Anne+Frank+Synopsis

My Group Discussion on: ~Friday, May 31~ By:Charisse Sanchez

On Friday, May 30th my group and I went around in the order of our jobs gave a brief description of what we wrote about the book according to the jobs we had.

First it was Seong Ae (literary luminary), she spoke about how the event that happened with Anne and Mrs. Van Daan on page 34 relate to the Eq "What brings out the worst and best in people?" She choose the quote that read from "Suddenly her eyes fell on me." to "..., such a stupid, foolish little person!" because that event had brought out the worst in Anne and Mrs. Van Daan. Anne, because she was enjoying Mrs. Van Daan's pain and suffering, and Mrs. Van Daan because she set a bad example for 13-year old Anne by using curse words. My group and I spoke about how we would feel in that situation and if I t was right. I said that if it was with someone I really loathe then I would kind of get the enjoyment that Anne did but I wouldn't show it. Then I remembered that this was her diary so she could write about it and express freely her thoughts because it is personal and not meant to be read by anyone other then she. Maybe Anne didn't have that attitude at that moment but inside she felt like it. My group was surprised at my answer but then agreed it was only in serious situations they would feel that way.

Second was Chris (Character Captain), he felt that the main character was Anne because I twas her diary and that we should focus on her. He said that she had some traits that were pretty unique or unusual compare to those girls of today. Such as: they way she "overlooks everything," "thinks deeply"" and uses such correct grammar and word usage. Basically Anne seems more mature than many girls her age. He also felt because she finds a way laugh in her situation she must be easy going and "cool." Third was Dom (Historian), she brought in a sheet that explained some terms in german that were used in the text. One was "//Camera Obscura//" it is basically old fashion camera. This photo shows you how it looks like compared to our modern camera. Anne says she given this on her birthday. We assumed the camera looked like this Dom also thought it quite interesting how teachers were labeled as Mistress and Master giving them importance whereas now we just call the Miss, Misses, or Mister. I thought it quite interesting to so I asked if I can relate it to Humanities. In Humanities we were reading about a young lady named Ida Tarbell who was very determined to be a journalist more so a "//muckraker//" She went to a College but soon noticed no matter her determination or love for a career she was stepping into a "men-only domain" so she had to become a teacher. You see in this case becoming a teacher was just a default job for woman but in Holland it was an honor (or it appeared so). Dom thought it was just the difference of location. I think it's the difference of opportunities offered in the area such as careers, life-styles, etc... she had found a map online that stated the number of deaths in each city in Europe that was attached and thought it interesting that a large amount of deaths could occur in a small area (Holland, death of 106,000). She wondered why was that. Our group thought it had more Jews.

Mrs. Sarah pointed out to us how close the Germans and Jews were and asked us why we thought the Germans were The Nazis and not some other ethnic background. (I started a discussion based on that to find the answer.)

Last was Jamal (Philosopher), he wondered why was it that Anne's expression does not change, for example when she did not write in her diary for a month the before and after were pretty much the same to him. He thought about "why she focuses on the events and not the situation." Then he asked about "how would we act in that situation." I came up mainly with the answer being, that in that time period it was normal to them to lead this life such as it is normal for us to go to school everyday and wake up when the sun goes up and sleep when it goes down. Dom thought maybe we are just reading it in a different point of view or prospective then it had been written for.

This was the end of our discussion about our jobs

All in all we like the book, some more than others but some are wondering when are we going to get to the part where we can finally see how Anne experiences the Holocaust and all the action that she has to go through. Some feel she is too relaxed to be in this situation and should be more alert maybe even scared.

Web Wiz- Dominique - June 9 2008

The last time my group and I met was on June 7th. During this class we had short discussion. (It would have been longer if we weren;t having problems with our homework scheduales)

Seong Ae- Character Captain- Seonf Ae decided that she would focus on characters other than Anne. Though they are not that main character Seong Ae noticed the importance of both Otto Frank- Annes Father- and Mrs. Van Daan.Though these characters are portryed through Annes words an opinions. Seong Ae chose quotes and explained how she came up with her assumtion on "how they are".

Seong Ae- Philospher- Here Seong Ae based her meaningful questions on two different main topics. The first 2 questions seem to have been based on the factual occurences in the book. The next to questions were based on Annes personality and views of her life during this time. Though in 2 total different directions they are both very important points to focus on.

Charisse And Chris- These two were both the literary luminary.

Web Wiz - Chris Iakovou - June 11th 2008

On June 10th our group got off topic from the actual book but were talking about a similar subject to our book. We went back to a topic which was would we choose ourself before others. We discussed this scenario using our everyday lives. An example that was brought up was a homeless person. We thought (with the help of Ms. Sarah) about what really separates //us// from //them.// We also discussed if we feel bad for them or if we think they are responsible for being homeless.

Some points that were brought up were.. - Nobody would risk their own life to save someone else's. - How could you tell between the best and worst in you? - Why do we put ourselves before others?

Dominque and Jamal also think that Anne Frank is still calm even though she is going through the Holocaust while Seong Ae thinks that she is beginning to worry. Personally I'm not sure.

Charisse was the Philosopher and the questions she thought of were: - How do you think Anne Frank is beginning to feel in this situation? - What do you think of her attitude now? - What do you think provoked Anne Frank's thoughts to talk about her deceased Grandmother? - How are you feeling about the book now?

Seong Ae was the Historian and she brought pictures of.. - Florin: An Australian coin/Hungarian coin. - A map of where Anne Frank's Grandmother lived. - A picture of Germany as a country. A picture of a Florin coin.

A picture of Aachen, Germany.

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**Seong Ae H.** (Web Wiz) June 12, 2008

//EQ: What brings out the best and worst in people?//

Today during English, my group and I discussed about what we read in the book "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl."

Our discussion started with **Chris I.** (the Literary Luminary). Chris shared his important ideas and connections to the EQ with the rest of the group. From the homework, we came across several important and big ideas/points.
 * Anne is going through puberty, so she's thinking a lot about boys in her mind. That could have been a way to forget about what was happening outside the Secret Annex.
 * Anne's __worst__ is brought out: Anne is hanging out with Peter even though she knew that her sister likes Peter, too. She is doing this just to satisfy her own needs and wants.

After sharing his big ideas, **Dominique C.** replied to the first bullet. She (basically) said: //"Anne is convincing herself to 'substitude' the thoughts of boys in the places of the war."//

And I agree. No one will want to think of war 24/7. I believe that it's the best that Anne is thinking about boys in the places of the war, because thinking too much of bad things aren't good for your health (really). She is doing the right thing, and I don't think anyone should stop her.

After sharing his big ideas, Chris also gave us some general questions that was related to the EQ.
 * Do you think Peter brings out the worst and/or the best in Anne Frank?
 * When & why do you think Anne's worst and best is brought out?
 * Do you think Anne is scared of the Holocaust?

(The group was not able to answer those questions, due to the other conversations we had as a group and also with Ms. Sarah. But I think the first and last questions are very important, and it shouldn't be skipped just because 'the lack of time.' I will just explain those two questions. There are many different answers, so I'll leave it up to you guys to answer and think about these questions.)  The first question is asked, I think because of the way she acts towards Peter and the others are very different. In front of Peter, Anne is nothing but a sweet angel. But in front of Mrs. Van Dann, for example, Anne becomes a very cruel and mean girl. It is natural, in a way, for someone to become more gentle and sweet in front of the ones they love & like. So can Peter be considered as a factor that brings the best and worst in Anne?

The last question is asked, because of what **Jamal W.** talked about few classes ago. He still brings it up, but not as much as before... Hahahah...

Jamal once asked the group: //"Why does Anne sound so calm and happy in her diary? There was a war going on at that time and she was one of the people the Nazis and Hitler was targeting. Shouldn't the diary be filled up with worries about the war and saddness that was in Anne?"// I think Jamal asked a great question. I also think that his question relates to the main idea I discussed above.

If Anne wrote depressing entries in her diary, the only things are going to be left will be a depressing diary and depressed Anne. I think that she made the right choice (even though she might not have intended to do this) of sounding happy and alive in the diary. At least the "happy Anne" gave hope to herself- which is great.

After the long discussion about Chris' homework, **Charisse S.** told the group about her research on the things that were confusing and unknown to us.

There was a part in the diary where Anne mentioned about "divan." I'm pretty sure none of us knew what it meant and none of us bothered to look it up. Charisse did research on what "divan" was, and she found out that it was a type of couch-like sitting furniture.

She also researched what "Sabbath" was. Chris knew what it meant, but it meant something else in the Jewish religion. Ms. Sarah joined in the conversation on "Sabbath" and explained to us what Jews did during Sabbath.

Sabbath is the seventh day of the week (Saturday), which is the day of rest, work-free and worship by the Jews and some Christian sects. So basically, the Jews cannot do any work (e.g. writing, opening a door, taking the elevator, asking someone for help, cooking, using electricity, etc...) or make someone else do their work. It was a confusing subject for us to understand, but we were able to get the big picture.

The conversation was more meaningful than other times (in my opinion) because I learned so many things through this group discussion.

SEONG AE.