Anne's happiness with Peter is not overshadowed by the daily trials of life in the "Secret Annexe." But perhaps Anne's awareness of what maturity means has been heightened, for it is a very perceptive, if disenchanted, Anne who writes that the ordinary man in the street is as much to blame for the war as are the politicians, and that there is a destructive urge in everyone, so that unless this changes, bloodshed will always continue. Nevertheless, her irrepressible optimism causes her to write: "I am young and I possess many buried qualities; I am young and strong and am living a great adventure; I am still in the midst of it and can't grumble the whole day long. I have been given a lot, a happy nature, a great deal of cheerfulness and strength. Every day I feel that I am developing inwardly, that the liberation is drawing nearer and how beautiful nature is, how good the people are about me, how interesting this adventure is! Why, then, should I be in despair?" (May 3, 1944).
Following the advice that Margot has given her, Anne writes a letter to her father, explaining her feelings about him and her mother, the difficulties she has been through during the period they have been in hiding and speaking honestly of her refusal to knuckle under to what she knows has been his silent disapproval of her relationship with Peter (May 5, 1944). Anne's father has a long and emotional talk with her after this letter, and Anne regrets having wounded his feelings, acknowledging that she might have misjudged him.
Various setbacks — such as the arrest of the man who brought them vegetables, rumors that there is growing anti-Semitism among the Dutch people, and Anne's fears that, having been born in Germany, she and her family will not be able to remain in Holland once the war is over — cause Anne's spirits to fall. She wonders if they might not all be better off dead, but still she clings to her hope that something will happen, and that the war will end soon (May 26, 1944). The news of the Allied invasion of Europe revives the optimism of the group, and Anne's fifteenth birthday is celebrated in a spirit of greater cheerfulness (June 13, 1944).
