Ch 4From the Diary of Anne Frank

From the Diary of Anne Frank

Author: Anne Frank — a young Jewish girl who kept a diary while hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam during World War II. This chapter is an excerpt from The Diary of a Young Girl, translated from the Dutch.

Introduction

This chapter presents the opening pages of Anne Frank's world-famous diary. Thirteen-year-old Anne explains why she started writing a diary, gives a brief sketch of her life and family, and narrates a delightful school episode about her talkative nature and her maths teacher, Mr Keesing. The chapter reveals Anne as a lively, witty and thoughtful girl who found in her diary the true friend she had always missed.

Detailed Summary

Anne begins by calling writing in a diary a really strange experience for someone like her — first, because she has never written anything before, and second, because she feels that later on neither she nor anyone else will be interested in "the musings of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl". But she wants to write, and more than that, she wants to bring out all kinds of things that lie buried deep in her heart.

She quotes the saying "Paper has more patience than people", which came to her mind on one of her slightly melancholy days as she sat wondering whether to stay in or go out. Paper, unlike people, listens without judging. Anne decides to keep a diary because she has no real friend. This surprises even her: she has loving parents, a sixteen-year-old sister Margot, about thirty people she can call friends, and adoring aunts and a good home. Yet with her friends she talks only about ordinary everyday things — she can never bring herself to confide in them. To solve this, she decides her diary will be that one true friend, and she names it Kitty.

So that no one reading Kitty later would be confused, Anne first sketches her life. Her father, Otto Frank, "the most adorable father I've ever seen", married her mother Edith when he was thirty-six and she was twenty-five. Her sister Margot was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1926, and Anne herself on 12 June 1929. Because they were Jewish, the family emigrated to Holland, where her father became Managing Director of a company. Anne was plonked down on the table as a birthday present for her grandmother, and later started school at the Montessori nursery school. In the sixth form her teacher was Mrs Kuperus, the headmistress; at the end of the year they were both in tears at the heartbreaking farewell. Anne also fondly remembers her grandmother, who fell ill in 1941 and died in January 1942 — no one knows how often Anne thinks of her and still loves her. Her own birthday in 1942 was celebrated partly in Granny's honour.

Anne then records her present worry: the whole class is "quaking in its boots" because the teachers' meeting will soon decide who moves up to the next form and who is kept back. Anne is not too worried about most subjects — except maths, because of Mr Keesing.

Mr Keesing, the old maths teacher, was annoyed with Anne for talking too much in class. After several warnings, he gave her extra homework — an essay on the subject 'A Chatterbox'. Anne thought hard: anyone could scribble nonsense, but she wanted to give convincing arguments to prove the necessity of talking. She argued that talking is a student's trait, that she would do her best to keep it under control, but that she could never cure herself of the habit because her mother talked as much as she did, and there is not much one can do about inherited traits. Mr Keesing had a good laugh at her arguments.

But Anne kept talking, so he assigned a second essay — 'An Incorrigible Chatterbox' — and when that too failed to silence her, a third: the ridiculous topic 'Quack, Quack, Quack, Said Mistress Chatterbox'. The whole class roared with laughter. Anne decided to turn the joke on him. Her friend Sanne, who was good at poetry, helped her write the essay in verse. The poem was about a mother duck and a father swan with three baby ducklings who were bitten to death by the father because they quacked too much. Luckily, Mr Keesing took the joke the right way — he read the poem to the class with his own comments, and to other classes as well. Since then, Anne has been allowed to talk, is not assigned extra homework, and Mr Keesing has begun making jokes himself.

Themes

• Loneliness amid company: One can have many friends and yet no true confidant.
• The power of writing: The diary becomes Anne's patient friend — "paper has more patience than people".
• Wit and creativity: Anne turns punishment into an opportunity to display humour and intelligence.
• Understanding between teacher and student: Mr Keesing's sportsmanship turns conflict into friendship.
• The shadow of history: The family's emigration reminds us of the persecution of Jews under the Nazis.

Character Sketches

Anne Frank

Anne is an intelligent, observant and extremely talkative thirteen-year-old with a sharp wit. She is sensitive and introspective — she feels lonely despite having family and thirty "friends", and she thinks deeply about why she cannot confide in people. She is bold and original: instead of scribbling excuses, she defends her talkativeness with clever arguments and answers a mocking essay topic with a comic poem. Her love for her father, sister and late grandmother shows her warm heart.

Mr Keesing

Mr Keesing, the old maths teacher, appears strict at first — annoyed by Anne's chatter and fond of assigning punishment essays. But he is fundamentally good-humoured and fair. He laughs at Anne's clever arguments, takes her joke in verse in the right spirit, reads it out to his classes, and finally allows her to talk. He shows that a good teacher can accept a student's wit gracefully.

Important Word Meanings