From the Diary of Anne Frank

I Value Points
● ‘From the Diary of Anne Frank’ is an excerpt from ‘The Diary of a Young Girl’
which is a non-fiction diary of a young teenage Jewish girl.
● The excerpt reveals her growing up, how she grappled with the feeling of isolation,
descriptions of her family members and incidents from her school life.
● It also reveals various facets of her character. Sometimes she is lively, boisterous,
talkative, humorous and sometimes very gentle, intelligent, emotional and full of
serious thoughts.
● It also throws light on her insightful observation and deeply sensitive and
philosophical nature quite unusual in a thirteen year old girl.
● Anne is also seen as a strong and resilient character and takes challenges sportingly.

II ERC
1. That evening, after I’d finished the rest of my homework, the note about the essay
caught my eye. I began thinking about the subject while chewing the tip of my
fountain pen. 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 thought and thought, and suddenly I had an idea. I wrote the three pages Mr.
Keesing had assigned me and was satisfied. I argued that talking is a student’s trait
and that I would do my best to keep it under control, but that I would never be able to
cure myself of the habit since my mother talked as much as I did if not more, and that
there’s not much you can do about inherited traits.

i. Which essay was Anne thinking about writing?

a. The Incorrigible Chatterbox

b. The Chatterbox
c. Quack Quack Quack, Said Mistress Chatterbox.
d. The Funny Chatterbox.

ii. What is the one trait that we notice in Anne’s ability to use different forms of writing to
justify and prove her need to talk?

a. Her talkative nature

b. Her disobedient nature
c. Her ingenuity

1
 d. Her complacency.

iii. What argument did Anne put forth about her ‘inherited trait’?

iv. Choose the option that cannot be replaced by the idiom ‘caught my eye’

a) I caught Ben's eye in the rear-view mirror and knew what he was thinking.
b) All of a sudden, something red allured Barb.
c) I tried to distract the waiter, so we could order.
d) The ads were trying to incite public opinion.

v. While writing the essay, Anne chose not to ________________________________.

2. “Paper has more patience than people’ 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. I finally stayed where I was, brooding: Yes,
the paper does have more patience, and since I’m not planning to let anyone else read this
stiff-backed notebook grandly referred to as a ‘diary’, unless I should ever find a real friend,
it probably won’t make a bit of difference.”

i. ‘Paper has more patience than people.’ What does this imply?

ii. Pick out the emoticon which clearly brings out the meaning of ‘listless’ as used in the
extract?

a) image (i) b) image (ii) c) image (iii) d) image (iv)

iii. If the diary were a ‘real friend’, what qualities would Anne expect it to have? Pick the
option that lists these correctly.
1. optimistic
2. good listener
3. confidant
4. energetic
5. non-judgemental
6. outgoing
7. ambitious
a) 1 & 4
b) 5, 6 & 7

2
c) 2, 3 & 5
d) 3 & 7

iv. Pick out the sentence that brings out the meaning of ‘brooding’ as used in the extract?
a) The mysterious house on the hill is still brooding above the village.
b) The people at the stock market always keep brooding about the gains.
c) He was brooding over the matter and took a long time to decide.
d) Suspense and drama were brooding at the site of the investigation.

v. Anne doesn’t plan to let anyone else read her diary as ___________________________.

III Short Answers (2 marks):

a) What impression did Anne have about her classmates?
b) What tells you that Anne loved her grandmother?
IV Short Answers (3 marks):
a) Mr. Keesing was quite innovative with his punishments. Comment
b) What does Anne tell about her family in her diary?
c) Why did Anne decide to write a diary?
V Long Question(5 marks):
Write a short note on the student - teacher relationship that Anne shared with her teacher Mr.
Keesing.
VI Extrapolatory Question:
Anne bade a heartbreaking farewell to Mrs. Kuperus. As Anne, write a brief farewell note to
Mr. Keesing after being promoted to the next class.

================================================================