The Diary of a Young Girl

Questions and Activities

Questions for Discussion

Choose one of the following clusters of questions to give your discussion a clear focus. Your group will benefit from a closer reading of the suggested passages. 

1. Why does Anne remain happy and optimistic despite all she goes through?

• Why does Anne start to think it is “a good thing” that she has had to “face reality” by being forced into hiding?
• Why does Anne believe that she can always find happiness as long as she knows that she is “pure within”?

       Take a closer look at these passages:

• Wednesday, 23 February, 1944: beginning, “The best remedy for those who are afraid,” and ending, “you will still find happiness.”
• Tuesday, 7 March, 1944: beginning, “And in the evening,” and ending, “will never perish in misery!”

2.  Why does Anne believe that she has to be her own mother?

• After the family goes into hiding, why does Anne suddenly start fighting with her mother all the time? Why is Anne so critical of her mother?
• Does Anne reject her mother’s offer to hear her prayers because Anne has “to speak the truth” or because she wants to hurt her mother?
• Why does it seem to Anne that relations with the Van Daans would have been different if her mother had been “a real Mumsie”?
• Why does Anne feel that the worst period with her mother is over when she says, “It’s true that she doesn’t understand me, but I don’t understand her either”?

       Take a closer look at this passage:

• Saturday, 7 November 1942: beginning, “I cling to Daddy because it is only through him,” and ending, “I try to improve myself, again and again.”

3. Why does writing in her diary help Anne bring out what is buried deep in her heart?

• Why is Anne able to reveal her deeper feelings to her diary, but not to living people?
• Why does the fact that Margot takes her so seriously prevent Anne from confiding in her sister?
• What does Anne mean when she says that “if I trusted someone completely . . . I shouldn’t want them hanging around me all the time”?
• Why is Anne happy thinking of herself as a writer, even if she never gets published?

       Take a closer look at this passage:

• Sunday, 2 January 1944: beginning, “This morning when I had nothing to do,” and ending, “Mummy should carry them in her heart.”

4. Why isn’t Anne satisfied with her friendship with Peter?

• Why does Anne shift the focus of her search for a confidant from her family to Peter?
• Why does Anne find herself unable to reveal to Peter what fills her heart and soul?
• Why does Anne insist that Peter mustn’t lean on her “under any circumstances”?
• Why does Anne conclude that she has to face alone the difficult task of changing herself?

       Take a closer look at this passage:

• Sunday, 15 July 1944: beginning, “Yet this was not my greatest disappointment,” and ending, “and make him do something with his youth.”

Activities Before and After Discussion

Prereading Questions

Briefly discuss one or two of these questions to help your group collect their thoughts about ideas that are relevant to the text.

1. Describe the perfect parent.
2. How would you feel if you weren’t allowed to go outside for over two years and no one could come to see you?
3. Why does everyone need a friend to tell his or her deepest secrets to?

On reading or rereading the text

Mark places where Anne’s high expectations help her, and places where her high expectations hurt her.

In reviewing with your group how they marked the text, note places where they agree and disagree. Ask: How does having this expectation help (or hurt) Anne?

Vocabulary: Interpreting Words

Begin the session by reminding your group that in the last entry of her diary, Anne calls herself a “little bundle of contradictions” and then struggles to understand what this means.

Write on the board:

• not giving in easily, always knowing best, getting in the last word
• having a dual personality

To help your group understand Anne's choice of words, ask:

1. What are some things the public, “superficial,” Anne does? What are some things the private, “deeper,” Anne does?
2. Why is the deeper Anne too frail to be laughed at?
3. Why can’t Anne show both parts of her personality to the world?

Writing After Discussion

Use the following prompts to help your students extend their understanding of the text.

1. Do you think that you could remain as cheerful as Anne during such an ordeal? What would you do to keep up your spirits?
2. Choose an entry from Anne’s diary that you think is especially wise or moving, and explain why it speaks to you.
3. Do you agree with Anne that happiness must be earned?
4. What parts of yourself do you see in Anne Frank?