Paper Is More Patient Than Man, Essay Example

Introduction

“The Diary of a Young Girl,” also referred to as “The Diary of Anne Frank” is a Dutch language diary written by Anne Frank while she was hiding from the Nazis during their occupation of the Netherlands. In the book she proclaims that “paper is more patient than man” in an effort to emphasize the emotional and psychological value she feels for keeping her notebook (Frank, 140). Joan Didion is an American author who was born on December 5^th, 1934 and she is best known for her literary journalism and her novels. In Joan Didion’s “On keeping a notebook,” she emphasizes the importance of keeping a notebook noting that, “for a writer or field worker, keeping a notebook can serve two purposes; it documents a moment and contemplates that moment as well. This double process or recording and being conscious of oneself recording allows for many levels of awareness (Didion, 83). This concept of being more aware through note keeping and contemplation of one’s musings is reinforced by Ann Frank’s statement of “paper is more patient than man” as it touches on the idea that there is some aspect of our identities that we are rushing through communicating with, or being aware of, that the notebook is patient enough to acknowledge. The following will take a deeper look into Anne Frank’s idea that “paper is more patient than man,” taken from her diary, and assess its message relative to Joan Didion’s “On Keeping a Notebook,” to gain a better understanding of the value of note keeping as a whole in one’s daily life.

Body

The notion that “paper is more patient than man” comes to Frank on Saturday, June 20, 1942 during one of her journal entries. She opens up by informing the reader that she hasn’t written in some time due to the fact that she wanted to take some time to reflect on her previous entries. She also admits that this is the first time she has ever reflected on her previous entries, refers to the fact that even she is uninterested in what the thoughts that were going through her head in the past, but recognizes the potential for reflection to “bring it all kinds of things that lie buried deep in [her] heart” (Frank, 142). It is at this point that Frank presents the concept “paper is more patient than man”.

Many of the entries provided by Didion support much of what Anne Frank has to say on the importance of reflection through keeping a diary. In one of Didion’s journal entries, she reflects on sitting down to write in a specific location, noting that, “since the note is in my notebook, it presumably has some meaning to me. I study it for a long while. At first I have only the most general notion of what I was doing on an August Monday morning in the bar of the hotel across from the Pennsylvania Railroad station in Wilmington, Delaware (waiting for a train? Missing one? 1960? 1961? And Wilmington?), but I do remember being there” (Didion, 78). Here Didion touches on the fact that outside of making the journal entry, she might never have remembered the moment. She sits down and studies the note and points out that the moment had some meaning to her and she reflects to reconnect with that meaning. Didion even admits that she can’t figure out why the moment stood out to her or why it was important, but through the journal entry she is able to relive the train of thought she had in her past. This is the essence of the statement “paper is more patient than man” because as time passes, people naturally let go of old moments and memories. For example, a person can take a picture of something and look at that picture years later, but there is no guarantee they will be able to reconnect with the exact thought that was going through their mind at that exact moment. In fact, it is highly unlikely. If they could however connect with that thought, then they might realize how much they have grown emotionally or mentally, and it might even encourage them to continue doing whatever it was that enabled them to have this revelation. This is Didion’s main argument that through keeping a notebook people better develop their emotional and mental faculties but they are also encouraged to write more often (Didion, 83).

The idea that reflecting over one’s notes or musings can lead to further reflection and deeper cognitive awareness of one’s self if supported by science. In Haviland, and Deirdre’s study on “Affect-cognition relationships in adolescent diaries: The case of Anne Frank,” the authors actually assess the cognitive impact keeping a diary has on adolescent emotions and development by evaluating perceived fluctuations in Anne Frank’s emotions and thought process throughout her book. As Anne Frank was engulfed in very intense and dangerous circumstance, the authors feel as though she was exceptionally passionate about her writings at the time. They identify this passionate as being the key source of her advanced cognitive development which led her to the writing and reflecting process. They note that “in contrast to the results of short-term studies that claim to show that emotion has no role or an oppositional role in cognitive development, results of this psychobiographical study suggest that passion precedes and may facilitate the development of abstract thought during the adolescent period” (Haviland, and Deirdre, 143). This is not to discredit argument made by both Frank and Didion on the intangible value of keeping a notebook in regards to emotional and cognitive development but the authors are arguing there is a distinct level of passion required to drive one to the behaviour required for keeping a notebook.

Conclusion

In sum both The Diary of Anne Frank and “On Keeping a Notebook” serve as clear examples why keeping a diary to chronicle one’s thoughts is an exceptional way of becoming emotionally and psychologically sound in one’s life. Even if the concept itself holds no weight without being experienced on a personal level, the credibility of the authors backing the concept is enough validation. In my own experience I have kept a journal and I can affirm that it definitely helps with better understanding one’s own thought process.

Work Cited

Didion, Joan. “On keeping a notebook.” Slouching toward Bethlehem (1961): 131-41.

Frank, Anne. The diary of a young girl. No. 333. Random House LLC, 2010.

Haviland, Jeannette M., and Deirdre A. Kramer. “Affect-cognition relationships in adolescent diaries: The case of Anne Frank.” Human Development 34.3 (1991): 143-159