From the diary of Anne Frank | NCERT Book Class 10 English First Flight
Summary from the diary of Anne Frank
In this lesson, Anne talks about being lonely and having no one to talk to despite being surrounded by family and around 30 people whom she called her “friends”. Thus, she takes the decision of writing her feelings in a diary. It is unusual for her to write in a diary but she is really in need of a true friend. Thus, she decides to name her diary “kitty” and unlike other people, she is not going to mention just facts in it. She starts with writing her background, to make it easier to understand for anyone who reads it later. She describes her family and early childhood when they all migrated, her early schooling. After giving a brief account of her background, she comes to the present day where she tells us about the result day. Everyone in the class is nervous about their result and boys are even making bets. Anne was quite sure about herself and her friends. She had a good equation with all the teachers except her maths’ professor, who was constantly annoyed at her for her talking habits. Thus, he started giving her punishments in the form of essays on weird topics such as “Chatterbox” to which she replied with full wit. She wrote essays that were funny and explained that this was a trait that she inherited from her mother and not much could be done about it. After that third and last assignment, Mr Keesing never pointed her out for talking.
Lesson Explanation From the diary of Anne Frank
The author feels that it is strange and unusual for her to write in a diary about her feelings and experiences because it was the first time she was doing it. She feels this because she thinks that in the future, no one would be interested in reading about a young school going girl’s past. She thinks that later, even she will not be interested in reading it. But then she puts these thoughts away and decides that she should write if she feels like doing so. She feels the need to write because there were a lot of thoughts she had been holding on to lately (recently) and she needed to get them off her mind. It is known that writing one’s thoughts act as therapy; she makes the decision of writing a diary
The author feels that paper has much more capacity to absorb thoughts than people. People have low patience levels but a piece of paper, being a non living thing would not refuse from absorbing her thoughts. This realisation came to her one day when she was feeling more sad and confused than usual. She could not even decide whether to go out or stay at home at that time. When she finally decided to stay at home, she sat being depressed and in deep thought. Again, she thought that paper had more patience and she decided to write everything that came in her mind because she did not intend on making someone read it unless she found a “real friend”. By “real friend”, she meant a friend with whom she could share all her secrets. The author then comes back to the point where she thought of beginning to write. It is because she is lonely and has no friend to talk to.
She then goes on explaining why she feels the need for a friend. She feels that no one is going to believe that a young girl like her is so alone, which practically, she is not because she has a loving family, near about 30 people that can be called “friends”, loving aunts and a good place to stay. This depicts a clear picture of a happy family but the one thing that lacks in her life is the presence of a true friend with whom she can share everything. She does have a good time with friends; they talk about stuff but not real stuff that is actually going on in their lives. Despite trying hard, they are unable to get closer. She feels that maybe it is her who is not able to trust anyone with her private stuff that she is not able to come any close to her friends. She feels that the current situation can not be changed and thus, she needs to write her feelings in the diary.
Usually, when someone is writing in a diary, they list down all the facts about them in a formal manner which the author does not want to do. This is because she wanted to give her need for a friend a shape and thus, decides to name the diary as “kitty”. Hoping that someone would read her diary one day, she thinks that writing without giving details about the background story would be ineffective. So, despite not wanting to do so, she gives brief details about her life.
She refers to her father as the most lovable father one could get. Her father married her mother when he was at the age of 36 and she was 25. She and her sister Margot were both born in Frankfurt. As soon as Anne turned 4, her father moved to Holland followed by her mother in September while both the sisters stayed with their grandmother in Aachen. Margot was also sent to Holland in December followed by Anne in February who was brought as a birthday present for Margot.
In Holland, Anne was sent to Montessori nursery school. (It was her first school) She started from first form. She had Mrs Kuperus, the headmistress, as her teacher in sixth form who even cried at the time of farewell. In 1941, the author’s birthday could not be celebrated well because her grandmother fell ill and underwent an operation.
Unfortunately, her grandmother left them in January, 1942. Anne misses her grandmother more than anyone knows. This year’s birthday was to be celebrated with great zeal so as to compensate for last year’s. She then mentions that her family is doing well which sums up her background and brings her to the present date of June 20, 1942 when she is writing her diary.
On June 20, 1942, Anne begins writing in her diary addressing it as her friend “kitty”. She mentions how her entire class is nervous about their results. It is unpredictable and will be decided by a meeting of teachers in which they will select students to be moved to next class or kept back. Many students were making bets. Some had put in their entire summer savings at stake. She and her friend, G, also made fun of the nervous boys. They kept on saying to each other that “I am not going to pass!” while others would console them and say, “Yes, you would”. G was polite as she tried to stop them from making noise while Anne scolded them, but none of it worked. According to Anne, about a quarter of class should not be allowed to pass because they hardly respond or take part in any of the activities. She refers to them as “dummies”. But this may not be the case because teachers’ decisions can’t be predicted.
The author says that she is not bothered about her friends because she is sure that they will pass. The only thing subject that she is unsure about is mathematics. She seems to be having a tough time with the subject. But all they could do was wait for the results and not lose their hope.
She tells how she has a great relationship with all her teachers except the maths professor. He was constantly irritated by the author’s talkativeness. Despite several warnings, Anne did not stop talking in his classes which prompted him to give her extra homework as punishment. The first one was to write an essay on “Chatterbox” which she thought was a weird topic to write on because what could one write about that.
For the moment, she wrote the topic in her notebook, kept it in her bag and focussed on staying quiet.
The author came across the note she made as reminder for the essay after she had finished the rest of her homework. She began thinking about the topic. “While chewing the tip of my fountain pen” is a gesture that signifies a person is in deep thinking. While anyone could mention random stuff written for the sake of filling pages, she wanted to present concrete arguments in support of talking. She mentioned that she will try to better herself as a student but talking is something that cannot be eliminated completely. This is because she got it as an inherited trait from her mother and this is how she ended up writing 3 pages on the topic.
The professor found Anne’s arguments to be amusing but when she did not stop talking in the next lesson also, he gave her yet another assignment as punishment. The topic was “An incorrigible chatterbox”. Incorrigible refers to a bad habit that is difficult to change. He gave her this topic because he was annoyed of her unstoppable chattering during his lessons. On receiving this assignment, the professor did not say anything to her for a while but when he lost his patience, he handed her yet another assignment as punishment on the topic ‘Quack, Quack, Quack, Said Mistress Chatterbox’.
When the professor scolded her for the third time and punished her, the whole class started laughing. As a result, she had to pretend to be amused too. After writing twice on similar topics, she ran out of thoughts. Thus, her friend Sanne who was good at poetry offered to help her write in rhyme. This whole assignment scenario was to make Anne feel ashamed but she made sure that she gave an effective reply.
She finally wrote her third assignment in the form of a poem which turned out to be great. She wrote a satire that a father swan bit his three baby ducklings to death because of their noisy nature. To her good luck, the professor took it lightly. The professor recited the entire poem in front of the class while giving his own remarks simultaneously. The author being fortunate enough, talked uninterruptedly after this incident without any further homework as punishment. Also, Mr Keesing, the professor started cracking jokes every now and then in front of the class.
Extra Question Answers From the diary of Anne Frank
Q.1 What makes writing in a diary a strange experience for Anne Frank?
Answer: It was the first time Anne was writing in a diary. She felt that later no one would be interested in reading about the thoughts of a young girl. Both these facts made it a strange experience for her.
Q.2 Why does Anne want to keep a diary?
Answer: Anne wanted to keep a diary and write in it because she had a lot going on in her head. She had no friend with whom she could talk about such personal stuff. Thus, she decided to maintain a diary.
Q.3 Why did Anne think she could confide (speak in confidence) more in her diary than in people?
Answer: According to Anne Frank, “paper has more patience than people”. She chose to confide more in her diary because she felt there was no friend who could listen to her with enough patience.
Q.4 Why does Anne provide a brief sketch of her life?
Answer: Anne feels it would be weird to just simply jot down facts without giving her background. In case someone might read it in future, he/she won’t be able to understand vaguely (unclearly) stated facts. Thus, she decided to provide a brief sketch of her life.
Q.5 What tells you that Anne loved her grandmother?
Answer: The fact that Anne spent some part of her childhood with her grandmother is self-sufficient to imply connection between the two. Also, she explicitly mentioned in her diary that she misses her grandmother more than anyone is aware of is evident enough that she loved her grandmother.
Q.6 Why was Mr Keesing annoyed with Anne? What did he ask her to do?
Answer: Mr Keesing, Anne’s maths professor was annoyed with her because she would not stop talking during his lectures as a result of which, he gave her assignments as punishments.
Q.7 How did Anne justify her being a chatterbox in her essay?
Answer. Anne explained that she got this habit of speaking too much from her mother, mentioning that it was inherited.
Q.8 What made Mr Keesing allow Anne to talk in class?
Answer: On being given the third assignment as punishment, Anne wrote a satirical piece which was quite promising. Thus, finally, the professor allowed her to talk.
Q.9 Was Anne right when she said that the world would not be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year-old girl?
Answer: Yes, Anne was right in thinking that the world would not be interested in the musings of a thirteen – year – old girl. As she was a common girl, no one would want to know her feelings and so, no one would read her diary.
Q.10 How does Anne feel about her father, her grandmother, Mrs Kuperus and Mr Keesing? What do these tell you about her?
Answer: According to Anne, her father is the most lovable man one could ever come across. She loved and missed her grandmother more than she showed. She was on good terms with her teachers except Mr Keesing who taught them mathematics. The headmistress, Mrs Kuperus was her class teacher and both were very close to each other. Mr Keesing often punished Anne with extra assignments as a punishment for her talkative nature. These indicate that Anne was affectinate and a loving person.
Q.11 What does Anne write in her first essay?
Answer: In her essay, Anne mentions that she will try her best to minimise talking between lectures but this is a trait she inherited from her mother and it is difficult to eliminate an inherited trait. Also, her mother talks as much as she does, if not more. She also stressed that talking was a necessary quality for a good student.
Q.12 Anne says teachers are most unpredictable. Is Mr Keesing unpredictable? How?
Answer: Yes, Mr Keesing is an unpredictable person. He is angry with Anne for being talkative in class and gives her extra assignments as a punishment. But later, he finds her essays to be witty and amusing. This brings a change in him and he accepts her arguments. He develops a funny bone too and starts cracking jokes in the class. This change in Mr Keesing’s nature shows that he is unpredictable.
Q.13 What do these statements tell you about Anne Frank as a person?
(i). We don’t seem to be able to get any closer, and that’s the problem. Maybe it’s my fault that we don’t confide in each other.
Answer: This shows that Anne does not confide in people very easily. It is difficult for her to make personal relations where she could share what’s going on in her mind.
(ii). I don’t want to jot down the facts in this diary the way most people would, but I want the diary to be my friend.
Answer: This statement indicates that Anne does not have a close friend she could confide in. She was lonely despite having family and friends. Thus, she wanted the diary to be her only true friend.
(iii). Margot went to Holland in December, and I followed in February, when I was plunked down on the table as a birthday present for Margot.
Answer: This statement is indicative of the love between the sisters. On migration, Anne was the last one to be brought to Holland and it was done on the birthday of her elder sister to surprise her.
(iv). If you ask me, there are so many dummies that about a quarter of the class should be kept back, but teachers are the most unpredictable creatures on earth.
Answer: Anne feels that there are many weak students in the class who should be detained. Almost one – fourth of the class did not deserve promotion but the teachers, decision could not be predicted.
Long Question Answer (3/4 marks)
Q.1 How did Mr Keesing punish Anne? How did Anne react to it ?
Answer: Mr. Keesing was the math teacher of Anne. He was very strict and wanted rapt attention of students in his class. However, Anne was very talkative. She could not concentrate enough because of her talkativeness also she disturb other with her talking and due to this mister Keesing thus punished her by making her to write an essay on “A chatterbox”. When it did not stop her from talking in class, he assigned her another homework on “An incorrigible chatterbox”. Anne argued that talking was student’s trait. She also justified it by writing that she had inherited it from her mother so it would be difficult for her to stop talking but that she would try to control it. For about two lessons he did not gave him any extra homework but at the time of third lesson, he again gave homework to write an essay on “Quack Quack Quack said Miss Chatterbox”. this time Anne want something original and due to this she wrote in poetic form a story about four ducks who were bitten to death by her father swan for quaking too much. She did so to ensure that joke was on him.
Q.2 Why was Anne’s class “quaking in its boots”?
Answer: Anne’s entire class was shivering with nervousness and fear. Their result was about to be declared. Half of her class was not sure of its success. They were making bets and predicting other’s results. They were waiting anxiously and consoling each other.
Q.3 Based on the reading of the chapter give a brief sketch of Anne Frank.
Answer: Anne frank was sharp and intelligent, had a keen sense of humor, and amazing presence of ind. She was honest but incorrigible and talkative. She was rational, logical and creative. When she got punished by Mr. Keesing, she gave convincing arguments to justify her talkative nature. She argued that talking was a student’s trait. Moreover, she had also inherited it from mother who talked as much as she did and so she may not be able to get over it. when she was punished again by him she wrote a story, in poetic form, about three ducklings, who were bitten to death by their father, for quacking too much. The satire (irony) was on Mr. Keesing, who was impressed with her wit (intelligence) and presence of mind.She loved her grandmother and adored her father. Though she had many friends and a loving family, still she was lonely. She was not too close to her mother and sister. She did not share her secrets with anyone and never confided in her friends. Her strong urge to get things off her chest, made her write a diary and named it “Kitty”.
Q.4 Paper has more patience than people’. Justify.
(or)
Paper has more patience than people. Do you agree with the statement?
Answer: Anne believes that people are not interested in other’s life as they are stuck with their own problems so it is really hard to get someone who can give importance to her diary. People feel bored and become impatient when we talk about our problems.
On the other hand when we write our feelings and thoughts on paper , we can write as long as we want without thinking of anyone, intention as it doesn’t react. We can share our feelings, both sad and happy. It never gets bored or stops us to write. It behaves like a true friend who keeps your secret and listens to you patiently. So she thinks that paper has more patience than people.