A Vicious Circle: Anne and Her Mother
On January 3, 1944, Anne Frank penned one of the most honest and painful entries in her diary, reflecting on her famously difficult relationship with her mother, Edith. Her reflection shows remarkable maturity, moving beyond simple teenage anger to a profound understanding of their shared suffering.
Anne began by admitting her ongoing frustration: “I was furious at Mother (and still am a lot of the time).” But she immediately took ownership of the conflict, acknowledging, “It’s true, she didn’t understand me, but I didn’t understand her either.”
She recognized her mother’s love—”she loved me, she was tender and affectionate”—but also understood the crushing weight of their circumstances. Edith was made “nervous and irritable” by the “difficult situations I put her in, and the sad circumstances in which she found herself.”
This led Anne to the painful conclusion that they were caught in a trap of their own making:
“We were caught in a vicious circle of unpleasantness and sorrow.”
Anne confessed that her own reaction to being hurt was “insolent and beastly to her,” which, in turn, made her mother unhappy. The entry is a profound piece of self-analysis, recognizing that their conflict was a product of their confinement and fear, a “not a very happy period for either of us.”
The only solace in the entry is the hope that this turbulent period was “coming to an end,” a testament to Anne’s yearning for a time when she and her mother could finally be at peace.