The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Published 1947 · 242 pages · 101,013 words · about 5 hours at an average pace · Coming-of-Age, Literary Fiction, Memoir & Autobiography

How hard is The Diary of a Young Girl to read?

The Diary of a Young Girl scores 30 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it relatively accessible. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.

Vocabulary: 25 out of 100
The text primarily uses a straightforward, accessible vocabulary, reflecting the authentic voice of a young diarist. While Anne occasionally employs slightly more mature words like "hypochondriac" or "ingenuity," the overall lexicon avoids rare or specialized terminology. This places it very close to the "child's vocabulary" anchor of 22, indicating low lexical difficulty.
Sentence structure: 28 out of 100
Anne Frank's diary employs a largely direct and chronological sentence structure, characteristic of a young diarist. Sentences, though sometimes extended to detail events or emotions, remain grammatically clear and avoid the extensive hypotaxis or deeply nested clauses found in more complex literary works. This aligns closely with the "child diary syntax" anchor of 22, indicating minimal grammatical demands.
Abstraction: 60 out of 100
While grounded in the concrete realities of daily life in the Secret Annex, Anne's diary frequently transcends simple narrative with profound philosophical and psychological introspection. She grapples with abstract themes of identity, human nature, loneliness, and the meaning of suffering, as seen in her reflections on her relationship with her mother or her yearning for freedom. This depth of internal exploration positions it well above pure adventure narratives like "Asterix the Gaul" (25), approaching the "grounded but probing meaning" of books like "2666" (65).
Information density: 45 out of 100
The diary presents a rich tapestry of daily observations, emotional states, and interpersonal dynamics within the confined Secret Annex. While not dense with external historical facts or multiple plotlines, it packs significant conceptual and emotional information into each entry, requiring attention to nuance in Anne's evolving perspective. This level of detail and internal complexity is higher than "sparse personal reflection" (22), offering a compressed but clear account of her world, similar to "The Great Gatsby" (48) in its focused intensity.
Narrative indirection: 30 out of 100
Anne Frank's diary is remarkably direct, with Anne explicitly stating her feelings, observations, and interpretations of events and people. She addresses her diary, Kitty, as a close confidante, leaving little for the reader to infer beyond her stated thoughts. This direct expression places it closer to 'Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret' (25) than works requiring significant reader inference.
Symbolic density: 18 out of 100
The Diary of a Young Girl is primarily a literal account of Anne Frank's experiences, focusing on the concrete realities of her confinement and the war. While elements like the 'Secret Annex' hold emotional weight, they are not developed into complex, multi-layered symbols or allegories. As noted in the calibration anchors, the text is driven by direct experience, not pervasive symbolism.
Ironic distance: 15 out of 100
Anne Frank writes with profound sincerity and candor, making the text a direct expression of her personal thoughts and emotions. There is no discernible gap between what Anne says and what the author (Anne herself) intends, contrasting sharply with works like 'Lolita' (75) or 'Ulysses' (88). The diary's voice is authentic and unmediated, aligning with the anchor's assessment of 'no ironic distance, direct voice'.
Resolution withholding: 38 out of 100
The diary inherently lacks a narrative resolution due to the abrupt end of Anne's hiding and her subsequent death, leaving her hopes and fears for the future unresolved within the text. However, this is a consequence of real-life events, not a deliberate literary technique designed to create ambiguity or resist closure as seen in 'Waiting for Godot' (95). The reader is left with the stark reality of her situation, rather than a puzzle of meaning.
Structural complexity: 28 out of 100
The diary maintains a strictly chronological, first-person narrative, adhering to a straightforward journal format. There are no shifts in point of view, complex timeline jumps beyond Anne's own retrospective comments, or formal experiments that would introduce structural complexity. Its linear progression is comparable to 'Beach Read' (28) rather than fragmented narratives like 'Flights' (88).

How The Diary of a Young Girl is regarded

The Diary of a Young Girl holds a literary regard score of 81 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.

Where The Diary of a Young Girl sits in Northrop Frye's Anatomy of Criticism

Placed by a full reading of the text (193 passages), not from reputation. Each verdict quotes the passage that earned it. On the axis from myth to irony, The Diary of a Young Girl scores 68 out of 100. A second mythos, comedy, pulls at it with a weight of 0.2. About the map of stories.

Mode: Low Mimetic
I don’t have much in the way of money or worldly possessions, I’m not beautiful, intelligent or clever, but I’m happy, and I intend to stay that way!
Symbol: Literal & Descriptive
Ten cans of fish, forty cans of milk, twenty pounds of powdered milk, three bottles of oil, four crocks of butter, four jars of meat
Mythos: Tragedy of Inexperience (Tragedy ii) (tragedy ii)
If God lets me live, I’ll achieve more than Mother ever did, I’ll make my voice heard, I’ll go out into the world and work for mankind!
Genre: Confession + Novel
but I want the diary to be my friend, and I’m going to call this friend Kitty.

Where the story of The Diary of a Young Girl takes place

  • Amsterdam, 1942-1944 (1942 to 1944), the main setting
  • Prinsengracht Secret Annex, Amsterdam, June 1942-August 1944 (1942 to 1944)
  • Secret Annex, 263 Prinsengracht, Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, July 1942-August 1944 (1942 to 1944)
  • Occupied Amsterdam: school and home before hiding, June-July 1942

5 things that are true of The Diary of a Young Girl, with the passage for each

  1. The diary's first dated entries record Anne's thirteenth birthday on June 12, 1942, and the diary she is given is the first present she sees.

    On Friday, June 12, I was awake at six o’clock, which isn’t surprising, since it was my birthday.

  2. Anne records gaining 19 pounds in her first three months in the Annex.

    In the three months since I’ve been here, I’ve gained 19 pounds.

  3. After the first seven hiders, an eighth person (the dentist Dussel) is added.

    Great news! We’re planning to take an eighth person into hiding with us!

  4. Anne writes a whole comic chapter in memory of her burned fountain pen, which she says was 'cremated'.

    my fountain pen was cremated, just as I would like to be someday!

  5. Otto Frank was the only one of the eight Annex residents to survive the camps.

    Otto Frank was the only one of the eight to survive the concentration camps.

Scenes in The Diary of a Young Girl that Frye would name

47 sightings of Frye's terms in the text. The strongest:

Point of epiphany, untitled
“As long as this exists,” I thought, “this sunshine and this cloudless sky, and as long as I can enjoy it, how can I be sad?” The loft window above Amsterdam is the place where two worlds touch and Anne's faith is renewed.
Anagnorisis, untitled
Oh, I’ve failed miserably. This is the worst thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. Anne recognizes the injustice of her letter to her father and reorders her self-image.
Pathos, untitled
killed thousands of prisoners, including Margot and, a few days later, Anne. The heroine's death is placed outside the diary, in the editorial afterword.
Alazon, untitled
“I’m very modest and retiring too, much more so than my husband!” Mrs. van Daan's absurd self-portrait is a classic alazon boast.
Anagnorisis, untitled
I saw Hanneli, and no one else, and I understood why. I misjudged her, wasn’t mature enough to understand how difficult it was for her. A dream-vision of Hanneli pivots Anne's moral recognition of her own selfishness and of Jewish suffering.
Agon, untitled
Footsteps on the stairs, then a rattling at the bookcase. This moment is indescribable. The Easter-night break-in and the police at the bookcase is the book's central physical contest.

Books that share these scenes with The Diary of a Young Girl

About the author

Anne Frank