From The Diary of Anne Frank

By Abeer Choubey

In this extract from The Diary of a Young Girl written by Anne Frank, she writes how she feels that it is strange and unusual for her to write a diary because it is the first time she is doing it. She feels that in the future no one will read about a young girl’s past experiences. But then she puts these thoughts away and decides to write her thoughts down. 

 

Anne feels very lonely as she has no friends to talk to. She wants to give her need of friend a shape, hence decides to name the diary “Kitty”. She feels that paper has more capacity to absorb thoughts rather than people who have low patience. She has a good time with her friends but cannot share everything with them as they are not true friends. She refers to her father as the most lovable person who presents her the diary on her 13th birthday.
 

On June 20, 1942, she mentions how her class is nervous about their results. The author says that the only subject she is unsure about is mathematics. She and her friend G were trying to stop the students from making noise, but to no avail. According to her, about a quarter of the class should not pass as they do not participate in any activities.

Anne recalls how the math professor is constantly irritated by her talkativeness. Because of talking in his classes he gives her extra homework as punishment. The first punishment is to write an essay on “Chatterbox”, which the author thinks as weird. She ponders over the topic and decides to present concrete arguments in support of talking. She writes that she will try to better herself but cannot eliminate talking completely. The professor finds it amusing but allots another topic after she did not change her nature. The topic is "An Incorrigible Chatterbox" which refers to a habit that is difficult to change. After keeping an eye on her, the professor gives her another topic, "Quack, Quack, Quack, said Mistress Chatterbox", as a punishment. She runs out of ideas after writing two times on a similar topic. With the help of a friend, she writes her third essay in the form of a poem and writes a satire and luckily the professor takes it lightly. The professor recites the entire poem in front of the class and Anne was allowed to talk uninterruptedly after this.

I think keeping a diary is a good thing because it helps to record and recall events and issues from the past. The diary is also a valuable tool. We can honestly write our thoughts and feeling in our diary. While writing we get to share our thoughts with our diary. When we write a diary we get confident in expressing our thoughts or ideas to others. We also get a new perspective, by looking on the old problems situations and circumstances. It also enhances our knowledge, our vocabulary and even our writing skills. In the end I conclude that keeping a diary is good for sharing thoughts and it also helps to balance our minds in any situation.