Making Meanings     (Act One, Scenes 1–3) 

The Diary of Anne Frank 

Reading Check 

a. What do we learn about the basic situation of the characters in the play from Scene 1, before the flashback begins? 

b. By the end of Scene 3, we have met all ten characters who appear in the play. List these characters, and choose two or three adjectives to describe each character. 

c. When does Anne begin to understand what going into hiding will mean? Describe some of the ways life in the Secret Annex is different from life outside. 


First Thoughts 

1. What do you think would be the hardest part of life in the Secret Annex: the fear of discovery, the need to keep silent for hours at a time, the sharing of cramped quarters with strangers, or some other aspect? Explain. (If you’ve been taking notes as you read, look them over for ideas.) 

Shaping Interpretations 

2. Do Anne and Peter seem to have typical teenage attitudes toward their families? Go back to the text for examples to support your response. 

3. List the conflicts that have developed among the characters by the end of Scene 3. Why are these conflicts dangerous for the people in the Secret Annex? What other conflicts do you predict might arise? 

4. Compare Mr. Frank’s and Mr. Van Daan’s reactions to the arrival of Albert Dussel. Which seems like the right way to respond? Why? 

5. When the play opens, only months have passed since Otto Frank was freed from Auschwitz. What do you think makes him return to Amsterdam and revisit the place where he and his family were captured by the Nazis? Would you do the same? Explain. 

Connecting with the Text 

6. If you were going into hiding and could take only as many items as you could carry in a single trip, what would they be? List the contents of your bags, and explain why you chose them. 

Extending the Text 

7. Mr. Frank tells Anne, “There are no walls, there are no bolts, no locks that anyone can put on your mind”. What does he mean? Do you agree? Support your opinion with examples from your own experience or knowledge. 

(Act One, Scenes 4–5) 


Reading Check 

a. How do the events following Anne’s nightmare in Scene 4 reveal tensions between Anne and two other members of the household? 

b. Describe how the Hanukkah celebration in Scene 5 is interrupted. 

• What does Peter do to make matters worse? 
• According to Dussel, how will this incident lead to their discovery by the police? 

First Thoughts 
1. Now that you’ve read Scenes 4 and 5, how have your feelings about Anne and the other characters changed? (Check the notes you made while reading.) 

Shaping Interpretations 

2. Go back to the list of characters you made after you read Scenes 1–3. Which adjectives, if any, would you change now? Why? 

3. Anne is a dynamic character; that is, she changes in the course of the play. What does Anne’s gift giving reveal about her? How do her gifts to her mother and Peter show that she has changed? 

4. Describe the reversal—the sudden change in the characters’ fortunes—that is central to Scene 5. How did it make you feel? 

5. Imagine that you are watching this play in a theater. What questions do you have as the curtain comes down on Act One? What do you predict will happen in Act Two? 

Connecting with the Text 

6. Reread Anne’s conversation with her father on pages 6 and 7 of Scene 4. What does she say that reminds you the most—or the least—of yourself? Explain. 

Challenging the Text 
7. The play’s version of events differs in many ways from what actually happened. (Check the time line for some of the actual facts.) For example: 

• In real life, Anne was given the diary as a present for her thirteenth birthday, several weeks before her family went into hiding. 
• The Frank family moved into the Secret Annex a week before the Van Pels family did. (Anne made up names. She called the Van Pels family the Van Daans.) 
• Margot was sixteen, not eighteen, when the Franks went into hiding. 
• The occupants of the Secret Annex often ventured to the lower floors of the office building after working hours. 

Why might the writers have chosen to change each of these details? 
Do you think the changes make the play more effective? Explain. 

Click here to navigate through Act 1: Scenes 1-2 , Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5

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