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Who was Anne Frank?
Anne Frank or Anneliese Marie Frank was a German-Jewish teenager who was forced to go into hiding during the Holocaust. She was born on June 12, 1929, in Frankfurt, Germany. She lived with her family in Amsterdam during World War II. Her family flew Nazi persecution of Jews and went into hiding for two years. She wrote about her experiences and wishes in a diary during this time. After two yeras the family was transported to the camps, where she died of Typhus. Her diary, which was published posthumously, gained appreciation all over the world.
Why did she want the diary to be her friend?
She wanted the diary to be her friend because she needed a friend but she had little expectations that she would ever have anyone with whom she could share her wishes and experiences.
What did Anne tells about her father?
Anne tells about her father that he was the most adorable father she had ever seen. He didn’t get married until he was thirty-six. His father emigrated with her mother mother to Holland in 1933.
How many siblings did Anne have?
Anne had an elder sister, Margot. She was elder to Anne by three years.
Why did Anne and Margot were sent to Aachen?
Anne and Margot were sent to Aachen to stay with their grandmother.
Do you think Anne loved her grandmother? Why?
Yes, Anne loved her grandmother. She tells us that she loved her and remembered her very often. Her grandmotgher died in January, 1942. That year, on her birthday celebration , her Grandma’s candle was lit along with the rest.
Why Anne said, 'Our entire class is quaking in its boots.'?
She said so because everybody in her class feared the forthcoming meeting of the teachers that would make it clear that who would pass and who would fail.
Why did Anne say that the teachers are the most unpredictable creatures on earth?
Anne said so because she observed that one fourth of the class strength should be declared failed. But, she kew that most of them would pass and move to the next form.
What did Anne tells about her teachers?
Anne shares her experiences at school with the diary. She told that she had nine teachers. Out of which seven were men and two were women. She told that Mr Keesing, who taught her maths was annoyed with her for ages because she talked a lot in his class.
Mr. Keesing gave the assignment to Anne. The assignment was to write an essay on the subject, ‘A Chatterbox’.
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Mr. Keesing, Anne's mathematics teacher gave her an assignment. The assignment was to write an essay on the topic ' A Chatterbox'.
Why Mr Keesing gave an assignment?
Anne's Maths teacher, Mr keesing gave an assignment to punish Anne for talking too much in his class.
What did Anne wrote in the assignment?
Anne made arguments to to prove the necessity of talking. She said that talking is a student’s trait and that she would do her best to keep it under control. She also said that she would never be able to get herself rid of the habit since her mother was also very talkative. Obviously, Mr Keesing could not do anything about the inherited traits.
How did Mr Keesing react?
Mr Keesing laughed at her arguments. He also assigned her a second essay, ‘An Incorrigible Chatterbox’.
What was the third topic that Mr Keesing assigned to Anne for writing an essay?
After Anne handed over the second assignment to him, Mr Keesing didn't complain for next two lessons. But, during the third lesson he told Anne that she had to write an essay entitled, ‘Quack, Quack, Quack, Said Mistress Chatterbox’ as a punishment for talking in class.
What did Anne think when she was assigned the third essay?
Anne thought that she had nearly exhausted her brilliance on the topic of chatterboxes. She had to come up with something different that is original.
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Who helped Anne with her third assignment?
Anne's friend, Sanne was good at poetry. She offered to help her write the essay from beginning to end in verse.
What was the poem about? How did it affect Mr Keesing?
Mr Keesing had assigned Anne to write an essay on, ‘Quack, Quack, Quack, Said Mistress Chatterbox’. Anne decided to write the essay in verse and she wrote a beautiful poem. It was about a mother duck and a father swan with three baby ducklings who were bitten to death by the father because they quacked too much.
Mr Keesing understood Anne's message in the poem and took it in the right way. He read the poem to the class. He also added his own comments. Moreover, he allowed Anne to talk in the class and stopped assigning her extra homework.
Why does Anne provide a brief sketch of her life?
Anne provides a brief sketch of her life before as she says that none of the readers would be able to understand anything about her stories written in the diary. She does so to make a connect with the readers.
What makes writing in a diary a strange experience for Anne Frank?
Why does Anne want to keep a diary?
Anne needed a friend with whom she could share her thoughts and experiences. Hence, she wanted to keep a diary.
Why did Anne think she could confide more in her diary than in people?
Why does Anne provide a brief sketch of her life?
What tells you that Anne loved her grandmother?
Anne herself reveals that she loved her grandmother a lot and that she used to think about her often. In 1942, on her birthday, she lit one candle for her grandmother along with the rest. This shows her affection for her grandmother.
Why was Mr Keesing annoyed with Anne? What did he ask her to do?
How did Anne justify her being a chatterbox in her essay?
In her assignment, Anne argued that talking is a student’s trait and that she would do her best to keep it under control. But, she would never be able to cure herself of the habit since her mother was also talkative like her. Henceforth, Mr Keesing couldn't do anything about inherited traits.
Do you think Mr Keesing was a strict teacher?
It can't be said that Mr Keesing was a strict teacher. Nowhere, he was found reprimanding Anne. He wanted discipline in class. He was a fun-loving person too. When he sees that anne was good at writing and arguing, he asked her to write an essay on, ‘Quack, Quack, Quack, Said Mistress Chatterbox’. He was trying to play a joke on her. But, he acknowledges the good content of the verse that Anne wrote in her assignment. Moreover, he allowed her to talk freely in class.
What made Mr Keesing allow Anne to talk in class?
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?
Why does Anne need to give a brief sketch about her family? Does she treat ‘Kitty’ as an insider or an outsider?
Anne needs to give a brief sketch about her family so that the readers can connect with her. Definitely, it becomes easier for the reader to read the stories with interest and interpret it better. Her diary, 'Kitty' was an insider to her.
How does Anne feel about her father, her grandmother, Mrs Kuperus and Mr Keesing? What do these tell you about her?
What does Anne write in her first essay?
What is the main theme of 'The Diary of A Young Girl'?
'The Diary of A Young Girl' was written by Anne Frank, a thirteen year old Jewish girl. She started witing the diary as she had no friend with whom she could share her thoughts and experiences. She named her diary,'Kitty'. She had expressed her feelings of fear and frustration on the way Jews were treated by Germans. The diary has the accounts of everyday happenings in her life in detail.
Why does she say that the paper has more patience than people?
She says so because people don't bother about listening to the feelings of pain and happiness. Anne didn't find anybody to share her feelings at the times of distress. So, She wanted to write to get everything off of her chest thinking that the paper has more patience than people.
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.
(i) Anne wanted to get real close with somebody with whom she could share her innermost feelings and experiences. She thinks that its her fault that she couldn't connect with people.
(ii) Anne realized that she could only confide in a diary. She found in her diary a friend whom she could trust and narrate all her stories to. Waiting for a friend, she did not want to use diary to record her feelings only. She considered diary as her friend and named her 'Kitty'.
(iii) Margot was Anne's elder sister. These lines display her humorous and fun-loving nature.
(iv) These lines show her mature thinking and her confidence in herself. She thought that a quarter of her class won't be able to make it to the next class. But, she was sure about herself.
(v) When Anne was assigned an essay as a punishment, she showed a great interest in writing it unlike other students who are baffled at the thought of it. She knew she had to present convincing arguments to prove her point. She did not write the essay leaving big spaces between the words to make it a big one.
I. Look at the following words.
headmistress long-awaited homework
notebook stiff-backed outbursts
These words are compound words. They are made up of two or more words.
Compound words can be:
• nouns: headmistress, homework, notebook, outbursts
• adjectives: long-awaited, stiff-backed
• verbs: sleep-walk, baby-sit
Match the compound words under ‘A’ with their meanings under ‘B’. Use each in a sentence.
|
A |
B |
|
Heartbreaking |
– obeying and respecting the law |
|
Homesick |
– think about pleasant things, forgetting about the present |
|
Blockhead |
– something produced by a person, machine or organization |
|
Law-abiding |
– producing great sadness |
|
Overdo |
– an occasion when vehicles/machines stop working |
|
Daydream |
– an informal word which means a very stupid person |
|
Breakdown |
– missing home and family very much
|
|
Output |
– do something to an excessive degree |
| 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 |
II. Phrasal Verbs
A phrasal verb is a verb followed by a preposition or an adverb. Its meaning is often different from the meanings of its parts. Compare the meanings of the verbs get on and run away in (a) and (b) below. You can easily guess their meanings in (a) but in (b) they have special meanings.
(a) • She got on at Agra when the bus stopped for breakfast.
• Dev Anand ran away from home when he was a teenager.
(b) • She’s eager to get on in life. (succeed)
• The visitors ran away with the match. (won easily)
Some phrasal verbs have three parts: a verb followed by an adverb and a preposition.
(c) Our car ran out of petrol just outside the city limits.
(d) The government wants to reach out to the people with this new campaign.
2. 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
III. Idioms
Idioms are groups of words with a fixed order, and a particular meaning, different from the meanings of each of their words put together. (Phrasal verbs can also be idioms; they are said to be ‘idiomatic’ when their meaning is unpredictable.) For example, do you know what it means to ‘meet one’s match’ in English? It means to meet someone who is as good as oneself, or even better, in some skill or quality. Do you know what it means to ‘let the cat out of the bag’? Can you guess?
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.________________________________________________
(i)Our entire class is quaking in its boots. Shaking with fear and nervousness
(ii) Until then, we keep telling each other not to lose heart. Not to lose hope
(iii) Mr. Keeping was annoyed with me for ages because I talked so much. Since a long time
(iv) Mr. Keeping was trying to play a joke on me with this ridiculous subject, but I’d make sure the joke was on him. Anne would outplay Mr Keesing
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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 (iii) laugh ourselves silly
(ii) he’d had enough (iv) can’t bring myself to
IV. Do you know how to use a dictionary to find out the meanings of idiomatic expressions? Take, for example, the expression caught my eye in the story. Where — under which word — would you look for it in the dictionary? Look for it under the first word. But if the first word is a ‘grammatical’ word like a, the, for, etc., then take the next word. That is, look for the first ‘meaningful’ word in the expression. In our example, it is the word caught. But you won’t find caught in the dictionary, because it is the past tense of catch. You’ll find caught listed under catch. So you must look under catch for the expression caught my eye. Which other expressions with catch are listed in your dictionary? Note that a dictionary entry usually first gives the meanings of the word itself, and then gives a list of idiomatic expressions using that word. For example, study this partial entry for the noun ‘eye’ from the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2005.
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
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 |
|
A
|
B
|
|
| (i) Journal | - | A full record of a journey, a period of time, or an event, written everyday |
| (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 a person’s own life and experiences (usually, a famous person) |
1. How old do you think Amanda is? How do you know this?
It seems Amanda is a little girl. She must be 8 or 9 years old. It is apparent from the instructions given to her.
Why are Stanzas 2, 4 and 6 given in parenthesis?
In the Stanzas 2,4 and 6, the child is expressing her thoughts on being instructed by her parents. The poet has alternately placed the parent's instructions and the child's responsive thoughts on the same.
Who is the speaker in Stanzas 2, 4 and 6? Do you think this speaker is listening to the speaker in Stanzas 1, 3, 5, and 7?
The speaker in Stanzas 2, 4 and 6 is the little girl, Amanda. And, the speaker in Stanzas 1, 3, 5 and 7 is her parents. No, Amanda is not listening to her parents; She is responding to their instructions in her thoughts. This is because she wants a way of life in which she can enjoy freedom.
What could Amanda do if she were a mermaid?
Is Amanda an orphan? Why does she say so?
No, Amanda is not an orphan but she wants to alone in peace. Saying so, she gives example of an orphan who has the freedom to enjoy making patterns on soft dust with his bare feet. She is so distressed by the unceasing instructions that she yearns for some silence and peace.
Do you know the story of Rapunzel? Why does she want to be Rapunzel?
Rapunzel was a princess who was held as a captive by an enchantress in a huge tower. She had beautiful and very long hair. The tower where she stayed had a little gate that too at a great height. When the enchantress would come back, she would ask Rapunzel to throw her hair down so that she could climb up the hair to get into the tower.
Amanda wants to be a Rapunzel because wants to enjoy the freedom that Rapunzel enjoyed in calmness inside the tower. She also says that she would never let her bright her down to help somebody get in the tower and dominate her.
What does the girl yearn for? What does this poem tell you about Amanda?
The girl yearns for a life full of freedom. Amanda represents many children of her age who are victims of the too much control of their parents. Such children tend to live their freedoms in their thoughts. As they are too much dominated to speak their thoughts, they resort to loneliness to stay peaceful.
Read the last stanza. Do you think Amanda is sulking and is moody?
No, she is not sulking or moody. The last stanza makes it clear that she doesn't have the freedom to respond as she feels.
Answer the following question in 200-250 words :
How did Kitty help Anne overcome her loneliness ?
OR
What is the main theme of The Diary of a Young Girl ?
OR
The best and most beautiful things in the world can’t be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart. Justify the famous quote of Helen Keller.
OR
Helen had a great love for animals and birds. Write about this aspect of her character.
Anne belonged to a loving family and a good home. But she did not have anyone with whom she could have shared her secrets, fears and thoughts. Therefore, she started writing a diary at the age of thirteen in which she penned down things about her life, her family, friends, day to day life and secrets. She believed that Paper has more patience than people. That is how her diary helped her in overcoming loneliness.
Or
The main theme in the novel is Anne Frank: The Diary of A Young Girl is being selfless i.e the sacrifice of one human being for another. The act of hiding people at the risk of your own life and giving of your food, living space, and friendship to spare the lives of people around you
Or
The above-given question has been taken from the lesson The story of my life by Helen Keller. Helen Adam Keller was born on June 27, 1880. She was an American creator, political extremist as well as a teacher. Her father’s name was Arthur H. Keller. He was a captian, a former officer of the Confederate force.
Or
Helen was very close to nature. Helen loved nature, and for her, it was her favourite companion, as it gave her solace. Even as a child, she learned most from nature and it was this love and understanding of the beauty of nature that Miss Sullivan utilized to educate her.
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