From the Diary of Anne Frank (First Flight)

By Anne Frank

1. Was Anne right when she said that the world would not be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year-old girl?

No, Anne was not right when she said that the world would not be interested in the musings of a thirteen year old girl. Her diary was published under the name 'The Diary of a young girl'. It was translated from its original Dutch into many languages and it became one of the world's most widely read books.


2. There are some examples of diary or journal entries in the ‘Before You Read’ section. Compare these with what Anne writes in her diary. What language was the diary originally written in? In what way is Anne’s diary different?

The diary was written in Dutch language. Anne's diary is different in a way that she considers it a real person and in fact a friend in whom she can confide everything. It was not just a journal for her to jot down facts like other people do.


3. Why does Anne need to give a brief sketch about her family? Does she treat ‘Kitty’ as an insider or an outsider?

Anne names her diary as kitty, she considers kitty as her close friend and she gives a brief description of her family to her close friend kitty. She considers her friend kitty as an insider to whom she confide all her teenage feelings which she may be able to share with her family members. Anne also feels that no one would be able to understand a word of her stories to Kitty if she plunges right in so it would be better if she gives a brief sketch of her life and family beforehand. She treats ‘Kitty' as an insider, a real friend in whom she can confide anything.


4. Why does Anne want to keep a diary?

Anne used her diary as a therapy to cope with not only teenage anxiety of the situation outside, but to keep perspective and her sanity in such a close environment. The original diary wasn't to just "Kitty" but to many pseudonyms. The diary became a sounding board for Anne and, eventually, a passionate piece of historic evidence for the world II.


5. How does Anne feel about her father, her grandmother, Mrs Kuperus and Mr Keesing? What do these tell you about her?

Anne Frank's grandmother, who died of natural causes before the Frank family was forced into hiding in the annex, was extremely loved by Anne, who draws on fond memories of her grandmother to help her through some of her darkest days. Anne's diary also refers to her grandmother as a guardian angel.
Mrs Kuperus was the headmistress of her Montessori School and her teacher as well in the sixth form. Both of them had a heart breaking farewell at the end of the year. Mr Keesing was her Math teacher. He was always annoyed with her because she talked too much. However, Anne was able to justify her talkative nature every time she was punished by Mr. Keesing.


6. What does Anne write in her first essay?


Anne wrote the three pages on ‘A Chatterbox’ that Mr Keesing had told her. She argued that talking is a student’s trait and that she would do her best to keep it under control but that she would never be able to cure herself of the habit since her mother talked as much as she did, and that nothing much can done to change inherited traits.


7. Anne says teachers are most unpredictable. Is Mr Keesing unpredictable? How?

She termed Mr Keesing as unpredictable. He lost temper and assigned her extra homework- write an essay on 'A Chatterbox'. Anne thought that Mr. Keesing was a strict teacher. To her surprise he took all her essays in the right spirit; he even accepted her talkative nature and allowed her to talk in class. Therefore she concluded that Mr Keesing was unpredictable


8. 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. 

Anne says that she is longing to have a close friend to whom she could confide in. She feels that she is unable to get closer to her family members because they were elder to her. Her sister was 3 years elder to her and she says she did not share anything common with her mother. She says may be it is her fault that she does not confide in her family members so she chose to write in a diary.

(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. 

Anne considers her diary to be her true friend kitty and she confides in kitty about all her feelings and also facts that happened, she says that she did not use her diary to jot down facts and daily events as others to do. She considered kitty as her close 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.

Anne was a fun loving person when she and her sister Margot went to Holland to stay with her father and mother she enjoyed her sister’s birthday even though they were left with their grandmother without their parents still Anne made herself and others happy wherever she was.


(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. 

Anne is expressing her opinion on the final result of her class students. She says that herself and some of her friends will pass to the next class and that a quarter of her classmates are dummies and they should be kept back rather than passing them to the higher class but she says teachers are unpredictable because nobody could say that which students they would pass to the next class or which students they would fail.

(v) Anyone could ramble on and leave big spaces between the words, but the trick was to come up with convincing arguments to prove the necessity of talking. 

When Anne was assigned a punishment she showed a great interest in writing unlike other students who are baffled at the thought of punishment. She knew that she had to put convincing arguments to prove her points. Anne had taken each and every situation in the right spirit and battled through all her problems.

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