Chapter 4 From the Diary of Anne Frank

Chapter 4 From the Diary of Anne Frank |
Question and Answers | NCERT | Class 10 | English | First Flight

Activity (Page 49)

Question 1. Do you keep a diary? Given below under ‘A’ are some terms we use to describe a written record of personal experience. Can you match them with their descriptions under ‘B’? (You may look up the terms in a dictionary if you wish.)

A	B
(i) Journal	– A book with a separate space or page for each day, in which you write down your thoughts and feelings or what has happened on that day
(ii) Diary	– A full record of a journey, a period of time, or an event, written every day
(iii) Log	– A record of a person’s own life and experiences (usually, a famous person)
(iv) Memoir(s)	– A written record of events with times and dates, usually official

Answer 1

A	B
(i) Journal	A full record of a journey, a period of time, or an event, written every day
(ii) Diary	A book with a separate space or page for each day, in which you write down your thoughts and feelings or what has happened on that day
(iii) Log	A written record of events with times and dates, usually official
(iv) Memoir(s)	A record of person’s own life and experiences (usually, a famous person)

Answer 2. Here are some entries from personal records. Use the definitions above to decide which of the entries might be from a diary, a journal, a log or a memoir.
(i) I woke up very late today and promptly got a scolding from Mum! I can’t help it — how can I miss the FIFA World Cup matches?

(ii) 10:30 a.m. Went to the office of the Director

01:00 p.m. Had lunch with Chairman

05:45 p.m. Received Rahul at the airport

09:30 p.m. Dinner at home.

(iii) The ride to Ooty was uneventful. We rested for a while every 50 km or so, and used the time to capture the magnificent landscape with my HandyCam. From Ooty we went on to Bangalore. What a contrast! The noise and pollution of this once-beautiful city really broke my heart.

(iv) This is how Raj Kapoor found me — all wet and ragged outside R.K.Studios. He was then looking for just someone like this for a small role in Mera Naam Joker, and he cast me on the spot. The rest, as they say, is history!

Answer 2:
(1) Diary
(2) Log
(3) Journal
(4) Memoir

Oral Comprehension Check (Page 51)

Question 1. What makes writing in a diary a strange experience for Anne Frank?

Answer 1 First she had never written anything like this before and secondly she thought that nobody is going to read or would be interested in her diary.

Question 2. Why does Anne want to keep a diary?

Answer 2 Anne wants to keep a diary as she didn’t have friend.

Question 3. Why did Anne think she could confide more in her diary than in people?

Answer 3 Anne felt that paper had more patience than people. It was easier for her to write all kind of thoughts which she had in her mind. Her personal diary was not meant for any one else to read.So she decided to write and confide in a diary.

Oral Comprehension Check (Page 51)

Question 1. Why does Anne provide a brief sketch of her life?

Answer 1 Anne provides a brief sketch of her life since no one would understand a word of her musings. Anne wants to give an overview of her family, relatives and her age. This helps the reader to develop a connection with the author.

Question 2. What tells you that Anne loved her grandmother?

Answer 2 Her statement, that no one could understand her intensity of love for her grandma tells that she loved her grandmother. She writes in her diary . “No one knows how often I think of her and still love her”. On her 13th birthday by lightening up one candle for Grandmother she shows her love for her.

Oral Comprehension Check (Page 54)

Question 1. Why was Mr Keesing annoyed with Anne? What did he ask her to do?

Answer 1 Mr. Keesing was annoyed with Anne because she talks so much in the class. He assigned her extra homework, asking her to write an essay to keep her silent.

Question 2. How did Anne justify her being a chatterbox in her essay?

Answer 2 Anne justified her being a chatterbox in her essay by explaining that it is due to her mother who was also very talkative and nobody could do anything about these inherited traits. Secondly she said that chatting is student’s trait.

Question 3. Do you think Mr Keesing was a strict teacher?

Answer 3 Mr Keesing was not a very strict teacher.  He expected discipline and silence in his class while he was teaching. He punished Anne by asking her to write an essay. If he had been strict he would not have laughed at Anne’s funny arguments. She came up with a brilliant poem, and reads this poem in the class, acknowledging its content. Therefore we can say that Mr. Keesing was fun-loving teacher too.

Question 4. What made Mr Keesing allow Anne to talk in class?

Answer 4 Anne was able to justify her talkative nature every time she was punished by Mr. Keesing. On three occasions, as punishment, he gave her topics to write essays on. However, on each occasion he was impressed by the manner in which she presented her arguments. Finally, Mr. Keesing accepted the fact that Anne would always be that way. Hence, she was allowed to talk in class.

Thinking about the Text (Page 54) 

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

Answer 1 Yes, Anne was right when she said so because most of the people don’t want to give importance to a child’s perspective toward the world because they are too immature for the world. 

Question 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?

Answer 2 Anne’s diary was originally written in Dutch. Her diary is different from the others in many aspects. She thought of it as her only true friend whom she could confide in. She treated it as another person who was listening to her daily accounts.Her diary was a lot more personal than other diaries.

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

Answer 3 Annie usually sits depressed , all alone and she claims of having no real friend.Anne Frank gives the sketch of her adorable father, compassionate mother, kind grandmother, and loving sister in her diary. Kitty was an outsider which was gifted by her parents on her 13th birthday  but she treated Kitty as an insider because she called it her best friend and was ready to confide in it. 

Question 4. How does Anne feel about her father, her grandmother, Mrs Kuperus and Mr Keesing? What do these tell you about her?

Answer 4 Anne felt that her father is most adorable father. Her statement, that no one could understand her intensity of love for her grandma tells that she loved her grandmother. On her 13th birthday by lightening up one candle for Grandmother she shows her love for her. Mrs Kuperus was also the headmistress. At the end of the year, they were both in tears as they said a heartbreaking farewell. Mr Keesing was annoyed with her because of her talkative nature. However, Anne was able to justify her talkative nature every time she was punished. On each occasion he was impressed by the manner in which she presented her arguments. The way she represents all of them in her diary reveals that Anne was very good at understanding people and at developing interpersonal relations.

Question 5. What does Anne write in her first essay?

Answer 5 Mr Keesing asked her to write an essay on the topic ‘A Chatterbox’ as punishment. In the essay  firstly she said that talking was a student’s trait and that she would do her best to keep it under control. And secondly it was in her genes as her mother was also very talkative. Mr Keesing too had a good laugh reading her arguments.

Question 6. Anne says teachers are most unpredictable. Is Mr Keesing unpredictable? How?

Answer 6 Mr. Keesing was annoyed with Anne because she talks so much in the class. He assigned her extra homework, asking her to write an essay to keep her silent. But he laughed at the argument she had given in the essays. Finally, he accepted her talkative nature and actually allowed her to talk in class. He did not even assign her any more extra homework. That is why it can be said that Mr Keesing was unpredictable.

Question 7. 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.

(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.

(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.

(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.

(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.

Answer 7 (i) Anne had no true friend whom she could confide in.It shows her reserved nature.

(ii) Anne really considered her diary as a friend whom she could trust and narrate all her stories to. She considered it as her friend and named her Kitty. It shows that she is  self-confident and inventive.

(iii) Anne was a humorous person. She was witty and knew how to present things in a funny way. She narrated this incident with a lot of fun.

(iv) She had an opinion on everything. She herself was intelligent enough to make it to the next class.

(v) She has a convincing attitude and knew a lot about writing.

Thinking about the Language (Page 55)

Question I. Match the compound words under ‘A’ with their meanings under ‘B’. Use each in a sentence

A	B
1. Heartbreaking	– obeying and respecting the law
2. Homesick	– think about pleasant things, forgetting about the present
3. Blockhead	– something produced by a person, machine or organisation
4. Law-abiding	– producing great sadness
5. Overdo	– an occasion when vehicles/machines stop working
6. Daydream	– an informal word which means a very stupid person
7. Breakdown	– missing home and family very much
8. Output	– do something to an excessive degree

Answer I:

A	B
1. Heartbreaking	– producing great sadness
2. Homesick	– missing home and family very much
3. Blockhead	– an informal word which means a very stupid person
4. Law-abiding	– obeying and respecting the law
5. Overdo	– do something to an excessive degree
6. Daydream	– think about pleasant things, forgetting about the present
7. Breakdown	– an occasion when vehicles/machines stop working
8. Output	– something produced by a person, machine or organisation

Question II. Now find the sentences in the lesson that have the phrasal verbs given below. Match them with their meanings. (You have already found out the meanings of some of them.) Are their meanings the same as that of their parts? (Note that two parts of a phrasal verb may occur separated in the text.)

(i) plunge in – speak or write without focus
(ii) kept back – stay indoors
(iii) move up – make (them) remain quiet
(iv) ramble on – have a good relationship with
(v) get along with – give an assignment (homework) to a person in
authority (the teacher)
(vi) calm down – compensate
(vii) stay in – go straight to the topic
(viii) make up for – go to the next grade
(ix) hand in – not promoted

Answer II

(i) plunge in − go straight to the topic
Since no one would understand a word of my stories to Kitty if I were to plunge right in, I’d better provide a brief sketch of my life, much as I dislike doing so.

(ii) kept back − not promoted
The reason, of course, is the forthcoming meeting in which the teachers decide who’ll move up to the next form and who’ll be kept back.

(iii) move up − go to the next grade
The reason, of course, is the forthcoming meeting in which the teachers decide who’ll move up to the next form and who’ll be kept back.

(iv) ramble on − speak or write without focus
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.

(v) get along with − have a good relationship with
I get along pretty well with all my teachers.

(vi) calm down − make (them) remain quite
Even G.’s pleading advances and my angry outbursts can’t calm them down.

(vii) stay in − stay indoors
I thought of this saying on one of those days when I was feeling a little depressed and was sitting at home with my chin in my hands, bored and listless, wondering whether to stay in or go out.

(viii) make up for − compensate
This birthday celebration in 1942 was intended to make up for the other.

(ix) hand in − give an assignment (homework) to a person in authority (the teacher)
I handed it in, and Mr Keesing had nothing to complain about for two whole lessons.

Question III. 1) Here are a few sentences from the text which have idiomatic expressions. Can you say what each means? (You might want to consult a dictionary first.)

(i) Our entire class is quaking in its boots________________
(ii) Until then, we keep telling each other not to lose heart____________
(iii) Mr Keesing was annoyed with me for ages because I talked so much__________
(iv) Mr Keesing was trying to play a joke on me with this ridiculous subject, but I’d make sure the joke was on him_______________

Answer 1)

1. Shaking with fear and nervous.
2. Not to think about negative side, but hope for the best.
3. Since a long time.
4. Joke would be on him only.

2) Here are a few more idiomatic expressions that occur in the text.
Try to use them in sentences of your own.
(i) caught my eye

(ii) he’d had enough

(iii) laugh ourselves silly

(iv) can’t bring myself to

2) (i) While I was in the market, a beautiful dress had caught my eye.

(ii) The teacher said that they’d had enough and he wanted all the notebooks by Wednesday.

(iii) One girl said something funny, and we laughed ourselves silly.

(iv)  I can’t bring myself to terms with this tragedy.

Page 58

Question IV) You have read the expression ‘not to lose heart’ in this text. Now find out the meanings of the following expressions using the word ‘heart’.Use each of them in a sentence of your own.

1. break somebody’s heart
2. close/dear to heart
3. from the (bottom of your) heart
4. have a heart
5. have a heart of stone
6. your heart goes out to somebody

Answer IV) 1) break somebody’s heart- to upset somebody deeply

It is not a good habit to break somebody’s heart.

2. close/dear to heart − something or someone who is near and close to you
The drawing given to me by my little daughter is very close to my heart.

3. from the (bottom of your) heart − genuinely meaning or feeling something
He loved his father from the bottom of his heart.

4. have a heart − to evoke the feeling to help someone in distress
The poor beggar asked the rich man to have a heart and give him something to eat.

5. have a heart of stone − to not feel anything or any sentiment
It is said that people like Hitler have a heart of stone.

6. your heart goes out to somebody − to sympathies with someone else and understand his feelings and distress
My heart goes out to the little girl who lost both her parents in a car accident.

Page 58

Question V) 1) Make a list of the contracted forms in the text. Rewrite them as full forms of two words.

For example:
I’ve = I have

2. We have seen that some contracted forms can stand for two different full forms:

I’d = I had or I would
Find in the text the contracted forms that stand for two different full forms, and say what these are.

Answer V)

(i) I’hv -I have

(ii) Doesn’t − does not

(iii) Won’t − would not

(iv) I’m − I am

(v) Don’t − do not

(vi) Can’t − cannot

(vii) it’s − it is

(viii) That’s − that is

(ix) I’d − I would

(x) Didn’t − did not

(xi) Who’ll − who will

(xii) You’re − You are

(xiii) We’ll − We will

(xiv) There’s − there is

(xv) He’d − he had

(xvi) Who’s − who is

(xvii) Haven’t − have not

2.

(i) I’d − I had or I would

(ii) He’d − He had or he would