In The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, it is baffling how Anne is able to obsess over such small and unimportant things, even while she is in hiding. In the story, which takes place during the Holocaust, Anne and her family are hiding from the Germans in a secret annex of a building. They are in a small space with another family, and Anne feels that she doesn’t fit in with anyone, with the exception of her father occasionally. She is bothered by many trivial things, such as having to eat vegetables. “If I take a small helping of a vegetable I loathe and eat potatoes instead, and the van Daans, especially Mrs. van Daan, can’t get over how spoiled I am,” (p. 42). One would think that given Anne’s situation, she would be grateful that she has any food at all, that she hasn’t been captured by the Germans, or that she is even alive in the first place. This may be attributed to Anne’s youth and naïve nature. However, it is possible that there is a “barrier to knowing.” Concerning herself with small things, like having to eat vegetables, might be Anne’s subconscious way of distracting herself from the reality that she could be found at any moment and arrested or even killed. This coping mechanism may ultimately be what sustains her throughout her traumatic and harrowing ordeal.