Mother, Margot and I are once again the best of buddies. It’s actually a lot nicer that way.

In the beginning of her diary, especially after Anne and her family arrive at the Annex, she writes a good deal about her rocky relationships with her mother and sister. This entry comes only a little more than a week after Anne writes about a “run-in” with her mother in which she said she would not be sad if her mother died. However, the tides quickly change, as they do often throughout Anne’s stay in the Annex. Her fickle feelings about her family show that family can bring out the worst as well as the best in people. Such events also highlight the fact that Anne is experiencing the normal ups and downs of her teenage years; however, her emotions are heightened by her life’s circumstances and cramped living situation.

But I have a right to be taken seriously too. I’ve always been the clown and mischief maker of the family; I’ve always had to pay double for my sins: once with scoldings and then again with my own sense of despair.

Here, Anne writes about how her mother and father treat Margot differently. As she often does in her diary, Anne writes about Margot’s intelligence, kindness, and beauty and claims that, as a result of Margot’s merits, Anne receives worse treatment from her parents. She longs to be taken seriously but, as in many family relationships, seems to model her own identity in contrast to Margot’s. While Margot seems more serious and studious, Anne seems loud and silly. Readers may note from Anne’s example how family members can strongly influence one’s personality.

Previous section War Next section Mortality

Popular pages: The Diary of Anne Frank

Take a Study Break