‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ shows us the life of a 13-year-old girl through her own words. A young Jewish girl whose diary has become one of the most powerful and widely read accounts of life during the Holocaust.
The chapter 4 from NCERT Class 10, ‘From the Diary of Anne Frank’ is an excerpt from Anne Frank’s famous diary that she received on her 13th birthday.
She writes about why she started keeping a diary – mainly because she felt she had no true friend to confide in. She begins by expressing doubts about whether anyone would be interested in a 13-year-old girl’s thoughts, but continues writing as she needs to express herself. The chapter includes excerpts from Anne’s diary, where she writes about her school life, her struggles with loneliness, and her clever responses to her teacher’s punishments.
The chapter then shows Anne’s experiences at school, particularly her relationship with her mathematics teacher, Mr. Keesing. He was annoyed with Anne’s talkative nature in class and assigned her extra homework – three separate essays about being a chatterbox. Anne cleverly wrote these essays, first arguing that talking was an inherited trait from her mother, then writing about a chatterbox duck. Her creativity and humor eventually won over Mr. Keesing, who began making jokes and allowed her to talk in class.
Through her writing, we see Anne’s maturity, wit, and resilience as she navigates the challenges of growing up in a time of great fear and uncertainty.
The Diary of Anne Frank: Key Topics
- Anne Frank’s background and historical context
- The importance of diary writing
- Anne’s relationship with her family and friends
- School life and interactions with teachers
- Anne’s personality – talkative, creative, and witty
- The value of self-expression
- Teacher-student relationships
- Anne’s clever handling of punishment
The Diary of Anne Frank:Grammar Topics
- Compound Words (e.g., headmistress, homework, notebook)
- Phrasal Verbs (e.g., plunge in, kept back, move up)
- Idioms (e.g., “quaking in its boots,” “not to lose heart”)
- Contracted Forms (e.g., I’ve, can’t, wouldn’t)
- Dictionary Usage – looking up meanings of idiomatic expressions
- Types of Writing (differences between diary, journal, log, and memoir)
- Sentence Construction
- Direct and Indirect Speech
The chapter serves both as a historical document and as a teaching tool for various aspects of English language and creative writing, while also providing insights into the life of a young girl during one of history’s most difficult periods.
The Diary of Anne Frank Extra Questions
Q.Why did Anne Frank start writing a diary?
Answer: Anne started writing a diary because she felt lonely and didn’t have a close friend to share her thoughts with. She wanted someone to confide in, so she treated her diary as a friend and named it ‘Kitty’.
Q. What was Mr. Keesing’s problem with Anne, and how did she solve it?
Ar: Mr. Keesing, Anne’s math teacher, was annoyed because she talked too much in class. He gave her extra homework to write essays about being a chatterbox. Anne wrote clever essays, including a funny poem about ducks, which made Mr. Keesing laugh and eventually accept her talkative nature.
Q. What kind of person was Anne Frank, based on this chapter?
Answer: Anne was a bright, talkative, and clever girl. She had a good sense of humor, was creative in her writing, and knew how to handle difficult situations smartly. Though she had many friends, she felt the need for someone to share her deeper thoughts with.
Q. Why does Anne think people won’t be interested in her diary?
Answer: Anne believes that no one would be interested in reading the thoughts of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl. However, she decides to write anyway because she needs to express her feelings and “get things off her chest.”
Q. How does Anne describe her relationship with her family and friends?
Answer: Anne mentions that she has loving parents, a sixteen-year-old sister, about thirty people she can call friends, and loving aunts.
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