Letters From Rifka

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Although “Letters from Rifka” by Karen Hesse and “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank, both share the harrowing experiences of young girls during World War II and their limited lives, the stories do have their differences. This essay will mostly focus on comparing and contrasting the two main characters and showing how similar and different they are. Comparing and contrasting these two books allows for a deeper understanding of the diverse experiences and perspectives of young people living during wartime.

There are plenty of similarities expressed in both of these books. One similarity I noticed is both the girls had a lover. In The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne develops a slight crush on Peter van Daan, the 16-year-old who was in hiding …show more content…
Not in the usual way. I don’t know, I can’t explain it, but I suddenly had the feeling he wasn’t as in love with Margot as I used to think. All day long I tried not to look at him too much, because whenever I did, I caught him looking at me, and then— well it made me feel wonderful inside, and that’s not a feeling I should have too often.”-(page 202).Although Anne liked Peter before, she liked another boy named Peter Schiff. Throughout Anne’s Friday, January 7, 1944 diary entry, she expresses her feelings about Peter S. “For a long time we went everywhere together, but aside from that, my love was unrequited until Peter crossed my path. I had an out-and-out crush on him. He liked me too and we were inseparable for one whole summer.” And “I loved him so much that I didn’t want to face the truth. I kept clinging to him until the day I finally realized that if I continued to chase after him, people would say I …show more content…
One difference expressed in the books is their relationships with their parents. In The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne clearly expresses her feelings about her parents. One clear description of a parent relationship that Anne expresses is the one with her mom. Anne didn’t really like her mom much and they always got into arguments, she only loved her mom because she was her family. In this piece of text, Anne describes her feelings about her mom, “I simply can’t stand Mother, and I have to force myself not to snap at her all the time, and to stay calm when I’d rather slap her across the face. I don’t know why I’ve taken such a terrible liking to her. Daddy says that if Mother isn’t feeling well or has a headache, I should volunteer to help her, but I’m not going to because I don’t love her and don’t enjoy doing it. Anne also mentions her relationship with her mom, “At moments like these I can’t stand Mother. It’s obvious that I’m a stranger to her; she doesn’t even know what I think about most ordinary things.”On the other hand, Anne loved her dad way more and he understood her more than her mom as expressed in these pieces of text, “I finally told daddy that I love “him” more than I do mother.” And “Daddy’s always so nice. He understands me perfectly, and I wish we could have a heart-to-heart talk sometime without me bursting instantly into tears.”In Letters from Rifka, I didn’t notice any bad arguments or
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