Selection Review #1. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. 14 June, 1942 to 7 November, 1942 (pages 1-46)

Transcription

1 75 Selection Review #1 14 June, 1942 to 7 November, 1942 (pages 1-46) 1. Make a list of things you know about Anne Frank. Then compare your list with that of a classmate. Anne is a talkative, intelligent, secure thirteen-year-old who enjoys a happy, busy life. She enjoys school and has many friendships with both boys and girls. Anne, who is Jewish, enjoys a comfortable middle-class lifestyle with her two parents and her older sister Margot in Holland, where they fled to escape Hitler's persecution of the Jews in Germany. 2. What must Jews in Holland do and avoid doing after the Germans occupy that country? Jews must wear the yellow six-pointed star at all times. They must shop only at Jewish stores and during certain hours; they must observe a curfew; they cannot attend non-jewish schools; they cannot drive or ride the trams. They must turn in their bicycles, and they cannot visit cinemas or use public recreational facilities such as tennis courts and swimming pools. 3. Where do the Franks hide, and who helps them? Several of the Franks' Christian co-workers, such as Miep and Henk Van Santen, Mr. Koophuis, Mr. Kraler, and Elli Vossen, help the Franks set up a tiny apartment on the top two floors of the building where Mr. Frank works. 4. These diary entries trace the early days the Frank and Van Daan families live in the annex. Compare Anne's hopes to the reality. What factors contribute to the strained relationships? Anne and the Franks looked forward to the arrival of the Van Daans, believing they would enjoy each other's company. They enjoy a brief honeymoon period, but the stress of living together in a small area and the lack of outside relationships cause tension for the two families. The constant fear of being discovered has also put a tremendous strain on their relationship. Soon, they all find fault with one another and quarrel easily. 5. How does Anne feel about her mother during this period? Anne is critical and distant toward her mother and writes that her mother does not fit her image of what a perfect wife and mother should be. On the one hand, Anne resents her mother's suggestions or guidance, and on the other hand, she criticizes her mother for not loving her or guiding her as she needs. For example, when her mother gives her a prayer book and urges her to use it, Anne feels her mother is trying to force her to be religious against her will. continued...

2 76 6. What is happening in Holland? The Gestapo is taking Dutch Jews away to concentration camps in cattle trucks. There are some episodes of resistance (sabotage) against the occupying German army, which are punished by executions of prominent innocent Dutch civilians by the Gestapo. Dutch young men are being sent to Germany, probably to either work as slave laborers or serve in the German army. 7. Why is Anne's diary so important to her at this time? Anne is completely cut off from her friends and the outside world. She has no girlfriends to confide in, no distractions or amusements, no outlets for her energy and emotions except her writing. She feels that only her diary is patient with her and can offer the comfort she needs.

3 77 Selection Review #2 9 November, 1942 to 1 May, 1943 (pages 46-93) 1. Anne's world has shrunk dramatically. She no longer has her friends, school, or other outside contacts. What effect does this have on her? Anne is depressed at times and feels an emptiness that cannot be helped. She is becoming overly introspective and thinks about herself constantly. She, like the other members of the annexe, is becoming overly critical. 2. How does Anne feel about the suffering of her fellow Jews? What does she do to help during this time of crisis? Anne feels miserable when she thinks of the suffering her fellow Jews are enduring. She also feels guilty because she has enough food to eat, a warm bed, and has thus far been saved from the concentration camps. To help save one more person from being sent to the camps, she gladly agrees to share her little room with the new person, Dr. Dussel. 3. Tell about three new restrictions passed by the Germans in occupied Holland. The Germans have ordered all residents to turn in their radios to prevent them from listening to foreign broadcasts. They have also declared 500- and 1000-guilder notes invalid, making it harder for Jews in hiding to give co-conspirators large bills to buy supplies. Finally, Hitler has ordered all Jews out of all the occupied territories by July 1st. 4. How do the residents of the annexe find meaningful work to pass the time? Give examples. Why is this important to them? The residents (especially Margot and Mr. Frank) help Elli, Miep, and Koophuis and Kraler with office work. At one point, Mr. Frank is so desperate to hear the details of a business meeting that he lies with his ear on the floor for several hours. The young people continue with their schoolwork, and the adults practice reading and speaking foreign languages. Dussel tries to practice dentistry on the other residents of the annexe and does some sort of office work on the little table. Mr. Van Daan, who used to be in the sausage business, makes sausage. Helping with the office work or keeping up with their professions not only helps the residents pass the time -- the only thing they have plenty of -- but restores a sense of usefulness, dignity, and self-worth.

4 78 Selection Review #3 29 July, 1943 to 3 February, 1944 (pages ) 1. Anne is increasingly using figurative language to describe how she feels. How does she describe her life? Anne describes herself as a songbird whose wings have been clipped and who is hurling himself in utter darkness against the bars of his cage. She feels she is alone in a dungeon and dreams the secret annexe is on fire and that she and the others are being taken away at night. She describes the annexe as a little piece of blue heaven surrounded by heavy clouds that circle tighter and tighter. 2. What episodes reveal that Miep and Elli are feeling the strain of hiding eight Jews? Anne writes that Elli suffered a fit of nerves, brought on by the many stresses in her life. Miep loses her temper and endangers her life, and quite possibly the lives of the secret annexers, by cursing at a German car that runs into her on the road. 3. Who is treated favorably in Anne's character sketches? Which individuals come under heavy criticism? Mr. Frank and Elli and Miep are treated most favorably in Anne's character sketches. Mr. Van Daan, Dussel, and Mrs. Van Daan are criticized for their many flaws. 4. Which members of the annexe does Anne begin to see in a more favorable light? What factors contribute to this? Anne begins to see her mother and Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan in a more favorable light. She realizes that she bears part of the responsibility for the tensions in these relationships. Her year and a half in the annexe, her careful examination of all her feelings, and her growth toward maturity help her to see things in a more balanced and realistic perspective. She is also influenced in her good feeling toward the Van Daans by her crush on Peter. 5. Who does Anne see in her dream? How does she feel? What does this reveal about Anne? Anne sees her old friend Lies in a dream. She feels guilty and sorrowful that she is warm and protected while her friends are suffering and in great danger. She regrets that she allowed her friendship with Lies to fade away. Anne is a sensitive and loyal friend, and her concern about the welfare of her fellow Jews is never far from her thoughts.

5 79 Selection Review #4 12 February, 1944 to 11 April, 1944 (pages ) 1. Is Anne really in love with Peter, or more in love with the idea of Peter? Explain. Anne has turned a blind eye to Peter's faults and sees only his good points. She thinks of him constantly, schemes to find ways to be with him, and lets this relationship control her moods. She admits that the two Peters Peter Van Daan and Peter Wessel have merged into one boy who is all good. She does not see Peter as an equal in some ways and often says she wants to help him. She claims that the two of them are just alike, wanting to gloss over their differences. 2. How has the relationship with Peter affected Anne's views of life in the annexe? Anne's relationship with Peter has caused her to have a much more optimistic view of life in the annexe. She says that while the residents have lost much since coming to the annexe, they have inward compensation in their relationships with each other. This is a surprising comment, considering all the tension she has described between the residents. 3. How has Anne changed since her pre-annexe days? Anne realizes that she was superficial, flirtatious, and a little spoiled before coming to the annexe. She was popular and enjoyed the attention she received from both boys and girls. She feels she has outgrown that carefree life, and if she were to go back to it, she would be quickly bored and dissatisfied. She now wants her relationships to take place on a deeper level. 4. How do the other residents of the annexe feel about the relationship between Anne and Peter? Most of the adults comment on the budding romance between Anne and Peter, making remarks that Anne finds feeble. The two mothers seem to be jealous of the relationship, and Anne's parents caution her against spending too much time with Peter. Anne fears that Margot might be jealous and want Peter for herself, but Margot assures her that this is not the case. She only wishes she also had someone to talk to. 5. What hopes for her future does Anne express? Are these realistic goals for her? What is ironic about them? Anne writes that she wants to have a career, unlike her mother and Mrs. Van Daan, and wants to be a journalist after the war is over. She also dreams of great success and longs to serve mankind in such a way that she would go on living after her death. Anne certainly possessed the drive, talent, and intelligence to be a successful journalist. It is ironic that it is Anne's diary of her life in the annexe and her early death that bring her fame. Anne's diary of life in the annexe brought her more fame than she probably would have achieved had she lived. continued...

6 80 6. What happens in the warehouse? Why are the residents so concerned? What do they do to avoid being detected? When Peter hears banging downstairs, the men check and find burglars breaking a hole in the warehouse door. They scare the burglars away, but some people outside shine a light through the hole into the warehouse. The men fear they have been detected and make the room look as if it has been burglarized. They hope that if anyone saw men in the warehouse, the police will think it was the burglars. 7. According to Anne, how has suffering affected the Jews? What purpose does this suffering serve? Anne believes the Jews will be held up as an example of how to endure suffering. She believes their religion can instruct others in how to be good. She believes that because of their suffering and strength, the Jews will remain a distinct people, no matter what country they live in. Anne believes that God protected her and her family during the burglary, and that while He has allowed the Jews to suffer terrible persecution, He will one day raise them up again. She believes He has never deserted her people.

7 81 Selection Review #5 14 April, 1944 to 6 May, 1944 (pages ) 1. What letter does Anne write to her father, and how does he respond? Anne writes a letter to her father that says that she is completely independent from her family and doesn't have to give an account to anyone but herself. She accuses her parents of deliberately ignoring her when she was in distress. Her father is very hurt but responds very lovingly. He helps Anne to see that she is wrong and to put her relationship with her parents in a proper perspective. 2. What does Mr. Frank think of Peter? What does Anne tell Peter that her father thinks? Mr. Frank is concerned about the amount of time Anne and Peter are together. He thinks that Peter's character is unformed and that he can be influenced for either good or bad. When Anne tells Peter about her conversation with her father, she omits the parts that are unflattering to Peter and says only that her father is concerned that they might clash because they spend so much time together. 3. What concerns does Anne express about Peter and her relationship with him? Anne is beginning to see more of Peter's faults now that she has conquered him and won his affection. She wants him to take more initiative and move the relationship to a deeper emotional and intellectual level. She realizes that Peter's moral character is weak and that, as her father has said, he is easily influenced for evil or good. His attraction to easy money and his jokes of becoming a criminal or gambler after the war frighten her. 4. Why is Anne depressed during this period? Anne's spirits are low because she is disappointed in Peter and saddened by the imprisonment of the vegetable man. She also fears the revival of anti-semitism. She complains of the heat, the delay in the Allied invasion, plumbing problems, and bad food. 5. What happens on June 6, and how does this affect Anne? June 6, 1944, is D-Day, the day the Allies invaded occupied Europe. Anne and the others are relieved that this day has finally come and are optimistic that the war may be over by the end of the year. She expresses a hope of returning to school in the fall. 6. Why is Anne concerned that Peter has no religion? What does she see as the benefits of religious belief? Anne realizes that Peter lacks strong inner convictions and is morally weak. She believes that religion keeps people on the right track, leads to self-improvement, creates noble character, and gives people hope. She sees that Peter is emotionally and spiritually poor because of his lack of religious beliefs.

8 82 Selection Review #6 8 July, 1944 to 1 August, 1944 & Afterword (pages ) 1. How does Anne feel about her father at this time? Anne is pulling away from her father and is more critical of him than she has been in the past. She resents his fatherly advice and wants him to feel with her as a friend or peer. She feels he treats her like a child and absolutely hates it when he tries to reassure her that she is passing through a normal adolescent stage. She feels he has not been supportive enough, even though she recognizes that he has always been good to her. Because she feels more mature and wants to be more indepen dent, Anne finds her father's care and advice highly annoying. 2. What insights does Anne have about her relationship with Peter? Anne realizes not only that she has conquered Peter and deliberately drawn him to herself, but that she has created an unrealistic image of him in her mind. She sees that her need for a friend and confidant was so strong that she glossed over his faults and let the relationship become more intimate than she believes was proper. She now feels he is clinging to her, and she wants him to stand on his own two feet. 3. Why does Anne write that she is a little bundle of contradictions? Anne writes about her sense that she is really two Annes, one of whom is light-hearted, fun-loving, and cheerful, while the other is deeper, better, purer. She says her better side never shows itself in front of others, while the light-hearted Anne is all the rest of the world sees. When the better side of her takes the stage, she is more serious and quiet. Her family is so unaccustomed to this side of Anne that they think she is either moody or ill. 4. How was Hitler able to become so powerful in Germany? What was Hitler's final solution? Hitler was shrewd and ambitious and was a skillful public speaker. Germany was politically unstable and economically depressed after World War I, and its post-war government, the Weimar Republic, was weak. Hitler promised to create a new world order based on the superiority of the Aryan race. When he came to power, he crushed all opposition and took control of all forms of communication. Hitler despised the Jews and blamed them for all of Germany's economic problems. He wanted to exterminate Jews, not only from Germany, but from all of Europe as well. He gradually isolated the Jews from their countrymen and took away their civil rights. He established an efficient killing machine a system of labor and death camps that killed six million Jews. continued...

9 5. What happened to the residents of the annexe? The residents of the annexe were arrested and sent to camps at Auschwitz and Belsen. Margot and Anne died of typhus, Peter was probably executed, and all the adults except for Mr. Frank died in the camps. The Russians finally liberated Mr. Frank from the camp, and he eventually returned to Amsterdam. 83

10 84 Name: Literature Test #1 14 June, 1942 to 7 November, 1942 (pages 1-46) 1. Describe Anne Frank. 2. How did the German occupation of Holland change Anne's life even before her family went into hiding? continued...

11 85 3. What must the residents of the annexe do to keep from being discovered? 4. What were Anne's hopes for living together with the Van Daan family? What actually happens? What factors contribute to these strained relationships?

12 86 Name: Literature Test #2 9 November, 1942 to 1 May, 1943 (pages 46-93) 1. Anne no longer has her friends, school, or other outside contacts. How does this affect her state of mind? 2. How does Anne feel when she hears of the terrible fate of so many of her friends? What does she do to help her fellow Jews? continued...

13 87 3. List three new rules the Germans put in place in Holland. 4. What nightly events frighten the residents? Why is their situation especially dangerous? 5. How do the annexe residents pass the time? Give examples. Why is this important to them? Why does this cause friction between Anne and Dussel?

14 88 Name: Literature Test #3 29 July, 1943 to 3 February, 1944 (pages ) 1. Tell about one of the metaphors that Anne uses to describe her life. 2. What events show the stress that Miep and Elli are feeling as a result of hiding the eight Jews in the secret annexe? continued...

15 89 3. How does Anne's opinion of the Van Daans change? What causes her to change her mind? 4. What friend does Anne see in her dream? How does the dream make her feel?

16 90 Name: Literature Test #4 12 February, 1944 to 11 April, 1944 (pages ) 1. What tells us that Anne has a crush on Peter? List at least three clues. How might this contrast with a more mature love? 2. How is Anne different from the way she was before going into hiding? continued...

17 91 3. What future goals does Anne express? Are they realistic? In what ways are they ironic? 4. Describe the warehouse burglary. What do the residents do to keep from being detected?

18 92 Name: Literature Test #5 14 April, 1944 to 6 May, 1944 (pages ) 1. Describe Anne's letter to her father. How does he respond? 2. What is Mr. Frank's opinion of Peter? What does Anne tell Peter is her father's opinion of him? continued...

19 93 3. Why is Anne disappointed in Peter? What weaknesses does she see in him? 4. Why is June 6, 1944, significant? 5. According to Anne, what are the benefits of religious belief?

20 94 Name: Literature Test #6 8 July, 1944 to 1 August, 1944 & Afterword (pages ) 1. How does Anne feel about her father at this time? 2. What insights does Anne have about her relationship with Peter? continued...

21 95 3. List some of the events that led to Hitler's rise to power in Germany. 4. Why do you think Anne believes that In spite of everything, people are really good at heart?

22 96 Name: Vocabulary Test #1 14 June, 1942 to 7 November, 1942 WRITE SENTENCES FOR THE FOLLOWING WORDS: absurd emigrated lenient allotted melancholy trivial ardent ingenious vague involuntary

23 97 Name: Vocabulary Test #2 9 November, 1942 to 1 May, 1943 WRITE SENTENCES FOR THE FOLLOWING WORDS: attributed inquisitive tactless congenial superficial valid dejected clandestine veteran indignant

24 98 Name: Vocabulary Test #3 29 July, 1943 to 3 February, 1944 WRITE SENTENCES FOR THE FOLLOWING WORDS: incessantly perturbed immovable irrevocable brusquely propaganda proficient disheartened stagnant humane

25 99 Name: Vocabulary Test #4 12 February, 1944 to 11 April, 1944 WRITE SENTENCES FOR THE FOLLOWING WORDS: ample intuition indescribable boisterous tedious indifference compensation audible precarious commotion

26 100 Name: Vocabulary Test #5 14 April, 1944 to 6 May, 1944 WRITE SENTENCES FOR THE FOLLOWING WORDS: capitalists livid insurmountable coherent surpluses laborious inaccessible explicitly vain incalculable

27 101 Name: Vocabulary Test #6 8 July, 1944 to 1 August, 1944 & Afterword WRITE SENTENCES FOR THE FOLLOWING WORDS: culprit impeccable acquiesced exuberant shrewd