Diary of a Young Girl

Key Facts

full title  ·  Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

author  ·  Anne Frank

type of work  ·  Diary

genre  ·  Diary; historical nonfiction

language  ·  Dutch

time and place written  ·  Amsterdam, 1942–1945

date of first publication  · 1947

publisher  ·  Doubleday

narrator  ·  Anne Frank, a teenage Jewish girl

point of view  ·  Anne speaks in the first person and addresses her diary as a friend. Although she begins writing the diary without any intention of it being read or published, she later writes with the idea that the record of her experiences might be read by others to learn more about the war.

tone  ·  Anne writes from the perspective of a young girl, so her tone is often emotional and insecure, and she is both critical of herself and others. Her accounts are highly personal and philosophical. She expresses her deep struggle to understand her evolving self, both in relation to her family and to the tumultuous world outside the annex.

tense  ·  Present

setting (time)  ·  June 12, 1942–August 1, 1944

setting (place)  ·  Amsterdam, the Netherlands

protagonist  ·  Anne Frank

major conflict  ·  The perils of living in hiding to escape Nazi persecution of Jewish people; this immediate struggle in Anne’s life occurs within the context of the sweeping conflict of World War II

themes  ·  The loneliness of adolescence; the inward versus the outward self; generosity and greed in wartime

motifs  ·  Becoming a woman; fear

symbols  ·  Hanneli; Anne’s grandmother

foreshadowing  ·  There is no foreshadowing, since the diary is written in the present tense and Anne had no ability to discern the future. However, constant break-ins, the imprisonment of people who have been providing rations, growing Dutch anti-Semitism, and the probable capture of Anne’s friends, including Hanneli, all demonstrate the impending danger that threatens the inhabitants of the annex.