'She puts me to shame'
what does Otto mean in the end when he says that Anne puts him to shame? i dont get it.
shareThe last line he read of her diary was "In spite of everything I still believe people are really good at heart." I think he was comparing her perseverence, stamina, open-mindedness, positive attitude with his own which he probably felt bitter, angry, and unforgiving of not only nazis but people in general. I would be pretty bitter after that kind of experience. That's what I think he meant.
Keep your friends close but your enemies closer
[deleted]
childers-3 is on the right track. To put someone to shame means to make someone feel shameful, but it also means to outdo them, as in "Her capacity to forgive puts me to shame (or makes me look bad 'cause it's hard for me to forgive people)." Basically, Otto was saying that Anne was a better person than he was. He was now a bitter old man after what he'd been through (understandably) and after reading Anne's famous line ("In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart") he was ashamed of himself for feeling angry and hateful toward the Germans, which was in deep contrast with Anne's optimism for mankind.
shareOne tends to wonder if poor Anne was able to keep this optimism while she was in the concentration camp(s). Could anyone blame her if she became bitter, frightened and hateful during those horrid months?
At least Otto, via her diary, could remember Anne as she was, that innoent child scribbling her thoughts into that book.
She probably did lose her optimism (and why not?) and that is what led to her death.
Mental over the physical is very strong, but a person can only take so much. No doubt losing her sister (and she had no idea her father was still living, had she known...?) made her give up hope.
Anne deftainly had an unpleasant end, but her life still bring so much good into the world; I am sure in the end she would not have changed anything.