From the diary of Anne Frank –Notes

1. In what way did Anne’s diary become the most widely read books?
Ans: The diary of Anne provides a close examination of her daily life. Her
original work was in Dutch language. Then there came several films, television
and theatrical production of her diary.
2. Why did Anne feel like writing?
Ans: Anne had no real friend. Even she had a greater need to get all kinds of
things off her chest. So she felt like writing. Though she had a whim that none
would take interest in her views because of her small age.
3. Anne was not alone in this world. How?
Ans: Anne was not alone in this world. She had loving parents and a sixteen
year old sister. She had a deep intimacy with thirty people. She could call them
friends. She had a family, loving aunts and a sweet home.
4. What did Anne think of having a true friend?
Ans: Anne thought that one could have good time with a true friend. Friendship
brings closeness and helps in confiding in each other. Though we can talk about
ordinary things with anybody else too.
5. What shows that Anne was deeply in love with her grandmother?
Ans: Anne loved her grandmother from the core of her heart. She died in
January 1942, but Anne still went on loving her. When the birthday of Anne
was being celebrated in 1942, a special candle was lit for her.
6. How did Mr Keesing stop punishing her?
Ans: Mr Keesing read the poem by Anne. In this poem, a father swan bit his
three ducklings to death. He could not bear their excessive quacking. Mr
Keesing took the jokes. He read the poem to the class. He never punished her
after that.
7. What arguments did Mr Keesing laugh at?
Ans: The arguments that talking was a student’s trait and she could not do much
about it since she had inherited it from her mother.
8. How did Anne justify her habit of talking in her first essay on ‘A
Chatterbox’?
Ans. Anne Frank wrote three pages on the topic, ‘A Chatterbox’. In the essay,
she justified her habit of talking. She argued that talking was a student’s trait.
She would never be able to cure herself of the habit. Her mother talked as much
as she did, if not more. She would do her best to keep it under control.
However, it was very difficult to control her inherited trait.
9. How did Mr Keesing take Anne’s third essay in verse? How did he
react? Do you find a change in him?
Ans. Mr Keesing took Anne’s joke the right way. He got the message Anne
wanted to give to him by narrating the death of three ducklings. He read the
poem to the class, adding his own comments. Since then, she had been allowed
to talk and hadn’t been assigned any extra homework as he was transformed
man now.
10. What motivated Anne Frank to write in a diary?
Or
Why did a thirteen-year-old girl start writing a diary? Did her suffocation
lead her to it?
Ans. It should not be forgotten that Anne was living in hiding. She couldn’t
have normal dealings with the people outside. She could talk about ‘ordinary
things’ with her family and friends. She couldn’t talk highly personal and
intimate issues with them. She didn’t have any real friend. She felt utterly
lonely and depressed. Writing in a diary could get all kinds of things off her
chest.

Answer the following questions in 100-120 words:

Q.1. “Paper has more patience than people.” Elucidate.
Ans. Anne Frank felt lonely in the world. She had loving parents, an elder sister
and a number of friends. But she was not intimate with anyone. She could talk
to them about common everyday matters. But she could not express her inner
feelings to them. She wanted a patient listener with a sympathetic heart. But she
found that people had no patience to listen to her. She could not relieve the
feelings of her heart to anyone. Anne wanted to lighten the burden of ideas in
her heart. So she decided to maintain a diary. A diary is not a human being. It
has a lot more patience than man. One can express one’s thoughts freely. The
diary does not get bored. It is a true friend. It never rejects the offer of
friendship. That is why Anne Frank says that paper has more patience than
people.
Q.2. Give a brief sketch of Anne’s life. [H.B.S.E. March 2017 (Set-A)]
Ans. Anne Frank was a young Jewish girl. She lived with her parents in
Germany. But Hitler’s Nazi party was against the Jews. The Nazis were killing
the Jews or forcing them to work in the concentration camps. The Frank family
fled from Germany in 1933 and took shelters in the Netherlands. But in 1940,
Germany attacked the Netherlands and captured it. Now the Nazis started
arresting the Jews and sending them to the concentration camps. The Frank
family went into hiding. They lived secretly in the upper floors of their business
premises. They hid there for 25 months. Their non-Jewish friends gave them
food.
Anne had started writing her diary before going into hiding. In August 1944, the
Germans came to know of their hiding. They were arrested and sent to
Germany. Anne, her sister, Margot and her mother soon died in a concentration
camp. Her father survived and published part of Anne’s diary. In this diary,
Anne gives a moving and tragic account of the difficulties faced by her family
and the other Jews.
The part of the diary reproduced in this chapter is about the days when Anne
was a schoolgirl and she and her family had not yet moved to the secret
quarters.
Q3. (i) Why did Mr Keesing punish her?
(ii) What was the punishment?
(iii) How did Anne finally stop Mr Keesing from punishing her?
Ans. Anne Frank was in the habit of talking in the class. Mr Keesing was her
Maths teacher. He was annoyed with Anne as she talked much in the class. He
gave her several warnings but it had no effect. One day, he punished her by
giving her extra homework. He asked her to write an essay on the subject “A
Chatterbox’. Anne wrote the essay, giving very amusing arguments in it. Mr
Keesing liked the essay. But Anne again talked in the class. So he gave the task
of writing another essay. This time, the subject was, An Incorrigible
Chatterbox.’ After that. for two lessons, Anne did not get any punishment. But
during the third lesson. Mr Keesing saw Anne talking again He was very
annoyed. He asked her to write another essay. The subject of this essay was,
“Quack. Quack. Quack. Said Mistress Chatterbox.” The whole class laughed.
Mr Keesing was trying to play a joke on Anne. But she wrote the essay in an
amusing way. Mr Keesing liked the essay and did not punish Anne after that.
Q.4. How do you assess Anne’s character? You can choose appropriate
words from the following box and write a paragraph.
Responsible; caring and loving; humorous; talkative; sensible; patient;
mature for her age; lonely; accurate in her judgement; childish; intelligent
Ans. Anne was a girl of thirteen years. She was very intelligent. She had a sharp
brain. She was different from the other.girls of her age. She could think clearly
and deeply. She had deep thoughts and ideas that she wanted to share with
someone. But she found that her friends were not able to understand her
completely. Their mental level ..as not equal to that of Anne. They could talk to
Anne about the ordinary everyday matter only. She had loving parents. an elder
sister and loving aunts also. But she could not share her deep thoughts with
anyone. So she decided to make her diary to her friend. She wrote down her
inner thoughts and feelings in the diary. Anne had an argumentative mind. She
argued in her first essay that parental trans arc inherited by children. She had a
good sense of humour. Her Maths teacher. Mr Keesing tried to play a joke on
her. But she wrote the essay in verse in such a way that the Joke was turned on
him.
5. Why did Anne Frank maintain a diary?
Ans. Anne bard had losing parents She had loving aunts and unit lc. She Vise-it
in r good house. She had about thins own& liven then the felt hinds She felt that
there was no one with whom she could Ann her thoughts and feelings. There
were a number of things, which she wanted to get oil her chest. But she had no
true friend. She could not talk to about anything except ordinary everyday
matters. She could have a good time with them. But she had no intimate friend
She had no Inland in whom she could confide her dope feelings. So she decided
to maintain a diary. She thought that she would treat her diary-like her (mad SW
could note down all her thoughts and feelings in this diary She named this
friend. Kitty The first envy that she made in the diary was dated 20th June.
1942.
Q.6. What does Anne say about her parents, elder sister and her stay in the
Montessori School?
Ans. Anne calls her father very adorable. When her parents were married, her
father was thirty-six and the mother was twenty-five. Margot was Anne’s elder
sister. She was born in Frankfurt in 1926. Three years later, Anne was born. She
lived in Frankfurt until she was four. Her father migrated to Holland in 1933.
Her mother, Edith Hollander Frank, went with him. Anne and her sister, Margot
were sent to Aachen to stay with their grandmother. Margot went to Holland in
December and Anne went three months later. Anne started studying at the
Montessori School. She stayed there until she was six at which time she was in
the first form. When was in the sixth form, her teacher was Mrs Kuperus. the
headmistress. Both loved each other. When she left school, both Anne and her
teacher were in tears
Q.7. Anne had loving parents and a number of friends. Even then she
thought that she was alone. Why?
Ans. Anne Frank was a thirteen-year-old girl. She had loving parents and an
elder sister. She had loving aunts and lived in a good home. She had about thirty
friends also. Even then she felt that she was alone in the world. She had no
intimate person. She had no true friend with whom she could share her feelings.
She could not confide in anyone. She had a number of thoughts that she wanted
to express to someone. But she could not get close to anyone. She could have a
good time with them. She could talk to them about ordinary everyday matters of
life. But there was no one with whom she could share the deepest thoughts of
his heart. Thus she felt lonely in the world. She wanted a true friend so she
decided to make the diary her friend.
Q.8. Why was the whole class shaking in its boots? How does Anne Frank
describe the behaviour of her classmates?
Ans. The time of the declaration of the annual results was. coming closer. The
teachers were going to hold their annual meeting. In that meeting, they were
going to decide which of the students would be promoted to the next class and
which of them would be kept back in the same class. As a result, the students
were nervous because of the worries of their future. Half the class was making
bets. Anne and her friend G.N. laughed heartily like their classmates, C.N. and
Jacques had staked their entire holiday savings on their bet. They were all the
time speculating who would pass and who would not. Anne was angry with
many of them. But they would not calm down. There were many dummies in
Anne’s class. She felt that at least half of them should not be promoted to the
next class. But she also felt that teachers are the most unpredictable persons on
earth
Q.9. Describe the three essays written by Anne Frank.
Ans. Anne Frank was in the habit of talking in the class. Her Maths teacher, Mr
Keesing was annoyed with her. One day, Mr Keesing gave her extra homework
as a punishment. He asked her to write an essay on the subject, ‘A Chatterbox’.
She gave amusing arguments in her essay. She wrote that it was a trait of a
student to talk. Moreover, she could not cure herself of this habit as her mother
also talked as much as she did. It was an inherited trait. Mr Keesing liked the
essay. But Anne talked again for the class. So he asked her to write another
essay on the topic, ‘An Incorrigible Chatterbox.’ Now for two lessons, she did
not get any punishment. But she talked again. This time, Mr Keesing asked her
to write an essay on the topic, ‘Quack, Quack, Quack, Said Mistress
Chatterbox.’ Anne wrote this essay in verse form. She wrote about a mother
duck and father swan. They had three ducklings. But the father killed the
ducklings because they quacked too much. Mr Keesing liked the essay greatly.
He read it out to the class. He read it to other classes also. After that, he stopped
punishing Anne.
Q.10. Anne believed that paper has more patience than people. She could
confide more in her diary than in people. Why did she feel so? Was she free
from bias and stereotypes? Explain in 100-120 words the values we need to
imbibe from diary as a friend.
Ans. Anne was a sensible and intelligent girl. She believed that paper has more
patience than people as it can confine secrets and shared confidence better than
people. Anne didn’t have a true friend hence she shared her thoughts and
feelings with her diary. She felt people may not be interested in what you have
to say. They also may not be there when you need them. However, paper can
never show disinterest and is free from bias and stereotypes. It can’t talk and
hence can keep your secrets. She felt paper was more dependable than people
and hence treated her diary as her friend.
Q.11. Mr Keesing punished Anne by giving her an essay to write. Did he
lack empathy and compassion? Was it not in his attitude to respect
differences among the students? What values would you like to inbuilt in
him and why? Write in 100-120 words.
Ans. Mr Keesing was annoyed with Anne as she was a very talkative girl. He
warned her several times, but when she didn’t change, he punished her by
giving an essay to write. I think he lacked empathy and compassion. As a
teacher, he should be more patient and considerate and should have understood
Anne’s condition. He lacked the quality of a good teacher. A good teacher
understands that all students are not the same, and there are different ways to
teach different students. But Anne was able to change his attitude through her
essays. She taught him that talking was a student’s trait and that it was the
teacher’s responsibility to change it.
Q.12. Anne wanted to write convincing arguments to prove the necessity of
talking. What does this tell you about her? Did she possess a sense of
freedom? Explain the values she possessed to justify herself in 100-120
words.
Ans. Mr Keesing punished Anne by giving her an essay to write on the topic,
‘A Chatterbox’. Anne, in her essay, argued that talking was a students’ trait.
The only thing that she could do was to try to control. But that would not be
very effective. Her mother talked as much and hence nothing could be done
about an inherited trait. Then in her next essay, which she wrote in verse, she
expressed her quality of talking through a story. In the poem, a father swan bites
his three ducklings to death as he could not bear their excessive quacking. This
changed Mr Keesing’s attitude and he never punished her after that. This shows
that besides being talkative, Anne was an intelligent, and sensible girl and had a
good sense of humour.
Q.13. Anne justified her being a chatterbox in her essay. Do you agree that
she has the courage to defy the injustice? What values do you learn from
Anne’s character through this? Write in 100-120 words.
Ans. Anne was a 13-year old intelligent and sensible girl. She was very
talkative and hence her maths teacher punished her and asked her to write an
essay on ‘A Chatterbox’. She expressed her ‘talking’ as a students’ trait. She
defied the injustice through her three essays on the same topic. She said that she
could do nothing with her inherited trait. Finally, she wrote her third essay in
verse. It was about three ducklings bitten to death by their father swan because
they quacked too much. This changed Mr Keesing and he never punished her
after that. This showed the power of the pen to express her feelings and the
sense of injustice done to her, without annoying others.
Q14. What made Anne Frank write a diary? Did she think that people
would be interested in her writings? Why did she feel that paper has more
patience than people?
Ans. Ant Anne Frank was a highly sensitive girl. She was a thirteen-year-old
girl. She didn’t find herself very comfortable in the society she was growing up.
It should be remembered that she and her family were made to live in a hiding
to escape arrests. They were Jews. Those were horrible times. Nazis had let
loose untold atrocities on the Jews. Living in such unpleasant circumstances, the
young girl could not confide in the people around her. She couldn’t share her
personal and intimate issues with her so-called friends. She needed to get all
kinds of things off her heart. She realised that `paper has more patience than
people’. She wanted the diary to be her friend. She called this friend ‘Kitty’.
She knows it clearly that people would not be interested in the musings of a
thirteen-year-old girl.
Q 15. On the one hand, Anne Frank says that she is not all alone in the
world. On the other hand, she says that she seems ‘to have everything,
except my one true friend’. Why can’t she confide in and come closer to her
friends?
Ans. Anne Frank seems to be a split personality. On the surface, there are about
thirty people she can call her friends. She doesn’t seem to be alone in the world.
She has loving parents and a sixteen-year-old elder sister. She has loving aunts
and a family. She has the ‘most adorable father’. However, she feels very
lonely. She can’t talk about but ordinary things with them. Personal and
intimate issues can’t be shared with them. She can’t confide or repose complete
trust in them. She has reasons to believe that `paper has more patience than
people’. Therefore, she wants her diary to be her only and true friend. She can
power out her heart and express her most intimate emotions through her
writings in her diary.
Q16.Give a brief character-sketch of Anne Frank highlighting the
contradictions and conflicts she faced in her short life.
Ans. Anne Frank was a very sensitive, sharp and mature girl of thirteen.
Actually, unpleasant circumstances she was living in, made her mature and wise
beyond her years. Being a Jew, she was constantly hounded by the Nazis. She
was living in terrible times. Born in Germany, she and her family had to migrate
to Amsterdam to escape persecution. They were forced to live in hiding when
the Nazis occupied Holland.
No doubt, she had a family, relatives and friends. But she was an introvert. She
felt utterly lonely and couldn’t confide in others. She needed a true friend before
whom she could open out her heart and share her inmost feelings. She found
that true friend in ‘Kitty’, her diary. She was very emotional. She loved her
grandmother very much. She was in tears as she said a heartbreaking farewell to
the headmistress, Mrs Kuperus. She was `a Chatterbox’ and annoyed her maths
teacher, Mr Keesing as she talked too much in the class. He punished her by
giving extra homework to write essays on this subject. But her joke pleased him
very much.
Q17. Give a brief character-sketch of Mr Keesing highlighting the
transformation that comes in him in the end.
Ans. Mr Keesing was an old fashioned teacher of maths in Anne Frank’s
school. He was rather strict with his students and didn’t allow much talking in
the class. He was annoyed with Anne as she talked too much in the class. Being
irritated, he gave several warnings to her. Ultimately, he assigned her to write
an essay on ‘A Chatterbox’. Anne wrote the essay justifying that talking is a
student’s trait. She inherited this trait from her mother. Mr Keesing was not
amused. He assigned her two more essays. They were: ‘An Incorrigible
Chatterbox’ and ‘Quack, Quack, Quack, said Mistress Chatterbox’. Anne wrote
the story of three ducklings who were beaten to death by their cruel father
because they quacked too much. The essay gave the right message to Mr
Keesing. By chance, the joke fell on him. He was a transformed man now. He
allowed Anne talking and never assigned her any extra homework again.
Q18. Why was the whole class ‘quaking in its boots’? Why were teachers
the most unpredictable creatures on earth?
Ans. It was the day of destiny for students. The reason was quite simple. In the
forthcoming meeting, the teachers were going to decide who would move up in
the next class. They were to decide who would be kept back in the same class.
The entire class was ‘quaking in its boots’. Half the class was making bets. Two
silly boys C.N. and Jacques had staked their entire’ holiday savings on their
bets. One would encourage the other. “No, I’m not.” Anne felt that there were
so many dummies or worthless students in the class. She felt that a quarter of
the class should be kept back. Anne also felt that teachers were the most
unpredictable creatures on earth. They work according to their whims.
Naturally, the girls and boys were worried. They waited for the verdict with
their fingers crossed.
Q19. How did Anne turn the table on Mr Keesing who tried to make a joke
on her by asking her to write the third essay or the ridiculous subject:
‘Quack, Quack, Quack, said Mistress Chatterbox’?
Or
How did Anne Frank outsmart her maths teacher, Mr Keesing by giving
the right message in her third essay to him?
Ans. In her first essay, Anne justified her habit of talking. She claimed that
talking is a student’s trait. However, Mr Keesing was not amused by her
arguments. He decided to punish her for talking in the class. He assigned her to
write her third essay on rather a ridiculous subject: `Quack, Quack, Quack, said
Mistress Chatterbox’. She class roared. Mt Keesing was trying to play a joke on
her with this `ridiculous subject’. But Anne decided to pay him in the same
coin.
Anne was lucky that a friend of hers, Sanne, was good at poetry. She helped her
to write the essay in verse. The essay was about a mother duck and a father
swan. They had three ducklings. The baby ducklings were beaten to death by
the father because they quacked too much. Luckily, Mr Keesing took the joke in
the right way. The message was very clear. He read the poem to the class,
adding his own comments. He was a transformed man now. He allowed Anne to
talk and never troubled her by assigning any extra homework.
Q20. Do you agree that Anne Frank was far more intelligent, mature and
witty than her age? Give a reasoned answer.
Ans. There is no doubt that Anne Frank was mature and intelligent beyond her
age. Just imagine a girl of thirteen writing a diary! She knew that not many
people would be interested in her musings. Being a very sensitive girl, she was
aware of the difference between a real friend and the so-called crowd of friends.
Her diary didn’t describe facts and figures. But she opened out her suppressed
self. Being an intelligent girl, she knew that paper has more patience than
people. She couldn’t confide in everybody and anybody. Only ‘Kitty’, her diary
was her true friend.
The highly emotional Anne could be witty and practical too. She knew how to
defeat people in their own games. The argument she gave in favour of talking in
her first essay spoke volumes of her practical wit. Mr Keesing who wanted to
play a joke on Anne by giving her to write on a ridiculous subject was paid in
the same coin. Luckily, Mr Keesing understood the message in the right way.
Her writing transformed him. He allowed her to talk and stopped troubling her
by assigning any extra work.

21. ‘Paper has more patience than people’. Do you agree with the
statement?
Ans: Anne believes that people are not interested in other’s life as they are stuck
with their ownproblems 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.
22. “From the diary of Anne Frank’ throws light on teacher-student
relationship, classatmosphere and discipline. Write a paragraph oh the
values of these aspects of school and how far these values are necessary for
learning and life.
Ans: “The diary of Anne Frank” clearly describes the teacher-student
relationship, class atmosphere and discipline. Anne who talks a lot in the class
gets punished by Mr Keesing her Maths teacher. He asks her to write essays as
punishment which is learning in disguise because he wanted her to focus on
studies. He cannot be blamed for the punishment as he did
it for the development of Anne. The teacher-student relationship is very
respectful and sacred. It is about discipline and classroom manners which are
essential for every student as well as teacher, otherwise both teaching or
learning could hamper. This relationship is clearly shown in Mr Keesing and
Anne Frank actions as they both try to joke on each other but in
very humorous and healthy manner. So this healthy relationship is needed
everywhere in the class for effective teaching and learning.