Summary
I sometimes wonder if anyone will ever
. . . overlook my ingratitude and not worry about whether or not
I’m Jewish and merely see me as a teenager badly in need of some
good, plain fun.
(See Important Quotations Explained)
Bep is forced to stay away from the annex for six weeks
because of an outbreak of diphtheria at her house. Margot continues
the Latin correspondence course using Bep’s name. Mr. Dussel fights
with Mrs. van Daan, who thinks he and the rest of the annex should
go to dinner in honor of his first anniversary of living there.
Anne notes that Mr. Dussel has not once thanked them for taking
him into the annex. At night, she dreams that she sees Hanneli,
who asks Anne to rescue her. Anne regrets not treating Hanneli better
and feels guilty that she is still relatively safe while Hanneli
is suffering.
St. Nicholas Day comes again, and Anne decorates a laundry basket
with colorful paper and fills it with shoes. She and her father write
verses and put one in each shoe. Anne comes down with the flu and
receives an assortment of supposed remedies. Everyone exchanges
Christmas and Hanukkah presents, but spirits are low because the
war is at an impasse. Anne is still grateful that her situation
is better than that of other Jewish children, but she cannot help feeling
jealous of Mrs. Kleiman’s children. Her children can go outside
and play with friends, while Anne’s family and friends are trapped
in the annex like “lepers.”
Anne dreams about Hanneli again and also about her own grandmother.
She wonders whether Hanneli is still alive. Later, Anne reads through
her diary and is shocked at how negatively she wrote of her mother
in past entries. Anne thinks she has grown wiser since then and
now understands her mother better. She sees herself as an adolescent
now and says that when she is having her period she feels like she
has a “sweet secret.” Anne also mentions the ecstasy she feels at
seeing a female nude, such as the Venus de Milo statue, and she
talks about how she once had a “terrible desire” to kiss a female
friend. Now that she has no female friends, she is so desperate
for someone to talk to that she begins to confide in Peter van Daan.
Anne also dreams about Peter Schiff, an older friend on whom she
had a long crush. She tells the story of their relationship and
says that she does not need a photograph of Peter because his face
is still clear in her mind.
Anne and Peter talk about a cat, Boche. Peter says that
Boche is a tomcat and turns the cat over to show Anne his genitalia.
Anne says that she knows the female sexual organ is called the vagina,
but she does not know what the male sexual organ is called. Peter
says he will ask his parents. Anne is impressed that Peter can discuss
such things without any shame.
Analysis
Anne’s dreams in this section demonstrate how deeply the
war haunts her. The fears, loneliness, and insecurities that she
feels uncomfortable expressing out loud emerge in her dreams about Hanneli
and her grandmother. Anne assumes that Hanneli has been deported
to the concentration camps. She knows that she is powerless to save
her friends, yet she feels guilty that they are suffering and she
is not. Despite acknowledging her relatively good fortune thus far,
Anne is envious of the non-Jewish children in Amsterdam who can
still play and move about freely.
The appearance of Anne’s grandmother in her dream emphasizes Anne’s
longing for security. Anne imagines that her grandmother is her
guardian angel and will protect her. She attempts to find comfort from
the stability of previous generations embodied in the protective,
maternal figure of her grandmother. Anne’s dreams reflect the profound
feelings of sadness and loneliness that she feels she must put aside
for the good of the group. Anne acknowledges the reality of their
situation and realizes that if they all succumbed to their feelings
of anxiety and depression, living in the annex would become unbearable.
