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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:
| 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 a person’s own life and experiences (usually, a famous person) |
Question 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:
(i) Diary
(ii) Log
(iii) Journal
(iv) Memoir
Oral Comprehension Check (Page 51)
Question 1:
What makes writing in a diary a strange experience for Anne Frank?
Answer:
Writing in a diary was a strange experience for Anne Frank because she had never written anything before in a diary as she had received it as a gift on her thirteenth birthday. She considered the diary to be her best friend where she could write all her thoughts and feelings. However, she also felt that no one would be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl, hence she could write freely in the diary to get all the worries off her chest.
Question 2:
Why does Anne want to keep a diary?
Answer:
Anne used to feel lonely and upset always as she had no friend. She wanted to get all the burden and worries off her chest, hence she decides to keep a diary in which she could confide her secrets and treat it as a true friend.
Question 3:
Why did Anne think she could confide more in her diary than in people?
Answer:
Anne had a strong feeling that paper had more patience than people to listen to her mental state. It was easier for her to pen down all her thoughts and wishes in a diary that she had in her mind. Hence, to confide her secrets, she felt her personal diary was the best companion and it was also not meant for anyone else to read.
Oral Comprehension Check (Page 51)
Question 1:
Why does Anne provide a brief sketch of her life?
Answer:
Anne provided a brief sketch of her life because she wanted to describe about her family, school and herself. By reading her diary, it could help the reader to develop some sort of connection with her and all the activities that were happening around her at that time.
Question 2:
What tells you that Anne loved her grandmother?
Answer:
Anne lived at Aachen with her grandmother while her parents settled down in Holland. She was extremely close to her grandmother and wrote about her in her diary. However, when her grandmother died in January 1942, she said, “No one knows how often I think of her and still love her”. She wanted to convey through this message how dearly she loved her grandmother. On her thirteenth birthday, she lit up one candle along with the rest to express her love and gratitude for her beloved grandmother.
Oral Comprehension Check (Page 54)
Question 1:
Why was Mr Keesing annoyed with Anne? What did he ask her to do?
Answer:
Mr Keesing was annoyed with Anne because she was a very talkative girl. He often punished her by assigning her extra homework to write essays on topics that were related to her nature in order to keep her silent.
Question 2:
How did Anne justify her being a chatterbox in her essay?
Answer:
Anne justified her being a chatterbox in her essay by clearly pointing out that she had inherited it from her mother who was also as talkative as her or even more. She also stated that nobody could do anything about such inherited traits.
Question 3:
Do you think Mr Keesing was a strict teacher?
Answer:
No, Mr Keesing was not a rigidly strict teacher but he expected his class to maintain silence and discipline while he was imparting his lecture to the class. As a matter of fact, a teacher always thinks about the welfare of his students. Any teacher would be annoyed if the children keep on talking during the class. Mr Keesing was annoyed with Anne because she was very talkative. So to punish her, he would give her to do extra homework and often told her to write essays on her talkative nature. Besides, it should be noted that had he been strict, then he would not have laughed at Anne’s funny arguments.
Question 4:
What made Mr Keesing allow Anne to talk in class?
Answer:
Anne’s last essay entitled — ‘Quack, Quack, Quack, Said Mistress Chatterbox’.” in the form of a poem showed Mr Keesing the lighter side of Anne. He was impressed with the way she presented her arguments in a rhythmic manner. It helped in bridging the gap between Mr Keesing and Anne and thereafter she was never assigned extra homework by him.
Thinking about the Text (Page 54-55)
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:
It is a human tendency that kids are often not considered seriously by elders. Being a thirteen-year-old girl, Anne thought that most people don’t want to give importance to a child’s perspective towards the world because they think children are too immature to talk about worldly matters. However, Anne Frank’s diary was popular among the masses and was translated in different languages and she became one of the most renowned and discussed of the Holocaust victims.
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:
Anne’s diary was originally written in Dutch. It was different from other entries in several aspects and from most of the examples given before the text. She had named her diary as ‘Kitty’. She wrote in an informal tone which exuded the carefree nature of a teenager. She confided her feelings and secrets on it as she considered her diary to be her best friend. She wrote a lot of personal events and memories in her diary, which made it different from 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:
Anne gave a brief introduction of her family in the ‘diary’ because she felt that it was hard to make others realise that a teenager like her could write about loneliness and all the events happenings around her in a mature manner. She talked about her adorable father, compassionate mother, beloved grandmother and loving elder sister in her diary ‘Kitty’.
Kitty was gifted to her by her parents on her thirteenth birthday and she considered it as her best friend and treated it as an insider as she could confide all her feelings and emotions by writing on 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:
Anne had fond of memories of her adorable father, her grandmother, Mrs Kuperus and Mr Keesing, her Maths teacher who had left indelible and lasting impressions on her mind and had a major impact in her life. The way she wrote about all of them in her diary revealed that Anne was very attached to each of these people and was quite good at understanding people. She had developed an everlasting bond and a wonderful interpersonal relation with each of them.
Question 5:
What does Anne write in her first essay?
Answer:
Mr Keesing had asked Anne to write an essay on the topic ‘A Chatterbox’ as a punishment for her talkative nature. In the essay, she wrote about the effects of being talkative and also argued that she had inherited it from her mother who was also very talkative. She justified this by saying that nobody could do anything about inherited traits. It was therefore, difficult to give up a habit so easily and it also formed a part of a student’s trait. Reading this, Mr Keesing also had a hearty laugh at the argument given by Anne.
Question 6:
Anne says teachers are most unpredictable. Is Mr Keesing unpredictable? How?
Answer:
Anne cited the perfect example of Mr Keesing as an unpredictable teacher because she felt that Mr Keesing was indifferent towards her behaviour who always rebuked her for her talkative nature. Although initially he punished her by assigning extra homework, but after reading her essays he enjoyed a good laugh and thereafter never gave her such punishment and allowed Anne to talk in the class.
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:
(i) These lines exhibit that Anne did not have any close friend with whom she could confide her secrets. Therefore, she blamed herself for her reserved nature.
(ii) This line implies that Anne considered her diary ‘Kitty’ to be her best friend and wrote all her emotions and secrets on it rather than simply jotting down facts like other people do.
(iii) This statement implies the humorous nature of Anne. She had a witty personality and wrote the line in a funny tone. The words ‘plunked down’ exhibit her sense of humour.
(iv) This line implies that Anne thought that a quarter of the class are dumbheads and she was intelligent enough to make it to the next class. She called the teachers as the most unpredictable creatures on earth because it was quite uncertain who will fail or pass and make it to the next grade.
(v) This statement implies that Anne was talking about writing. She was given extra homework to write essays by Mr Keesing as a punishment for her talkative nature. Although that was extra work for her, but she wanted to do it in full vigour. She did not want to leave big spaces between the words to make the essay look voluminous. She wanted to write convincing arguments to prove the essence of talking. That way her approach to writing was different from others.