Will Radko
Mr. Sasser
Acc. English 8
18 March 2015
The Freedom of Thoughts Thousands, possibly millions, of people go through many hardships for many days. One of the few ways to escape from these depressing times is through our thoughts. According to the famous Berlin lawyer, Hans Litten, and his thoughtful, inspirational poem written to Adolf Hitler during World War II and the Holocaust, our thoughts should be just that, our thoughts. No one should be allowed to tell you how to think, and it appears that the infamous Anne Frank, along with the other members of the Annex, agreed with Mr. Litten and his ideas of free thinking heartily. There were many instances of when Anne and the other Annex members demonstrated this theme from Mr. Litten’s poem, such as when Anne’s relationship with Peter began to evolve into dating and she wrote a letter to her parents declaring things like “I’m a young woman now,” and, “I don’t need parental supervision on all of my choices.” Anne also established the theme from Litten’s poem when she would repeatedly announce to her mother, Edith Frank, that they were two different people with two different worldly views, and that she would not alter her thoughts to become more acceptable in her mother’s eyes. Also, when everyone from the Annex was daydreaming about the first activity they were going to do, or the first type of food/beverage that they were going to eat/drink after exiting the Annex mirrored the theme from Hans Litten’s poem. Many teenagers, especially the ones from about ages fourteen to seventeen, think that they know everything there is to learn from the world and that they are smarter than their parents and know what is best for them. This typical teenage behavior was shown when Anne wrote a detailed letter to her parents that had context along the lines of “I am a young woman now, and I know what is best for me. No one can possibly know what goes on in my head, and what I think about, and you can’t tell me what to do.” Although the actual content of this letter written by Anne was extremely hurtful to her parents, the main motive behind this action was Anne wanting to be allowed to think what she wanted about a certain boy named Peter without anyone saying otherwise. Anne’s behavior in this letter resembles the third and fourth lines of the first stanza in Hans Litten’s poem: “No man can know them [our thoughts]; no hunter can shoot them with powder and lead: Thoughts are free,” and the first line of the second stanza, “I think what I want, and what delights me,” also reflects the way Anne behaved by writing that letter. Another typical teenage behavior is conflict with the parental figure(s). In this case, Anne and her mother were at constant conflict, with the main problem being Anne not wanting to act like a “proper lady,” which was the way her mother always acted. Edith, Anne’s mother, would always compare Anne to Margot saying things like “Why can’t you be more like your sister, Margot?” This only estranged the relationship between Anne and Edith even more. Anne always thought that she would be dumbing herself down by becoming a helpless lady who just runs around in her skirt from place to place serving food and drinks; Anne wanted to become someone in the world who would be respected, and admired. This mindset is best expressed in the second stanza of Hans Litten’s poem when it says, “I think what I want, and what delights me, still always reticent, and as it is suitably. My