Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Scribbling Scribe
Okay, this is the symbol that always chokes us up... and also gives us the most hope.
If that sounds confusing, well, welcome to The Diary of Anne Frank, perhaps the most devastating and yet hopeful ever written.
Anne’s dream is to become a writer: she writes fiction stories and hopes eventually to become a journalist. As her time in the Secret Annex wears on, and fear for her life increases, Anne expresses a desire to be made immortal through her writing:
I want to go on living even after my death! And that’s why I’m so grateful to God for giving me this gift, which I can use to develop myself and to express all that’s inside me! (4/5/1944.4)
And her wish is fulfilled.
Her journal, which she hopes to use as the basis for a later published work, and her writing in general, become the symbol of the ability of the written word to live beyond one’s death.