Chapter 4: From the Diary of Anne Frank Amanda!

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 wouldn’t give importance to a child’s perspective towards the world because they thought children were too immature to talk about worldly matters. However, Anne Frank’s diary was popular among the masses and was translated into different languages, and she became one of the most renowned and discussed Holocaust victims.

Anne’s diary was originally written in Dutch. It was different from other entries in several aspects. She had named her diary ‘Kitty’. She wrote in an informal tone that exuded a teenager’s carefree nature. She confided her feelings and secrets in 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.

Anne briefly introduced 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 happening around her in a mature manner. She talked about her adorable father, compassionate mother, beloved grandmother and loving elder sister in her diary, which she addressed ‘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.

Anne had fond memories of her adorable father, her grandmother, Mrs Kuperus, and Mr Keesing, her Maths teacher, who had left indelible impressions on her mind and had a major impact on 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 relationship with each of them.

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.

Anne cited the perfect example of Mr Keesing as an unpredictable teacher because she felt that Mr Keesing was indifferent towards her behaviour and always rebuked her for her talkative nature. Although he punished her initially by assigning extra homework, after reading her essays, he enjoyed a good laugh and thereafter never gave her such punishment and allowed Anne to talk in class.

(i) These lines show that Anne did not have any close friends in 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 were dumbheads, and she was intelligent enough to make it to the next class. She called the teachers the most unpredictable creatures on earth because it was quite uncertain who would 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, she wanted to do it with 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.