4-MAT REVIEW: SECOND CHOICE ASSIGNMENT 1
4-MAT Review: Second Choice Assignment
Hannah K. Smith
School of Behavioral Sciences, Liberty University
TRMA 800: Child Adolescent Research Design
Dr. Anthony Coy
September 21, 2025
4-MAT Review: Second Choice Assignment
Summary
The Diary of a Young Girl is commonly known as The Diary of Anne Frank (Frank, 1989). It
gives us an original collection of the life that Anne Frank lived in a time of persecution during
the Holocaust. The book’s timespan is June 1942 to August 1944, and it portrays her
experiences as a Jewish adolescent child that is forced to hide with her family as the Nazis
worked to invade and take over the Netherlands. Anne Frank began writing her story on her
thirteenth birthday, and it continued for two years until they were found and arrested. While it
was intended to be the private diary of a young girl, it is now read as a narrative that one can
4-MAT REVIEW: SECOND CHOICE ASSIGNMENT 2
find the normal life of a Jewish child at that time and the extraordinary survival that took place
simultaneously.
Anne’s began writing on her thirteenth birthday. At the delicate age of thirteen, most are
learning how to navigate the weirdness of puberty, friendships, and the beginning of learning
who they are. However, her ordinary life quickly gets shaken up as history is made. She and her
family were forced into hiding out of hopes of escaping the Nazis and their orders to get rid of
Jews. Anne and her family hid in a secret annex, which was shared with the Van Pels family and
later another family joined (Frank, 1989). The small annex was cramped, but Anne documented
this new secret life she was forced to live. Her diary entries noted the long silences, fears,
tensions, and the trapped feelings of isolation.
I would think that her diary would be accounts marked by fear and scarcity, but it was
filled her intellectual development and emotional voice. Anne is in a spot where she is
challenged to reflect. As she struggles with who she is in this devastating time, she is torn. Is she
still the young, playful child her family knows and loves or does she grow into this young woman
with her experiences embodied and emerging with her? Anne writes about her challenged
relationship with her mom, developing feelings for Peter Van Pels, and her want to be
independent. As you read, you see the entries are moving from a child into her transformation
into her adolescent years as she is searching for her personal identity in a time that was meant
to erase her individuality and her community.
As you read, you will find that resilience and hope are common throughout the book.
Even though Anne was in hiding, she feeds her love of learning, languages, and history. Young
Anne Frank has aspirations of being a writer, and she has the belief that “paper is more patient
that people” (Frank, 1989). Even though Anne writes of the hunger, fear, and the endless sounds
4-MAT REVIEW: SECOND CHOICE ASSIGNMENT 3
of the warplanes flying overhead, she continued to find meaning in the suffering she was
enduring. In fact, on July 15, 1944, Anne writes “in spite of everything, I still believe people are
good at heart” (Frank, 1989). This entry alone shows us that in light of tragedy, loss, and hard
times, Anne still holds onto hope in a cold world that has taken part of her childhood and
innocence.
Anne gives us commentary from her observations of how the war is changing people’s
behavior. She notes the selfishness, greed, and cruelty she witnesses, but she also tells us about
the compassion and unity she sees. As she reflects, she questions faith, her identity, and social
justice shows us how a young adolescent child is processing the trauma. While this book is a
diary of her personal accounts, it also gives us a depiction of human dignity as they face
dehumanization.
As you read the book, you see her entries grow and mature throughout her two years of
hiding. Her childlike voice transforms into a more self-aware young woman as she dissects and
analyzes her experiences and life beyond the secret annex. Unfortunately, Anne never got to
experiences that future. In August 1944, she and the others hiding in the annex were
discovered. Anne soon died of typhus at the concentration camp she was sent too in early 1945
with only weeks left before liberation. Her father was the only survivor, and he helped fulfill his
daughter’s dreams of becoming a writer by publishing her diary for her. This read is powerful. It
gives us a story of adolescence and historical context. Anne’s young words can be a voice for all
those that have been silenced by oppression.
Concrete Responses
I do not know what Anne Frank went through or the extent of what she endured, but I
can connect with her on an emotional level from what she was feeling. In middle school, I found
4-MAT REVIEW: SECOND CHOICE ASSIGNMENT 4
out we were moving. This move did not include my dad, and I would be going to a new school
the next year. I had to leave the people I had been in school with my whole life. I did not know
about a lot of things. Middle school and adolescent years are a delicate time in a child’s life
because kids begin to find who they are, where they fit in, and having to overcome the
challenges that puberty throws at them. Being that age on top of a new home and new school
was even more challenging for me. I only knew one person in the seventh grade, and he was in
a different class than I was in and I was bummed. I was the new kid; without the one person I
knew that had a life at home that was falling apart since my parents were going through their
divorce. I was learning to navigate this new normal of my dad moving out and us moving to a
new house, new school and having to make new friends. It was a whole lot of new all at once.
I was filled with so many emotions of all the changes around me, and they were beyond
my control. In addition to all of the new in my life, I was at the age that our bodies begin to
change and I had to learn to adjust to the physical, emotional, and psychological changes taking
place due to puberty. When I went to school, at first, I felt alone and isolated, and then when I
went home, I felt alone too. I would often sit in my room and just think about everything
because of how overwhelming all of the new was. I remember begging my parents to send me
back to my other school since my mom worked in the town it was in, and I was told that was not
an option. I understood, but it does not mean that I liked it. I wrote in my laptop. When I would,
it gave me the chance to escape my current situation. I could disconnect in a way, but I still
wrote about it without having to wonder if anyone was judging or worrying about it. I was able
to get out every emotion I felt. Anne’s comment about paper being more patient than people
resonated with me as an adult. I reflected on the times that I wrote as a child, and patience was
4-MAT REVIEW: SECOND CHOICE ASSIGNMENT 5
exactly what I needed. My very new life was a lot to take in, and I needed patience as I was
adjusting.
My life was not bad, but I did face my own struggles, and my parents’ divorce was one of
them. During their divorce, I felt very misunderstood and unheard a lot like Anne Frank did. I
also felt frustrated like Anne. I understood her feelings so deeply, almost to my core. I
remember my mom trying to talk to me during their separation and ongoing divorce. She was
learning a new normal and hurting at the same time, as we talked, both of our daily and
emotional frustrations were gradually rising. I ended up yelling that she did was not listening to
me and did not understand what I was going through. My mom was hurting and also trying to
explain things, but in the midst of my pain, I overlooked hers in that moment. Anne and I both
had moments of unheard feelings from a situation that we did not choose to be in. Both of our
situations made us grow up faster than we should have had to, and since it did, I think we both
struggled with being looked at as a small child again and not as the developing young woman
we were turning into.
I also thought about the fear Anne held. She feared being found constantly. I feared what
the future would hold at the beginning of my parents’ separation. Would they work it out? How
long would this take of the fighting before it was over? Was this my fault? There were so many
thoughts going through my head, but I knew I did not want to ask them then. There were some
nights I would listen to them argue or go sit at the door to their room and listen to them talk.
There were even nights when they were not arguing that I would cry myself to sleep from the
fear of the things around me changing. My family was changing, and all I could do was cry some
nights. I felt powerless, just like Anne did. Anne would listen to bombs being dropped at night,
4-MAT REVIEW: SECOND CHOICE ASSIGNMENT 6
and I would listen to my parent’s divorce hit me much like a bomb. It was hard, and both of our
childhood’s forced us to grow up too soon.
Anne had hope that people were still good, and I found myself having hope too. I
remember telling myself at different times that things would not always be that way and we
would get through it. I would also pray at night. That helped me more than I knew. Here we are
now, eighteen years later, and we are strong and happy people. My parents may have gotten
the divorce, but God gave us all the strength we needed.
Reflection
Anne’s words in The Diary of Anne Frank left me with questions. Her words did not sit
quietly, instead they have my brain going around in circles looking for answers. Anne was just
coming into her teenage years, and she had depth in her writings and was able to remain
hopeful. I have asked myself so many times, how? How was she able to remain hopeful when
the world around her was literally falling apart?
Her resilience was extraordinary. How did she continue to believe in a future when there
was so much uncertainty around her? She had no idea if she would make it to the next day, yet
along a life beyond persecution. Her determination as she continued to write and dream of a
life beyond her current situation made me stop and think. Was her belief in people really being
good something she truly believed or was it what she clung to for survival? Meaning making is
to change the meaning of the situation and support their ability to restore their internal
harmony (Park, 2022). This can help individual psychologically get to a place of comfort. Is this
what Anne was doing? Did she find meaning as a way to cope? This sparked thoughts in my
mind that maybe believed it truly, but maybe she also had to find hope as a survival strategy.
4-MAT REVIEW: SECOND CHOICE ASSIGNMENT 7
Even when chaos was going on around them, Anne was still a teenage girl. She did not
just stop being a teenage girl because they were going through persecution. Anne still argued
with her mother, thought about boys, and wanted to be independent. I had to take a look at
children living in trauma today. They do not get a break just because they are living in hard
situations. This made me think, how often do adults overlook the struggles of kids that are
already carrying so much with them?
Anne mentioned her mother was distant or unkind to her. I think I can relate to that in a
sense from my teenage years. However, with an adult mindset, what was the mother going
through? I remember not wanting my parents to know about my sadness at times during their
divorce because they were already dealing with enough. How was Anne’s holding up? She had
to adjust to this new normal way of living just as Anne did, except she was raising two children
during it. Anne certainly gave us her truth, and I appreciate that, but it is just that, her truth
Anne’s truth does not extend to the whole family.
Anne’s words about human goodness left me feeling conflicted. Anne was hopeful even
when she was living in a nightmare, but her belief that everyone is good is not something that I
agree with. Now, I think everyone can be good, but I disagree with everyone being good. No
matter what happened, she stayed hopeful just to feel betrayal and die in a concentration camp.
That shows us that good and evil both exist in our world. However, it is how we approach
situations and handle it that makes the difference.
The biggest question I had was how many voices have gone unheard? The Holocaust and
persecution of Jewish people left many people unable to share their truth. We heard Anne’s
story because her father helped make that happen. She had since passed on and her father
published her story for her. There are so many voices of families, children, and many others that
4-MAT REVIEW: SECOND CHOICE ASSIGNMENT 8
went through so much trauma and felt unseen. Their stories also matter, and it is up to us to
ensure stories like Anne’s are continued to be shared as time goes on.
Application
Anne had hope. Having hope like she did is something I can take with me in my personal
and my professional life. There have been times that I let small setbacks weigh on me far more
than they ever should have. If I compare my life to hers, my struggles are so small, but it carries
the same principle, hope is necessary. I need to make sure that I embody hope and lean on it
when challenges come up. For me, now as an adult, it is leaning onto Jesus. I find my hope in
him. I can use that to help my clients find their hope as well.
I work with children in kindergarten through second grade, and even though Anne was
older, this book reminded me that children have power too. Their voices are powerful. As an
adult, it is easy to think that a child’s situation is not that bad or that serious. It is easy to think
they are just being a kid and do not know what they are talking about, but they are human have
real feelings and concerns, just as we found in Anne’s diary. Anne was dealing with her real
feelings, real questions, real concerns, and real situations. How she wrote has made me think
about the seriousness of the children’s voices that I work with today. It is easy to think a child’s
situation is small, but to them it could be the biggest they have ever dealt with. I want to give
them a place they feel safe, heard, understood, and validated.
Anne turned to writing to help her in the chaos. Journaling is such a good way to help on
a personal level and something that I can take into my sessions. Journaling can provide a
glimpse into their journey (Khatib & Potash, 2021) whether freely done or through prompts,
using this strategy can help guide clients through their healing process. They get to write their
4-MAT REVIEW: SECOND CHOICE ASSIGNMENT 9
story not their trauma writing it for them. If we give pain the words on paper, it does not get rid
of it, but it can help us move forward with clarity.
I deal with family dynamics at work every day. Some mornings it is rough at home and
kids come in upset. I have heard the words they do not understand or they have a meltdown
from somethings a few days before and say their parents do not care. When kids have these
moments, they usually feel like their mom and dad did not listen to them, which is similar to
Anne’s situation. When they talk to me about the situation and their parents, I have to remind
myself that this is their perspective on the story and not the whole thing, because kids will leave
out many details. It is hard to get kids to see the big picture, therefore, we work on the problem
at hand and get through it so that they can move forward with the rest of their day. I hope to
provide kids with communication skills to help them in their moments of distress.
Anne kept faith even when she was living in darkness. Anne was able to write about the
good there was in the world while hiding to save her life. How can I ever find an excuse to let
negativity influence my life? I need to be more intentional in leaning on my faith and relying on
Jesus. This is not something I should do out of a routine, but something I should do out of He
being my lifeline. Her diary was a reminder that faith is not knowing everything or what is to
come but trusting that God has a plan and leaning on Him no matter what.
Conclusion
Human life is fragile, but Anne’s resiliency showed us that hard times do not define you. I
saw the normal life of an average teenage girl that was forced to grow up and endure
challenging times. Her book made me remember that struggles, good and evil, and one’s story
can help me in my personal and professional life. I am walking away with inspiration to better
serve my students and future clients through helping them have their voice be heard,
4-MAT REVIEW: SECOND CHOICE ASSIGNMENT 10
supported, and acknowledged. I will advocate for social justice and stand beside those who
cannot walk alone.
4-MAT REVIEW: SECOND CHOICE ASSIGNMENT 11
References
Frank, A. (1989). The diary of Anne Frank. Longman.
Khatib, I., & Potash, J. S. (2021). Visual journaling using art therapy with refugees. The Arts in
Psychotherapy, 74, 101805. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2021.101805
Park, C. L. (2022). Meaning making following trauma. Frontiers in Psychology, 13,
844891. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.844891
