Short Questions and Answers
Question 1 : Describe Anne’s feelings about having diary.
Answer : Anne feels it silly for a 13 year old teenager to have a diary as it would seem she has many friends and other people to talk to, but in reality, she states that she feels very lonely in the world. She wishes her diary to become her friend.
Anne believes that paper has more patience than people because it listens to her more patiently and silently. It does not react like other people and also because she can confide in her diary all her secrets.
Question 2 : What does Anne Frank tell about her family in her diary?
Answer : Anne Frank tells that she has very lovely and caring family. Her parents and her elder sister love her a lot. There are about thirty people nearby her whom she can call her friends. She has loving aunts and a good home but she wants to have a true friend with whom she can share feelings and thoughts. After her grandmother’s death, she things of her love and affection whenever she writes the diary as her death gave her a shock and she begins to feel lonely again.
Question 3 : Describe Anne’s love for her grandmother.
Answer : When Anne’s grandmother died, she stated that no one could understand the intensity of her love for her Grandma. She also said that no one could imagine how much she thought of her. Lighting up extra candle for her on her birthday showed her love for her grandma. Even after her death, she did not write as it was a shock. but after that she starts writing and always thinks of her love and affection for her.
Question 4 : Describe your views about Mr Keesing as a teacher.
Answer : Mr Keesing seems to be a strict teacher but he actually believes in taking actions with good intentions and for the development of children. He tries to control Anne’s bad habit of talking too much but as soon as he is convinced that her habit does not affect her studies, he overlooks Anne’s shortcoming. For that he asks her to write an essay on the topic ‘A Chatterbox’ as her homework. She convinces him and humiliates him in a funny manner. She was not given extra work after that.
Question 5 : What does Anne write in her first essay to support her habit of talking so much?
Answer : Anne Frank supports her nature by stating that talking is a student’s trait and she will try to control it. But she also says that she has got it from her mother and such inherited traits cannot be curbed. Mr Keesing laughs at it while reading it in front of the class. She write about three ducklings going dead because their father bit them as they quack too much.
Question 6 : What was Mr Keesing’s reaction after reading Anne’s poem on the third essay that he had given to her to write?
Answer : When Mr Keesing read Anne’s poem in the third essay that he had given her to write, he took the joke in the right way. He understood the intentions of Anne and felt it in good humour. After that he allowed her to talk and did not punish her by assigning her extra work.
Long Questions and Answers
Question 1 : Anne called 26th July a ‘tumultuous’ day. Explain the reasons behind it.
Answer : Anne called 26th July a ‘tumultuous’ as it was full of tension and fright. The first warning siren was sent off in the morning but nobody paid any attention to it because it only meant that the planes were crossing the coast. The siren alarmed again around 2 O’clock in the afternoon. Anne and her sister went upstairs but after five minutes they heard loud gunshots. After half an hour, drone of engines faded and life became normal . The city was enveloped in thick fog. But after dinner time, there was another gun-fire round and swarms of planes. The air was buzz with the drone of engines. Nobody was able to sleep that night because it repeated again at midnight.
Question 2 : Why did Anne think that she could confide more in her diary than in the people?
Or,
Anne’s diary is as important for Anne as any other character in the annexe. What is your opinion?
Answer : Anne Frank did not have a friend with whom she could share her feelings. Although she had spent a good time with her friends, she was unable to share her views and thoughts with them. When she got her diary, she decided to share everything with it because she believed that nobody would be interested enough in her musings. So, she treated her diary as her best friend. It would keep her life a secret and would not react like people. She confided everything in the diary – her family, her fear, her loneliness, her life and considered it her best friend.
She had a family and other members around her but never found anyone with whom she could share her feelings. It was the diary which gave her support and a hope to live. It shows the importance of diary in her life.
Question 3 : How is Anne more mature than Peter? Describe her feelings for him.
Answer : Anne was a lovely girl who never had anyone to share her secrets with. As she was growing up, she felt that she should also have a friend to whom she could confide and share her feelings.
She liked Peter and dreamt of him. She always wanted to be near him. She always kept on finding some excuses to go to his room or try to talk to him. She longer for his company. Whenever Peter didn’t talk to her, she used to cry a lot and became restless. Both of them had a very understanding relationship.
Even Peter liked her company. They talked on every subject including physical changes in a teenager and sex. They never felt embarrassed about it. Their parents objected to their meetings but still they used to meet. They didn’t bother much about their parents as they felt them to be too busy. Anne felt herself to be in love with him which shows her maturity while Peter thought of her as a friend.
Question 4 : ‘Paper has more patience than people’. Justify.
Or,
‘Paper has more patience than people’. Do you agree with the statement?
Answer : Anne believes that people are not interested in other’s life as they are stuck with their own problems so it is really hard to get someone who can give importance to her diary. People feel bored and become impatient when we talk about our problems.
On the other hand, when we write our feelings and thoughts on paper, we can write as long as we want without thinking of anyone’s intention as it doesn’t react. We can share our feelings, both sad and happy. It never gets bored or stops us to write. It behaves like a true friend who keeps our secrets and listens to us patiently. So, she thinks that paper has more patience than people, and paper listens to her silently. It does not react, like people and also because she can confide in her diary all her success. So she thinks that paper has more patience than people.
Question 5 : ‘From the Diary of Anne Frank’ throw light on teacher-student relationship, class atmosphere and discipline.
Answer : ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ clearly describes the teacher-student relationship, class atmosphere and discipline. Anne who talks a lot in the class gets punished by Mr Keesing, her Maths teacher. He gets annoyed with her because of her talkative nature. He asks her to write essays on the subject, ‘A Chatterbox’ as punishment which is learning in disguise because he wanted her to focus on studies. He cannot be blamed for the punishment as he did it for the development of Anne. The teacher-student relationship is very respectful and sacred. It is above discipline and classroom manners which are essential for every student as well as teacher, otherwise both teaching or learning could hamper.
this relationship is clearly shown in Mr Keesing and Anne Frank’s actions as they both try to joke on each other but in very humurous and healthy manner. So, this healthy relationship is needed everywhere in the class for effective teaching and learning.
Question 6 : Write the character sketch of Anne Frank.
Or,
What values one can adopt from Anne Frank’s character?
Answer : Anne Frank was born on 12th June, 1929 in Frankfurt Germany. She was four years old when her father went to Holland to find a better place for his family to live. She was very intelligent and always wanted to become a writer. She loved Peter even when she had to face opposition from her family in this regard. She was a very good reader as well, she continued reading books, translated chapters, wrote down the vocabulary and worked hard on her skills.
Like any child, she loved her parents but later grew a dislike towards her mother as she compared her to Margot. Anne was always jealous of Margot. She believed that time would come when the problems would be over. She felt alone although there were thirty people around her but she hardly could call anyone a true friend.
Anne died of typhus in the concentration camp at Berger-Belsen in late February or early March of 1945.