over this problem easily. All these troubles made Anne more mature by making her go through problems where she could overcome.
The major impact that influenced Anne’s maturity was the Political views. The Franks and the Van Daans heard the radio every day. But what affected the most to Anne was that the war was not stable, it changed throughout the course of each day; there were invasions one day and the other one Italy was winning, and the next day Germany was winning territories. The Jews taken away made Anne really worried. She spends tons of time thinking about if her friends were alright, but she thought of Lies the most. Anne wondered if Lies was alive, if she was in a concentration camp, or if she was dead. One of the most important news was the D- Day. It made the Franks’ hopes be a little higher because the invasion has begun, and it would certainly help the Jews. But there were fake hopes because of the news. Because of the D- Day Anne thought that they might be able to survive, but they did not make it through the war.
Anne’s difficulties across this process made her maturity levels raise. This novel shows us that Anne overcame some these problems and had a good experience in some of them. The maturity level that she reached made her be prepared so that she could know how to pass this stage of sorrow and pity. And with the help of Pim she was able to figure out that she was changing from being a girl to a woman. The question left is: If she had not been on the “Secret Annex” would she be able to overcome all these difficulties that happened after and during her life in the “Secret Annex”?