The Last Entry in the Diary of Anne Frank
August 1, 1944
Dearest Kitty,
“A bundle of contradictions” was the end of my previous letter and is the beginning of this one. Can you please tell me exactly what “a bundle of contradictions” is? What does “contradiction” mean? Like so many words, it can be interpreted in two ways: a contradiction imposed from without and one imposed from within. The former means not accepting other people’s opinions, always knowing best, having the last word; in short, all those unpleasant traits for which I’m known. The latter, for which I’m not known, is my own secret.
As I’ve told you many times, I’m split in two. One side contains my exuberant cheerfulness, my flippancy, my joy in life and, above all, my ability to appreciate the lighter side of things. By that I mean not finding anything wrong with flirtations, a kiss, an embrace, a saucy joke. This side of me is usually lying in wait to ambush the other one, which is much purer, deeper, and finer.
No one knows Anne’s better side, and that’s why most people can’t stand me. Oh, I can be an amusing clown for an afternoon, but after that everyone’s had enough of me to last a month. Actually, I’m what a romantic film is to a profound thinker – a mere diversion, a comic interlude, something that is soon forgotten: not bad, but not particulary good either.
I hate having to tell you this, but why shouldn’t I admit it when I know it’s true? My lighter, more superficial side will always steal a march on the deeper side and therefore always win. You can’t imagine how often I’ve tried to push away this Anne, which is only half of what is known as Anne - to beat her down, hide her. But it doesn’t work, and I know why.
I’m afraid that people who know me as I usually am will discover I have another side, a better and finer side. I’m afraid they’ll mock me, think I’m ridiculous and sentimental and not take me seriously.
I’m used to not being taken seriously, but only the “lighthearted” Anne is used to it and can put up with it; the “deeper” Anne is too weak. If I force the good Anne into the spotlight for even fifteen minutes, she shuts up like a clam the moment she’s called upon to speak, and lets Anne number one do the talking. Before I realize it, she’s disappeared.
So the nice Anne is never seen in company. She’s never made a single appearance, though she almost always takes the stage whem I’m alone. I know exactly how I’d like to be, how I am . . . on the inside. But unfortunately I’m only like that with myself. And perhaps that’s why – no, I’m sure that’s the reason why – I think of myself as happy on the inside and other people think I’m happy on the outside. I’m guided by the pure Anne within, but on the outside I’m nothing but a frolicsome little goat tugging at its tether.
As I’ve told you, what I say is not what I feel, which is why I have a reputation for being a boy-chaser, a flirt, a smart aleck and a reader of romances. The happy-go-lucky Anne laughs, gives a flippant reply, shrugs her shoulders and pretends she couldn’t care less. The quiet Anne reacts in just the opposite way.
If I’m being completely honest, I’ll have to admit that it does matter to me, that I’m trying very hard to change myself, but that I’m always up against a more powerful enemy. A voice within me is sobbing, “You see, that’s what’s become of you. You’re surrounded by negative opinions, dismayed looks and mocking faces, people who dislike you, and all because you don’t listen to the advice of your own better half.”
Believe me, I’d like to listen, but it doesn’t work, because if I’m quiet and serious, everyone thinks I’m putting on a new act and I have to save myself with a joke, and then I’m not even talking about my own family, who assume I must be ill, stuff me with asprins and sedatives, feel my neck and forehead to see if I have a temperature, ask about my bowel movements and berate me for being in a bad mood, until I just can’t keep it up any more, beause when everybody starts hovering over me, I get cross, then sad, and finally end up turning my heart inside out, the bad part on the outside and the good part on the inside, and keep trying to find a way to become what I’d like to be and what I could be if . . . if only there were no other people in the world.
Yours, Anne M. Frank
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3 days later, Anne Frank was found and imprisoned. Later, she was transported to Auschwitz, then later died in Bergen-Belsen.
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Commentary: The Diary of Anne Frank is amazing for many reasons. It is remarkably easy to read, giving an extraordinarily intimate and detailed view of the thoughts of a teenage girl, revealing her cognitive patterns and concerns.
Whether she knew it or not, she used the diary as self-therapy to try to find some solace and reason in the midst of a world full of irreconcilable contradictions. She used writing to define her personal moral and ethical questions, and to articulate the best answers and definitions she could find. For example, as seen above, she defines multiple (equally accurate and co-existing) definitions for the word “contradictions.” In the midst of her insane world, she never stopped trying to improve her reasoning, knowledge, and character.
The Diary of Anne Frank reveals a beautiful mind, a brilliant mind trying to find “truth” amidst overwhelmingly contradictary data, forces, and ideologies.
If you’ve never read the Diary of Anne Frank, you may mistakenly think the diary is only interesting and relevant because Anne later died in the Holocaust. But if you’ve read the Diary of Anne Frank, you may agree that the work is meritorious completely independent of her subsequent history. Her diary is a remarkable record of a young woman developing mentally, sexually, and spiritually.
Sometimes tragedies are felt in the actions of kings and nations. Sometimes equal tragedies can be experienced in the heart and mind of just one girl.
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Here are 6 related Anne Frank and Rutka Laskier posts (click on thumbnails to see the posts):
© All rights reserved by the respective artists.
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Dear Sia:
This is a great piece. The wonderful photo, the excerpt from her diary, and your spot on commentary.
Thoughts:
1.) Adult, modern, professionally trained writers might spend months fine-tuning on a word processor to get to this level of honesty.
2.) Unbelievable modesty and self deprecation. Why do some of the finest female artists so often feel this way about themselves? About their art?
3.) While I agree the work stands on its own without context, it is the context which makes the tragic destruction of such innocent beauty a thousand times more terrible.
4.) Reading the excerpt from the diary, I thought I might have been reading from earlier blog commentary. Has the author of this blog ever shared any of what Anne might have been feeling?
i completely love anne frank she is somene who could make something seem so easy that its really hard i love her book shes an intelligent litte girl. i think she could have went far if she was still alive.
Thank you JG,
Always lovely to hear your thoughts. Responding to them:
1) Yes, Anne had remarkably literate clarity and honesty – just what a diarist or memoirist needs.
2) Self-deprecation is a prominent feminine theme in manners, culture, and art, both internally and externally. Balancing self-deprecation with self-worth is a consistent feminine struggle. Being a mother, giving birth, and other common feminine roles involve subordinating the self to meet the needs of others. Learning to not allow those roles to devalue your self-worth and self-direction can involve pro-active constant re-assessment.
Dialoguing to self, to others, or to a journal is a good method of discovering issues, definitions, and framing possible ways to adjust.
3) Yes, you are right. And I may not have expressed my thoughts well. I was trying to convey that even in the absence of her specific irremovable and immensely valuable historical context, the diary would still have tremendous independent worth – it is timeless and universal in its juvenile perspectives and thoughts.
4) I have not struggled to the same degree that Anne struggled with many things. In large part because my life has not been lived with cruel racism, persecution, or disabling gender expectations.
But I was visiting with a girlfriend last night and we discussed reasons why I admire Anne. I emulate many of her artistic priorities – candor, want of affection, desire for learning, and more. Anne and I both love(d) pictures, imagery, and visual stimulus.
I highlight Anne’s work also because she reminds me of cognitive struggles I’ve observed more in girlfriends than in myself. Literature and diary writing (or memoirs) are exceptional at helping women know they are not alone in their internal thoughts and cultural & ethical struggles.
I REALLY LKED THIS ENTRY IN ANNE FRANKS DAIRY
i am amazed by reading the diary of anne frank. I admire how she could do this in these young years
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OneMoreOption: Thank you for your thoughts Fahad.
i really love this diary of anne frank.. im a teenager just like her , that’s why i can connect with her feelings. i also realize how hard it is to be a jew in nazis time.. oh my gosh! it was reALLY TERRIBLE!
i am learning about her in school.
To be honest, I do not think anyone could even begin to imagine what she, her family and the millions of others went through unless you experienced it first hand.
This last diary entry just shows how alone she must have felt there, how she felt like she couldn’t be the person she wanted to be.
She obviously felt no-one liked her, and its such a tragedy she didn’t live long enough to realise that this wasn’t the case.
I have read her diary around 100 times and still don’t tire of it.
She was an extrodinary young girl.
I love learning about Anne Frank and all the hard things a young girl would have to go through.
Shes an inspiration, if you havent read the diary, – you should, NOW.
i cant believe this really happened, it is really sad to know that something like this really happened i thank miep gies for what she did to keep anne frank and her family alive, she is a wonderful person and she will always be remembered as a hero.
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OneMoreOption: Yes, Miep Gies is the definition of “Hero.”
Miep Gies on Wikipedia
I think this is horrible too. I was just watching the last episodes of Anne Frank and I really started crying. I think she is a true role model for everybody.
She made a great history, I wouldn’t mind to call her “A young girl with the Brains!”. Unfortunately the beast got her life short. Anne rest in peace!
happy 80th birthday my dear anne frank, may your legacy live on for eternity, your my inspiration, and my dream that is still keeping me alive , thank you for everything, i owe you my life.
Your comments on Anne’s writings are cogent and introduce a new feminine angle – of journey of a female being to her womenhood – to it. I think, it has been possible, because, you have successfuly identified and empathised with her transgressing the barriers of apathy and sympathy.
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OneMoreOption: Interesting wording: “transgressing the barriers of apathy and sympathy.” It’s important to note that her being so disclosing about such private considerations was probably considered a “transgression,” both religiously and culturally, by many people in that era.
i just can’t believe how she was feeling at that time……..how she was feeling?how a teenage girl be so sensitive
Rest in peace, Miep Gies. So glad to know that you lived to the ripe old age of 100.
Your courage, intelligence and determination in aiding the Frank family should be an inspiration to all.
History, I have learned, is not the memorizing of dates and battles, but of individuals, those who kept diaries and the content of the diaries that survived. These are what make the event memorable and meaningful. Seldom does such a diary surface as Anne Frank’s. But it, and her, being exceptional are contradictions, too. Had Anne led a more normal life I doubt she would have risen to the literary height she attained only because of the immense pressures she was under. Hers was the writings of a remarkable mind and, unfortunately, the creation of that dairy appears to have been her mission here on earth. Rest In Peace dear Anne, you live on through your work and in everyone of us who reads it. You will never be forgotten.
I think there should be world peace, just for her.
THERE MUST BE A SPACE FOR HER IN HEAVEN.
While I agree her writings speak to a feminine side, the things she writes and thinks about, especially this, her last entry speaks to both genders equally. Not every male is as introspective as Anne was or perhaps females in general, many males including myself spend alot of time inside and mulling over the same issues and qualities. She was very intelligent and in touch with herself and humanity. I believe she speaks very equally to all of us and moves us to the point that we can easily identify with her as a person but not the life in which she was forced to live. For that she was and continues to be amazing and an inspiration for everyone then, now and in the future.
i think anne frank is a talented lovely honest little girl
j ai toujours les larmes aux yeux quand je pense au destin de cette famille Frank,Anne était une fille remarquable.Elle et les autres juifs qui on péri pendant la seconde guerre mondiale ne méritaient pas ça.je salue la bravoure de MIEP GIES car à cette époque peu de gens(ou personne) ont fait ce qu elle a osé faire
If you were to analyse this diary entry, what would you say. What are some key points you noticed about this entry? What are Anne’s feelings towards herself?
What is Anne’s objective with this entry? What’s the importance of the message.
Anne Frank is one of my all time heros
I find it so sad!
i have watched the movie and reading the book just now, whoever betrayed them should be ashamed! they done nothing to harm anyone, but still got sent to the concentration camps!
I can’t believe it, they were so close to the end of the war but someone had ruined everything!
You just cant imagine how scary that would of been, nobody could!
You always try to imagine what it would be like if you were Anne and that happened but its that horrible you cant imagine!
I would love to know the name of who told that they were there, and i would love to know how they found them?
Me myself, i think Miep maybe was walking and a Nazi officer saw her walk into the building with the clothes and maybe heard the footsteps upstairs, but i could be wrong.
Not even Anne Frank herself had known (Or Otto Frank) they were so shocked when they heard the officar’s come through!
Anne Frank is a true writer! i would love to be like her.
R.I.P Anne Frank 12th June 1929 – March 1945
I am always and forever will be amazed at how she can write a diary and be so true to her feelings. I find it so hard to sit down and get all of the feelings off of my chest. And for her to write with such quality is an inspiration to all. She truly was a brave and intelligent and mature girl.
she is really an inspiration for me in every kind of circumstances of life.
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Its REALLY sad she died :’( She could had been an writer… She wished it, and it came true because her diary is very famous, but she wasn’t there to see it… RIP Anne Frank <3 we love you lots…
I just read about half of this. It’s amazing, honestly. She was a teenage girl like teenagers today are. Reading a book like this, is just an emotional crash-course, since you know how it ends. It makes me want to weep. There was no happy ending for her, a happy Jewish girl who quickly sunk into depression and then pushed into death. A story that can speak to the heart in the most intimate ways.