CBSE Class 10 English From the Diary of Anne Frank Notes Set 01

About the chapter

From the Diary of Anne Frank is an extract from The Diary of a Young Girl, written by Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who lived in Amsterdam during the Second World War. In these pages, written when she was still at school, Anne explains why she started a diary, tells about her family and school, and describes how she dealt with a strict teacher.

The author

Anne Frank (1929 to 1945) was born in Germany and moved with her family to the Netherlands to escape Nazi persecution. When the Germans occupied the country, the family went into hiding in a secret annex of her father's office building. Anne kept a diary from her thirteenth birthday. The family was arrested in 1944, and Anne died in a concentration camp. Her father Otto, the only survivor, published the diary, which has been translated into more than seventy languages.

Summary

1. Anne says she has never been able to talk freely about her deepest feelings, even though she has a loving family and about thirty people she calls friends. She feels lonely, and she decides that a diary can be the friend she needs.

2. She names the diary Kitty and explains that she will write about her feelings and not just facts. To make things clear to a reader in future, she first gives her background: her parents, her sister Margot, her early schooling and the move to Holland.

3. Anne then describes the day the school reports were to be given out. The class was anxious, and some boys were making bets. She was fairly sure she would pass, though she was not good at mathematics.

4. Her mathematics teacher, Mr Keesing, was annoyed with her for talking too much, and gave her extra homework as punishment. The first essay was on being a chatterbox. Anne wrote it and argued that talking was a trait inherited from her mother and could not be cured.

5. Mr Keesing gave another essay on an incorrigible chatterbox, and Anne again wrote a witty piece. For the third essay, Quack, Quack, Quack, said Mistress Chatterbox, she wrote a poem with the help of a friend, about a duck family where the father swan bit the ducklings to death for quacking. Mr Keesing laughed at the joke, understood the point and never punished her again for talking.

Character sketches

Anne Frank: She is intelligent, cheerful, honest and witty. Behind her chatty nature is a lonely girl who wants a true friend. She faces punishment with humour instead of anger, and she is thoughtful about her own faults.

Mr Keesing: He is a strict teacher who believes in discipline, but he is also fair and has a sense of humour. He accepts that Anne's reply was clever, and he is willing to learn from a student, which shows that he is open-minded.

Themes

1. Loneliness and the need for a confidant, even among many friends.

2. Humour and wit as ways of facing problems.

3. Respect between teacher and student, and the idea that discipline should be wise, not harsh.

Important points to remember

1. The diary is named Kitty. 2. The punishment essays were given by the mathematics teacher, Mr Keesing. 3. The three assignments were on chatterbox, an incorrigible chatterbox, and the poem about the quacking ducks. 4. After the third assignment Mr Keesing stopped punishing Anne for talking.

Sample answer: What impression do you form of Mr Keesing?

Mr Keesing is a stern teacher who dislikes talkative pupils, but he is not unkind. He was amused by Anne's poem and had the sense to see his mistake. He even read her poem aloud and joked about it, which shows that he could accept a lesson from a pupil.

Vocabulary

1. Confidant means a person with whom one shares secrets. 2. Incorrigible means impossible to correct. 3. Satire means writing that makes fun of a fault.

Quick Check Questions