Roar Post#3 [Pages 136-204]

SUMMARY

In this section of the story, Mr.Kleiman has to be hospitalized in order to get an operation on is stomach. In spite of his pan and suffering, he still remains the epitome of happiness, as Anne notes.

At one point of in the diary, Anne talks about a dream that she had. In her dream, Hanneli Goslar, a childhood friend, was seen dressed in rags, while also having a worn face. She seemed absolutely miserable, and Anne couldn’t do anything except watch and prolong her suffering. She represents everything that Anne would have been if she hadn’t gone into hiding. But although she is safe from the Nazis, life in the Annex still is torturous of its own accord. A few days later she writes that she longs to ride a bike, to dance, to whistle, and to just be able to look at the world. She writes that she wants people to understand her as simply a teenager that wants to have fun. This leads to Anne talking about missing having a mother that understands her. She wants a mom that doesn’t take offense to everything too quickly and understands people, but also has the capability to take Anne seriously at times. On another note however, Anne has definitely matured more in this section. When she looked back at her diary entries from last year, she was shocked at how openly she wrote of her feelings of hatred toward her mother. She admits that she was extremely moody at the time and that caused her to see things only from her own perspective without even considering the feelings of those that she had offended. She also goes on to say that all of these hateful writings in her diary are expressions of her immense anger on paper that she could’ve let out while locked in her room (if she didn’t have her diary). In addition, she mentions how although she is more wise and aware of her Mother’s nerves and they seem to be getting along better, she can’t love her mother with a devotion of a child anymore.

At this point, Anne is adequately aware of puberty and the changes going on inside of her body as well as outside. She says that whenever she gets her period, although it is although it is painful, discomforting, and messy, she enjoys it because it is like she is carrying a secret. In addition to this, Anne really longs for someone to talk to, and she chose to go to Peter van Daan. At night, she had a dream about Peter (a different Peter, (Peter Schiff)) and that made her realize that she was sill in love with him. Over the next few diary entries, she keeps on mentioning her love for him.

Anne’s attitude towards the van Daans has changed greatly, because she is more understanding of them. Before she always thought that it was always 100% the van Daans fault for starting arguments, but she realizes that her family deserves some blame as well.

Before Anne came to live at the Annex, the topic of sex was spoken in either a secretive or disgusting manner (at home or school). Now that she is here, when she talks about with Peter van Daan, she found out that he has none of those intentions. He was able to talk about a very awkward subject in a very normal voice. Anne is amazed because she is never able to even to talk to a girl about this subject in this way.

            On another note, Anne says that she extremely grateful of people like Bep, Miep, Mr.Kleiman, and Mr.Kuglar because they risk their lives to volunteer to help those in hiding. She says that while some show heroism on the battlefield, these people show it everyday through their good spirits and affections.

            Finally, one morning Anne sat in front of the window and looked outside at God and at the sky and just nature overall. And inside her a pure happiness was awakened.

QUOTE

 “Riches, prestige, everything can be lost. But the happiness in your own heart can only be dimmed; it will always be there, as long as you live, to make you happy again.”

(Frank 196).

REACTION

I first want to comment upon what she said on page 154. She said that sometimes she wonders if people will be able to overlook the fact that she is sometimes ungrateful or the fact that she is Jewish and look at her purely as a teenager. I’ll admit that it wasn’t until I read this that I began to sympathize more with her. I guess it was because she writes in such an adult style that sometimes I mistake her as being 18 or something. Sometimes it is tough to think of her as 14 or 15 because most 14 and 15 year olds that I know (including myself) do not write as elegant as she does. Upon saying this, this probably reinforces my statement about life in the 40’s. About how there was much emphasis on education. Once again, it is seems like learning and reading books isn’t even a chore for Anne. On the contrary, it seems like loads of fun.

On page 168, Anne says that before coming to the Annex, she didn’t think about things as much as she does now. A light bulb turned on in my head when I read this, and I immediately I made a connection to the autobiography “ A Hole in My Life” by Jack Gantos. In “ A Hole in My Life”, Jack is sentenced to prison, and during his prison life is when he is given so much leisure time that he is able to reflect on his life and write stories. Anne has a somewhat similar situation here, because excluding the reading, eating, and chores that she must do, there is really not much to do. When you are given leisure time like this, you think, and most of the time, that thinking can lead to very enlightening discoveries.

Finally, I want to comment more on Anne’s literary humor, as it still is present even this far into the diary (I would’ve expected conditions at the Annex to be very gloomy by now). On page 180, after saying that sometimes she wishes to be left alone she says, “ Who knows, perhaps the day will come when I’m left alone more than I’d like!”. It is a dark humor in a sense because she saying that when she is old she will not have a husband, children, or friends. It also comes full circle to what Anne said in the beginning of the diary about her not having a true friend to confide in. In addition, on page 191 Anne says that, “What happens in other people’s houses during the rest of the week happens here in the Annex on Sundays. While other people put on their best clothes and go strolling in the sun, we scrub, sweep, and do the laundry”. This was amusing because she is saying that their life is inversely different with other people. But then again, isn’t everyone in the same conditions as them? Because even Non-Jews must be impacted by the bombings and the war right?