The Diary of Anne Frank: A Play

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the play over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. The Diary of Anne Frank is a coming-of-age story, and Anne ages and matures over the course of the play.

• How would you describe the characterization of Anne’s journey and how being in hiding makes her coming-of-age atypical? (topic sentence)
• In the body of your essay, explore at least three examples from the play that support your topic sentence. How do these examples illustrate how her coming-of-age was atypical?
• Considering her exceptional circumstances, draw a conclusion about why you think audiences have found Anne’s story to be so relatable.

2. The play takes place over the course of Anne’s two and a half years in hiding, and the passage of time is noted in a variety of ways.

• What is the significance of the passage of time as a major theme in the play? (topic sentence)
• In the body of your essay, choose three moments when time is mentioned or referenced in a meaningful way, and explain how that moment supports your main argument.
• Draw a conclusion about how the end of the play functions with or undermines the significance of the passage of time as argued throughout your essay.

3. Throughout the play, the text references sound effects that represent the world outside the Secret Annex from Anne’s perspective.

• Based on these sound effects, how would you describe the way Anne perceives the outside world? (topic sentence)
• Choose three examples from the play of sound effects that support your argument. In the body of your essay, explain what each one signifies.
• In your conclusion, consider other references to the outside that may paint a different picture from the soundscape. How do those ideas mesh with the mood created by sound?

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. A few weeks before Anne and the others in the Annex were arrested, she wrote, “I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are really good at heart” (65). These words are frequently recognized as the tagline for her story. Consider her words—particularly her prior diary entries—where she discusses good and evil. Do you think the rest of her commentary supports the emphasis of this quote as the most significant? How does the placement of the quote in the play and the action that follows frame its meaning? Why do you think this quote was chosen for emphasis? Use specific quotes as evidence to support your answer.

2. Late in the second act, Mrs. Frank catches Mr. van Daan stealing bread and insists that he must be evicted from the Secret Annex. How does this incident illustrate the way laws and morality function differently in hiding? What are the rules and priorities? How do people behave in ways that they wouldn’t in the outside world? Consider the way the characters treat and speak to each other, the actions that are treated as unforgivable, and the transgressions that are ignored. Do you think Mrs. Frank is right? Is Mr. van Daan irredeemable for stealing food? Why or why not? Use evidence from the play to support your response.

3. While she was in hiding, as depicted in the play, Anne learned that there was a chance that her diary would be of interest for publication after the war, and she immediately began revising and rewriting. After Anne was confirmed dead, Otto Frank set to work editing and censoring Anne’s diary, and this less controversial version of Anne served as the basis for the 1955 version of the play. The new adaptation integrates some of her previously censored passages, but the character of Anne is still a composite of her own private words, the version of herself that she created for publication, and the construction of Anne through the eyes of her father. Do you think Anne, as depicted in the play, is a reliable narrator? Choose three significant moments in the play that you think either show her to be a reliable narrator with an objective perspective or perhaps show Anne’s bias for or against other characters in the play. Analyze and explain each example.