Comparing Anne Frank and Harriet Tubman

            The stories of The Diary of a Young Girl and “Harriet Tubman: The Moses of Her People” have a lot of meaning behind them to the world. Anne Frank and Harriet Tubman are both well recognized around the world. When you think of Anne Frank, you think of the Halocaust, and when you think of Harriet Tubman, you think of freedom for African-Americans. They were both women obligated to wrongful circumstances, and they did the best they could to overcome their obstacles. They had to face obstacles and conflicts that no one should have to face. They were changed by these obstacles. Both women have some things in common as far as approaching their challenges.

            Anne Frank was a young girl subject to many obstacles and conflicts in her life. She wanted so much but had so little. One of her first conflicts was with herself. She wanted to be beautiful, and she wanted a woman’s body. She thought about love and having a boyfriend. Another conflict of her life was the issue of her being Jewish. The anti-Jewish law required Jews having to wear yellow stars, handing in their bicycles, not allowed to take trams or drive, and other severe restrictions. As time went on, these beginning conflicts turned into additional conflicts and obstacles and obstacles.

            Anne’s father was planning on going into hiding from the Nazis eventually. The family’s plan was moved up a lot sooner because Anne’s sister received a call-up notice from the S.S. The family had help smuggling their belongings into hiding which was in the building where Anne’s father had his office. Additional people also went into hiding with the Franks, which began to be a problem. Anne did not know what to think about giving up her life, except that it was better than going to a concentration camp. Anne was always an optimist, yet a realist, and that is what made her different from everyone else. She always tried to make the best of a situation, but if she couldn’t she became angrier than she should. Her diary was her escape for everything. She told her every thought that no one could know to her diary. While in hiding, issues between the families began to come about, for example: being too loud, who’s doing what and where, and things around those lines. Her self-evaluation of herself was that she was really two people, one who was cheerful and lighthearted on the outside, and another who was deep and serious but only showed in her diary.

            During the “Secret Annexe,” Anne Frank changed so much. She was still outspoken, but she became a young woman. She began to slowly develop into a woman physically, and with all of the conflict surrounding her, she also matured mentally. Once they were caught in hiding, they were all taken to a concentration camp. The men and the women were split up, and then eventually the families were completely split up. Anne and her sister were still together. During this horrific point of Anne’s life, it showed how much she changed, but mostly was forced to change. She cared for her sister until her death, and then her own followed, but she still pushed and tried to make it. She still had faith.

            Harriet Tubman was a black woman in a white world, or so it seemed. The slavery was a big conflict. She, then, decided to run away because she and two of her brothers were to be auctioned off. Being auctioned off was a thought that she could not stand. She wrote a song whose lyrics had a double meaning, one of which let her family and friends know what she was planning. She was motivated to take risks because of her desire for freedom for herself and others.

            During the first years of Tubman’s freedom, she helped other slaves to escape. She risked her life for what she believed in, freedom. She used a number of tricks to avoid capture, including disguising herself as an old woman or as a man, getting on trains headed South, and wading upstream to throw bloodhounds off her scent. She became smarter and smarter about things. She made her way to her freedom by following the North Star at night as she traveled through the woods. She believed that African Americans and women should have the right to vote. She was a great leader because of her strength, courage, and daringness. When leading others to freedom, she would not allow the slaves to turn back, and her leadership gained freedom for many people.

            Her faith in God and her cleverness is what made her the woman she was. Tubman carried a pistol to scare frightened travelers away from returning to slavery. She was the leader of what the world knows as the Underground Railroad. She is considered the Moses of her people because she helped lead African Americans out of slavery and into the “Promised Land” of freedom in the North. She felt that no one should be a second class citizen, and there should be one government for all the people by all the people.

            Both of these women’s lives were very different, but they shared similarities, too. Anne Frank was just a young girl, and Harriet Tubman was a woman. Some of their similarities of life are their main conflict of racial discrimination against them, being optimistic to keep pressing on, and continuing to have faith that things will be better. They both did what they could to keep going, but Anne didn’t have as many options and opportunities as did Harriet. Anne didn’t have much chance, but she still believed. They both approached their conflicts, open minded, but still motivated and optimistic about what was to come.