Anne changed in many ways over the two years she was writing her diary. Some of these changes can be described as “growth.” She became an astute observer of politics, and of human nature, and she became a very practiced and well-educated writer. Many of her diary entries suggest a mind mature past her years, and we forget we are reading the work of a teenager.
In other words, not only was she extraordinary, she was also just plain ol\’ ordinary. This makes her story all the more relatable. And all the more devastating.
Anne Frank was extraordinary in her vitality, optimism, hunger for knowledge, and creativity. She was also a moody, sensitive young woman who could (by her own admission) occasionally be mean to those around her… though she struggled not to be.