From the Diary of Anne Frank Summary

From the Diary of Anne Frank Summary

This lesson provides excerpts from the diary of Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who lived in hiding with her family in Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. Anne received the diary as a gift on her 13th birthday in June 1942, and she began writing in it immediately.

Anne’s First Entries

In her first entries, Anne expressed how strange it felt to be writing in a diary, as she had never done so before. However, she felt a strong need to express her thoughts and feelings, and since she didn’t have a true friend to confide in, she decided to treat the diary as her friend, addressing it as “Kitty”.

Background Information

Anne provided some background information about her family in the diary. They were originally from Germany, but her father had moved the family to Holland in 1933 after the Nazis gained power. Anne was born in 1929, and her older sister Margot was born in 1926.

Daily Life and School Experiences

In the entries from 1942, Anne wrote about her daily life and experiences at school. She described her teachers and the upcoming examinations that the students would soon take. One of her teachers, Mr. Keesing, was annoyed by Anne’s talkative nature and punished her by assigning extra homework, requiring her to write essays on the topic of being a “chatterbox”. Anne approached these assignments with humor and wit, eventually causing Mr. Keesing to laugh at her essays and stop assigning her extra homework.

Anne’s Personality

Throughout the diary entries, Anne’s personality shines through. She is thoughtful, intelligent, and mature beyond her years, with a keen sense of observation and a sharp wit. Despite the oppressive circumstances of the Nazi occupation and the constant fear that her family lived under, Anne maintained a positive outlook and found joy in the small things in life.

Significance of the Diary

The excerpts from Anne Frank’s diary provide a poignant and intimate look into the life of a young girl living through one of the darkest periods in history. They offer a unique perspective on the human experience during wartime and serve as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable adversity.

Difficult Words from “From the Diary of Anne Frank” and Their Meanings

Musings (n.)

Meaning: A period of reflection or thought. In the context of the lesson, Anne wonders if anyone would be interested in the thoughts and reflections of a 13-year-old girl.

Listless (adj.)

Meaning: Lacking energy or enthusiasm. Anne feels listless and bored, sitting at home with her chin in her hands, not knowing whether to stay in or go out.

Brooding (v.)

Meaning: Engaging in deep thought, contemplation, or rumination, especially in a moody or anxious way. Anne stays where she is, brooding and thinking deeply about her situation.

Confide (v.)

Meaning: To share personal information, feelings, or secrets with someone trusted. Anne feels that she doesn’t have anyone to confide in or share her personal thoughts and feelings with.

Plunked Down (v.)

Meaning: To put or set something down heavily or carelessly. Anne humorously describes how she was “plunked down” on the table as a birthday present for her sister Margot when she arrived in Holland.

Quaking (adj.)

Meaning: Shaking or trembling, often from fear or nervousness. Anne’s entire class is “quaking in its boots,” or trembling with nervousness, about the upcoming tests that will determine who will move on to the next grade level.

Incorrigible (adj.)

Meaning: Not able to be corrected, improved, or reformed. Mr. Keesing, Anne’s math teacher, assigns her extra homework as punishment for her talkative nature, calling her an “incorrigible chatterbox.”

Ingenuity (n.)

Meaning: The quality of being clever, original, or inventive. Anne uses her ingenuity to write amusing essays in response to Mr. Keesing’s punishment assignments, eventually winning him over with her wit and humor.

Stiff-backed (adj.)

Meaning: Rigid or inflexible in posture or attitude. Anne refers to her diary as a “stiff-backed notebook,” suggesting that it has a firm cover and spine.

Chatterbox (n.)

Meaning: A person who talks continuously in a fast or frivolous way. Mr. Keesing calls Anne a chatterbox because she talks a lot in class.

Ramble On (v.)

Meaning: To talk or write at length in a confused or inconsequential way. Anne says that anyone could ramble on and leave big spaces between the words in their essays, but the trick was to come up with convincing arguments to prove the necessity of talking.

Convincing (adj.)

Meaning: Capable of making someone believe something is true or real. Anne tries to write convincing arguments in her essay to justify the necessity of talking.

Inherited (adj.)

Meaning: Derived genetically from one’s parents or ancestors. Anne argues that talking is a student’s trait and that she would never be able to cure herself of the habit because her mother talked as much as she did, if not more, and that there’s not much one can do about inherited traits.

Exhausted (adj.)

Meaning: Completely used up or emptied out. Anne had nearly exhausted her ingenuity (cleverness) on the topic of chatterboxes, and it was time to come up with something else to write about.

Ridiculous (adj.)

Meaning: Deserving or inviting derision or mockery; absurd. Mr. Keesing had tried to play a joke on Anne by having her write an essay on “Quack, Quack, Quack, Said Mistress Chatterbox,” but Anne decided to write something so amusing that the joke would be on him.

Assign (v.)

Meaning: To allocate or attribute something to someone as a task or responsibility. After reading Anne’s essays, Mr. Keesing stopped assigning her extra homework as a punishment for her talkative nature.