The Diary of Anne Frank Themes
Isolation
Anne feels isolated and cut off from her family and the other members of the Secret Annex throughout The Diary of Anne Frank, even while the group is crammed together in shared isolation from the w...
Youth
Anne records the experiences of her adolescence in her diary: the pages that would later become The Diary of Anne Frank. She goes through all the typical trials and tribulations of teen life, despi...
Mortality
The entirety of The Diary of Anne Frank is written during the time when Anne's life was in constant danger. What’s amazing, though, is that she doesn’t dwell on this fact. It comes up, of cours...
Identity
In The Diary of Anne Frank, Anne describes the complicated movements of her identity during her time in hiding. Trapped in the Secret Annex, Anne explores her identity as daughter, lover, sister, f...
Family
Anne’s "family" expands the year she turns thirteen to include four other people who are not related to her by blood. Throughout The Diary of Anne Frank, the family is at times healthy and at tim...
Warfare
This theme probably shouldn’t simply be "warfare," but World War II specifically. The members of the Secret Annex follow the war news religiously via radio broadcasts. There are daily reminders t...
Love
Anne Frank has many loves. She loves reading, writing, nature, movies, and her family and friends. She’s also obsessed with romantic love, experiments with romantic relationships, and has vivid r...
Selfishness
Throughout The Diary of Anne Frank, there are examples of pettiness in sharing personal items with everybody. For example, Mrs. van Daan does not want her sheets to be used, yet expects to use the...
Religion
The Diary of Anne Frank doesn’t give us all that much information on Judaism as a religion. In fact, religion plays a somewhat subtle role in Anne’s story—“Christian” and “Jew” are mo...