This is a story of a young girl named Anne Frank. The story is based on her diary. Anne is a Jewish girl who has to go into hiding during World War to avoid the Nazis. She shares her experiences in the story when she is depressed. The chapter is an excerpt from the ‘Diary of a Young Girl’ by Anne Frank.
Important Question and Answers
Q. Why did Anne start writing a diary?
Ans. Anne had all the loving parents, a sister and many friends. But she had no real friend. She needed someone to listen to her musings, to share her secrets with and to confide in. She could not feel free with her friends. This prompted her to keep a diary.
Q. ‘Paper has more patience than people’. Elucidate.
Ans. According to Anne Frank, people are not always interested in listening to what you are telling them. They get bored and lose patience, but it is not so with paper. You can go on writing whatever you like, and as long as you like.
Q. How did Anne regard her diary and what name did she give to it?
Ans. Anne regarded her diary as her long-awaited friend in her imagination. She didn’t want to jot down facts in this diary, but she wanted the diary to be her friend and she named ‘Kitty’.
Q. Why does Anne want to keep a diary? Why does she feel she can trust a diary more than the people?
Ans. She wanted to keep a diary because she felt that people change and can’t be trusted but paper doesn’t change. Moreover, it patiently documents one’s experiences. And she would keep it confidential.
Q. Grandma had a significant place in Anne’s heart. Explain.
Ans. In the summer of 1941, Anne’s grandma fell ill and had to have an operation. But she died in January 1942. Anne loved her grandma very much. Anne remembered her very much. On Anne’s birthday, a separate candle was lit for grandma along with the rest.
Q. Why does Anne want to keep a diary?
Ans. In spite of a family and friends, Anne felt rather lonely. There were thirty persons whom she could call her friends. She could talk only ordinary everyday things with them. She couldn’t share most feelings with them. Nor could she confide in them. She wanted the diary to be her friend. She named her friend ‘Kitty’.
Q. The classmates of Anne Frank were shaking with fear and nervousness. Why?
Ans. The classmates of Anne Frank were shaking with fear and nervousness because it was time to move to the next class. The students did not know who would be kept back and who would be promoted.
Q. Who taught Anne Frank maths? Why did the maths teacher always get annoyed with her?
Ans. Mr. Keesing, the old fogey taught her Maths. He was annoyed with Anne for ages because in his class Anne talked too much. He had warned her several times, but Anne didn’t bother.
Q. What does Anne write in her first essay?
Ans. Anne wrote that talking is a student’s trait. She would not keep talking under control because her mother talked a lot. She had inherited that trait from her mother. And she would do her best to keep it under control.
Q. How did Sanne help Anne Frank in writing the third essay?
Ans. Sanne was one of Anne Frank’s friends. She suggested Anne to write the essay in verse form. She also advised her to put up the example of a swan and ducklings in it. The poem was very beautiful.
Q. Was Anne an intelligent girl? Support your answer giving instances?
Ans. Anne was indeed a very intelligent girl. She was a thirteen years old school going girl, but her diary shows that she was mature enough for her age. Anne was a jewish girl who had to go into hiding during World War II to avoid the Nazis. Nobody ever thought of writing an account of how Hitler tortured Jews. But Anne Frank did so. On her thirteenth birthday her father gifted her a diary, in which chronicles of the events of her life were written. She decided to write a diary because she felt that paper was more patient than people. Only an intelligent girl could think so wisely and deeply. In school in her Maths period, she proved her necessity of talking. She defended her habit as hereditary. By writing a poem of a mother duck and a father Swan in a humorous form, she very wisely turned a punishment into a joke. Even Mr. Keesing, her Maths teacher, took the joke in the right way and read the poem to the class, after that he was often seen making jokes in the class. Only an intelligent girl like Anne could do that.
Q. Why did Anne Frank think that she could confide more in her diary than in the people?
Ans. Anne got a diary as a gift on her thirteenth birthday. First, she didn’t like the idea of writing diary at all. But then she felt like writing because she had to get all kinds of things off her chest. She felt lonely, bored and depressed, though she had loving parents, a sister and thirty others. She was a shy and introvert type of a girl. She did not have a true friend. Even though she had a happy family but somehow, she could not confide in them. She wanted someone with whom she could share her secrets. She found a real friend in her diary ‘Kitty’. Moreover, she realized the truth lying in the fact that paper has more patience than people. She did not plan to let anyone else read her diary, unless she ever found a real friend. So she could confide in more ideas in her diary than in people because people are not always interested in listening to what you are telling them. But diary conceals all your secrets.
Q. How did Anne respond to the punishment by Mr. Keesing? What light does it throw on her nature?
Ans. Mr. Keesing Anne’s, Maths teacher, was always annoyed with Anne because of her talkative nature. So, he had given her some extra work to write an essay on “A Chatter Box”. She wrote in her essay, “Talking is a student’s trait and I would do my best to control it. But I won’t be able to cure this habit since my mother is also talkative. So moving from the inherited trait cannot be done“. On reading her arguments, Mr. Keesing had a good laugh. When the teacher gave her another essay on ‘An Incorrigible Chatter Box’. It was a punishment for Anne for talking in the class. Anne gave a message through the poem to the teacher. The teacher got so impressed by her little poem that he decided not to punish her. She made him realize his mistake. It also reflects her fearlessness, critical thinking, humility and unbiased approach as well as her creativity and humorous approach to deal with her strict teacher.