Class 10 English Chapter 1 Question Answers - First Flight

Q1: When did she make her first entry in her diary?

Ans: She made her first entry in her diary on 20th June 1942.

Q2: How did Anne justify her habit of talking in her first essay on ‘A Chatterbox’?

Ans: Anne Frank wrote three pages on the topic, ‘A Chatterbox’. In the essay, she justified her habit of talking. She argued that talking was a student’s trait. She would never be able to cure herself of the habit. Her mother talked as much as she did, if not more. She would do her best to keep it under control. However, it was very difficult to control her inherited trait.

Q3:  Why did Anne Frank feel suffocated?

Ans: Anne Frank was a very sensitive girl. She was cut off from the mainstream of life, her friends and her people. She was living in a hiding to escape being arrested by the Nazi agents in Holland. Moreover, even with so-called friends, she could not share her intimate and personal feelings and problems. She felt suffocated. She was left with no alternative than opening out her heart through the pages of her diary. ‘Kitty’ her diary became her most intimate friend.

Q4: What does Anne write in her first essay?

Ans: In her first essay, titled ‘A Chatterbox’, Anne wanted to come up with convincing arguments to prove the necessity of talking. She wrote three pages and argued that talking was a student’s trait and she would do her best to keep it under control.

Q5: Give a brief life-sketch of Anne Frank.

Ans: Anne was born on 12 June 1929. She lived in Frankfurt until she was four. Her father emigrated to Holland in 1933. Her mother went with him to Holland in September. Anne and her elder sister, Margot, were sent to Aachen to stay with their grandmother. Margot, went to Holland in December and Anne followed in February. She started right away at the Montessori nursery school. She stayed there until she was six, where she started in the first form. His grandmother died in January 1942, when she was thirteen.

Q6: How did Anne want her diary to be different?

Ans: Anne did not want to jot down the facts in her diary, the way most people do. She wanted the diary to be her friend. She called it a kitty. She wrote about her feelings and experiences in it. It was a mature work, reflecting deep insight.

Q7: Explain ‘teachers are the most unpredictable creatures’.

Ans. Anne and her classmates thought that teachers were the most unpredictable creatures’ as nobody would know what there was in their minds and what their next step would be.

Q8: Why did Anne think that she was alone? Give reasons.

Ans: Anne had losing parents and an elder sister she had lost aunts and a good home She had a member of blends also but there was no one in whom she could confide. So, she thought that she was alone.

Q9: How do you know that Anne was close to her grandmother?
Ans. Anne lived with her grandmother for some months when her parents went to Holland. She loved her deeply. When her grandmother died, Anne felt sad. She often thought about her. So, she was close to her grandmother.

Q10: Why was the entire class quaking in its boots?

Ans: It is true that the whole class was shaking with fear. The teachers were to decide about the fate of the students. They were to decide who would go up in the next class or not. Half of the class was making bets. The verdict of the teachers could go either way. They were quite unpredictable creatures on earth.

Q11: Why was Anne in tears when she left the Montessori School?

Ans: When Anne was in the sixth form in the Montessori School, her teacher was Mrs. Kuperus, the headmistress. Anne loved her teacher deeply. She also showed affection to Anne. So when Anne left the Montessori school, she was in tears.

Q12: Which subject did Anne find difficult?

Ans: Anne found Mathematics difficult.

Q13: Why does Anne feel that writing in a diary is really a strange experience?

Ans: It must be remembered that Anne Frank was just a thirteen-year-old girl. She was in hiding and cut off from the larger world. She was hesitant that no one would be interested in the musings of a young girl. She had never written anything before. So, it was naturally a strange experience for her.

Q14: According to Anne what has more patience than people?

Ans: According to Anne paper has more patience than people.

Q15: What motivated Anne Frank to write in a diary?

Ans: It should not be forgotten that Anne was living in hiding. She couldn’t have normal dealings with the people outside. She could talk about ‘ordinary things’ with her family and friends. She couldn’t talk highly personal and intimate issues with them. She didn’t have any real friends. She felt utterly lonely and depressed. Writing in a diary could get all kinds of things off her chest.

Q16: How did Sanne help Anne Frank in writing the third essay?

Ans: Senile was Anne’s close friend, and good at poetry. She helped Anne write the third essay in verse. It turned out to be a good poem, and even the teacher, Mr. Keesing, took it in the right way.

Q17: Why doesn’t Anne want to jot down facts as most people do in a diary? Why does she call it her friend ‘Kitty’?

Ans: For Anne Frank, a diary writing is a highly personal and intimate experience. He is not like other diary writers who load it with facts and non-personal matters. She wants to compensate her loss of having no ‘true friends’ with opening out of her heart in the pages of her diary. She wants the diary to be her true friend and calls it `Kitty’.

Q18: What was the name of the essay on which Anne had to write the second time?

Ans: ‘An Incorrigible Chatterbox.’

Q19: Why does Anne think it prudent and wise to provide a brief sketch of her life?

Ans: Anne Frank calls her diary ‘Friend Kitty’. She addresses all her writings to Kitty. For readers, it would be rather difficult to understand ‘the word’ of her stories to Kitty. So, instead of plunging ‘right in’, she thinks it wise to provide a brief sketch of her life. Though she dislikes doing so.

Q20: Who was Mrs. Kuperus?

Ans: She was as the headmistress of Anne’s school in both standards.

Q21: Give a brief description of Anne Frank’s family.

Ans: Anne confesses that she has ‘lovely parents’. Her father Otto Frank is ‘the most adorable father’ she has ever seen. Her elder sister Margot was born in Frankfurt in Germany in 1926. Her mother Edith was 25 when she married her father. She and her elder sister stayed with their grandmother before they were sent to live with their parents in Amsterdam.

Q22: Anne Frank had a great attachment with her grandmother. Justify your answer.

Ans: There is no doubt that Anne Frank had a great attachment with her grandmother. When her parents migrated to Holland, she along with her elder sister Virago were sent to live with her grandmother in Aachen. The grandmother died in January 1942. She thought of her quite often and still loved her.

Q23: Where did Anne stay before going to Holland?

Ans: Anne’s parents migrated to Holland. They did not take Anne with them. So Anne stayed with her grandmother for some months.

Q24: What was the topic of the first essay? Mr Keesing asked Anne to write?

Ans: ‘A Chatterbox.’

Q25: Why did Anne Frank says that teachers are the most unpredictable creatures on earth?

Ans: Anne Frank felt that nothing could be predicted about the mood of the teachers. They were the most ‘unpredictable creatures on earth’. It depended on their choice who would go up in the next class. Only they could decide who would be kept back. Half the class was making bets.