Grade X

English Literature Reader

Ch 4. From the Diary of Anne Frank
-Anne Frank

“Laziness might be attractive, but work gives satisfaction.”•

About the Author:

Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank 12 June 1929 – February or March 1945)[3] was a
German-Dutch diarist of Jewish origin. One of the most discussed Jewish victims
of the Holocaust, she gained fame posthumously with the publication of The Diary
of a Young Girl (originally Het Achterhuis in Dutch; English: The Secret Annex), in
which she documents her life in hiding from 1942 to 1944, during the German
occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. It is one of the world's best known
books and has been the basis for several plays and films.

➢ Story Map

❖ Major Characters:
• Anne Frank
• Mr Keesing

❖ Minor Characters:
• Anne’s Classmate
 ❖ Setting: The diary was written during the World War II era in
Amsterdam.

❖ Background: Anne was a German – born Jewish girl who wrote while
hiding with her family and few friends in Amsterdam during the
German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.

❖ Theme: The extract describes Anne’s school life, her thoughts on her
family, friends, classmates, teachers, etc. The diary also reflects her
loneliness and longing for a true friend.

➢ Summary:
❖ This is an autobiography of a young girl Anne Frank, who expresses
her thought in a diary.
❖ Her father has gifted the Diary on her 13th birthday, which she calls
with the name of ‘Kitty’. Anne Frank is a Jewish girl who is hiding
during World War II, in order to avoid the Nazis.
❖ She shares her experience and the story during her time of
depression.
❖ Also, she hides in the secret annexe on the Prinsengracht 263 in
Amsterdam with seven other people. She lives there for two years
and describes all her experiences in the Diary.
❖ Thus, she puts her energy into studying and writing, gaining
knowledge of politics and literature. After her death, she becomes
world famous because of the Diary.
❖ The author feels that it is strange and unusual for her to write a diary
because it is the first time she is doing it. She feels that in the future
no one will read about a young girl’s past experiences. But then she
puts these thoughts away and decides to write her thoughts.
❖ The author is feeling very lonely as she has no friends to talk to. She
wants to give her need of friend a shape, hence decides to name the
diary as “kitty”.
❖ The writer feels that the paper has more capacity to absorb thoughts
rather than people who have low patience level. She has a good time
with friends but cannot share everything with them as they are not
true friends.
❖ She refers to her father as the most lovable who presents her the
Diary on her 13th birthday.
 ❖ On June 20, 1942, she mentions how her class is nervous about their
results. The author says that the only subject she is unsure about is
mathematics.
❖ She and her friend, G are trying to stop the students from making
noise, but to no avail. According to the author, about the quarter of
the class should not pass as they do not participate in any activities.
❖ Anne recalls how the maths professor is constantly irritated by her
talkativeness. While talking in his classes he gives her extra
homework as punishment.
❖ The first punishment is to write an essay on “Chatterbox”, which the
author thinks as weird. She imagines about the topic and decides to
present concrete arguments in support of talking. She writes that she
will try to better herself but cannot eliminate talking completely. The
professor finds it amusing but allots another topic after she did not
change her nature.
❖ The topic is ‘An incorrigible chatterbox’ which refers to a habit that is
difficult to change.
❖ After keeping an eye on her, the professor gives her another topic,
Quack, Quack, Quack, Said Mistress Chatterbox, as a punishment.
❖ She runs out of thought after writing two times on a similar topic.
❖ She decides to write her third topic in the form of a poem and writes
a satire and luckily the professor takes it lightly. The professor recites
the entire poem in front of the class and the author talked
uninterruptedly after this.
❖ We can conclude that a young student needs to talk and feel joyous
in order to stay mentally fit.

➢ Chapter Highlights:

1. Diary Writing—A Strange Experience:

Anne Frank thinks that writing a diary is a strange experience for her. She
has never written anything like this before. She feels that no one else,
except her, will be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year-old
schoolgirl. She writes it for herself. She wants to get all kinds of things off
her chest.
2. Paper has more patience than people:

Anne feels that paper has more patience than people. There was a time
when she was a little depressed and sat at home. She doesn’t want anyone
else, except her, to read her ‘stiff-backed’ notebook unless she finds a real
friend. She keeps the diary as she doesn’t have a friend.

3. Her Diary—Her Friend ‘Kitty’:

Anne writes that outwardly there are about 30 people whom she can call
friends. She has a family, loving aunts and a good home. She has loving
parents and a sixteen-year-old sister. But still, she feels all alone. She can
only talk about ordinary things with them. They are not able to come
closer. This is the problem. They can’t confide in each other. Maybe it is her
ON, on fault. This is why she has started the diary. She wants her diary to
be her friend. She calls her diary, her friend ‘Kitty’.

4. Brief Sketch of Family:

She calls her father, the most adorable father. He married at 36 when her
mother was 25. Her sister Margot was born in 1926 while she was born on
12th June 1929. They migrated to Holland in 1933. She got her education
there. In 1942 her grandma died. Anne started writing her diary on 20th
June 1942.
5. Class shaking with fear:

The entire class is shaking with fear. The teachers will decide in the next
meeting who will move up and who will be kept back. She realises that at
least there are about a quarter of students who are totally worthless and
should be kept back. But it is difficult to predict the decision of the
teachers. She is not much worried about herself and her girlfriends. She is
not very sure about maths. She has good relations with her teachers. Mr
Keesing, the Maths teacher is an old-fashioned teacher. He doesn’t like her
because she talks too much.

6. Essay — A Chatterbox:

The Maths teacher gives her some extra work to write an essay on ‘A
Chatterbox’. She writes three pages. She argues in the essay that talking is a
student’s trait. She promises to keep it under control. She feels that she will
never be able to cure herself of the habit. Her mother also talked as much
as she does. It is an inherited trait. Mr. Keesing has a good laugh at her
arguments in the essay. He assigns her a second essay on ‘An Incorrigible
Chatterbox’ finally, as punishment for talking in the class; he gives her
another essay on “Quack, Quack, Quack, said Mistress Chatterbox”. The
class gives a roar of laughter. Her friend, Sanne, is good at poetry. She
offers to help her. Anne wants to turn the table on Mr. Keesing. She
finishes the poem about a mother duck and a father swan with three baby
ducklings. They are bitten to death by the father because they quack too
much. Mr. Keesing understands the poem and its message in the right way.
Since then she has been allowed to talk. She has not been assigned with
any extra homework.
 Question Bank:
Literature Reader
Ch 4. From the Diary of Anne Frank

Q.I Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
1. To enhance the image of this long awaited friend in my imagination, I don’t
want to go down the facts in this diary the way most people would do, but I want
the diary to be my friend, and I’m going to call this friend ‘Kitty’.
Since no one would understand a word of my stories to kitty if I were to plunge
right in, I’d better provide a brief sketch of my life, much as I dislike doing so.

(a) Why does ‘Anne call ‘her’ a long awaited friend?

(b) How does she want to begin her diary?
(c) Find out a word from the extract which means the same as ‘to increase to
improve’.
(d) Who was Anne’s true friend?

2. I get along pretty well with all my teachers. There are nine of them, seven men
and two women. Mr. Keesing, the old fogey who teaches maths, was annoyed
with me for ages, because I talked so much. After several warnings, he assigned
me extra homework, an essay on the subject, ‘A Chatterbox’. A chatterbox-what
can you write about that? I’d worry about that later, I decided. I jotted down the
title in my notebook, tucked it in my bag and tried to keep quite.
(a) In the passage whom does 'I' stand for?
(b) Who was Mr. Keesing?
(c) Trace a word in the passage which means ‘old fashioned’.
(d) What was the topic of the ‘essay’?

Q.II Answer the following in 30 -4 0 words:

a. What makes writing in a diary a strange experience for Anne Frank?

b. Why does Anne want to keep a diary?
c. Why did Anne think she could confide more in her diary than in people?
d. Why does Anne provide a brief sketch of her life?
e. What tells you that Anne loved her grandmother?
 f. Why was Mr. Keesing annoyed with Anne? What did he ask her to do?
g. How did Anne justify her being a chatterbox in her essay?

Q.III Answer the following in 80 - 100 words:

a. Give a brief sketch of Anne’s life.
b. Paper has more patience than people.” Elucidate.

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