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The Diary of a Young Girl

by Anne Frank

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Student Question

How does Anne in The Diary of a Young Girl interact with her teachers?

Expert Answers

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Anne seems to get along well with her teachers. Her attitude at the beginning of her diary, though sprinkled with a bit of adolescent angst and annoyances, is generally good-natured and she seems to have that attitude in interactions with her teachers. 

The main story she tells involving a teacher is when Mr. Keesing, aggravated by Anne's incessant talking during class, assigns her a series of essays as punishment. Rather than complaining about it or just writing big to fill up the three pages quickly, Anne considers the "convincing arguments to prove the necessity of talking" (pg 11). While Mr. Keesing finds her essay amusing, she continues to talk and gets another essay as punishment, which she writes. The third time, an exasperated Mr. Keesing assigns Anne an essay entitled, "Quack, Quack, Quack," Went Mistress Chatterbox."

Again, Anne shows her good humor and ability to joke with her teachers, writing a story about a family of ducks in verse with her friends. Mr. Keesing can take a joke too, and reads some of it out loud. 

Another small mention Anne makes is of Mrs. Kuperus, the principal and Anne's 6th grade teacher at her Montessori nursery school. Anne says they "were both in tears as [they] said a heart-breaking farewell" (pg 7) when Anne was accepted to the Jewish Lyceum.

Judging from these anecdotes, Anne gets along very well with her teachers.

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