Oral Comprehension Check
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 as she never had a diary and it was a gift on her 13th birthday. She considered it her best friend on which she relied the most and with whom she shared all her ups and downs.
Question 2.Why does Anne want to keep a diary?Answer:Anne always feels lonely and distressed so to get off all the burden and pain she wants to keep a diary in which she finds a true friend as she has hardly any friends whom she could confide in.
Question 3.Why did Anne think she could confide more in her diary than in people.Answer:Anne felt that paper had more patience than people to listen to her plight. So, 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.
Question 4.Why does Anne provide a brief sketch of her life?Answer:By providing the brief sketch of her life, 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 5.What tells you that Anne loved her grandmother?Answer:Anne lived with her grandmother for sometime while her parents settled down in Holland. She was very close to 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.
Question 6Why was Mr Keesing annoyed with Anne? What did he ask her to do?Answer:Mr Keesing was annoyed with Anne because she was very talkative. He punished her by giving her extra homework to write essays to keep her silent and the topics always related to her nature.
Question 7How did Anne justify her being a chatterbox in her essay?Answer: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 their inherited traits.
Question 8Do you think Mr Keesing was a strict teacher?Answer:No, Mr Keesing was not a bad or strict teacher because a teacher did something for the welfare of his students. Any teacher would be annoyed if children keep on talking in the class. Secondly, if he had been strict he would not have laughed at Anne’s funny arguments.
Question 9What made Mr Keesing allow Anne to talk in class?Answer:Anne’s last essay in the form of a poem showed Mr Keesing the lighter side of a naughty child. It helped bridge the generation gap between the teacher and the student.
Thinking about the Text
Question 1.Was Anne right when she Said that the world would not be interested in the musings of a 13 year old girl?Answer: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. But Anne Frank has become one of the most discussed of all holocaust victims. Her ‘diary’ has been translated into many language
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 entirely different from most of the examples given before the text. It was somewhere closer to the memoir in which the name of Raj Kapoor has been mentioned. It was originally written in Dutch. It has informal tone which exudes the careful nature of a teenager.
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 an introduction of her family in the ‘diary’ because it was hard to make other realise that a 13 years old teenager could write about her loneliness. Kitty was an ‘outsider’ which was gifted by her parents on her 13th birthday but she considered it her best friend and treated it as an insider.
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 has fond of memories of her father, grandmother, Mrs Kuperus and Mr Keesing, who have left indelible impressions on her mind and affected her life a lot. 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:Mr Keesing asked her to write an essay on the topic ‘A Chatterbox’ as punishment. In the essay : she accepted the drawbacks of being talkative but argued that it was in her genes as her mother was also very talkative. It was difficult to give up the habit and it was also a student’s trait. Even Mr Keesing laughed at the argument she had given.
Question 6.Anne says teachers are most unpredictable. Is Mr Keesing unpredictable?Answer:Anne took perfect example of Mr Keesing as an unpredictable teacher because Mr Keesing seemed to be indifferent towards Annes’ behaviour. Earlier he laughed but later he allowed Anne to talk in the class post reading her essays.
Question 7.What do these statements tell you about Anne Frank as a person?1. 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.2. I don’t want, to jcft; down the facts in this diary the way most people would, but I want the diary to be my friend.3. 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.4. 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.5. 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.Answers:1.A. Anne is reserved.2.A. She is self-confident and inventive.3.A. She is humorous as well.4.A. Anne is intelligent.5.A. She has a sense of propriety and convincing attitude.
