1. From The
Story of My Life, who is revealed as the teacher of Helen Keller?
As revealed in The
Story of My Life, Helen Keller's autobiographical account of her first
twenty two years, Annie Sullivan is Helen's teacher but she becomes so much
more to Helen to the point that Helen admits in chapter seven that "I
scarcely think of myself apart from her." Helen is aware of the huge
impact that Annie's arrival has on her whole family and talks about Annie's
arrival in March 1887 as "the most important day I remember in all my
life" (chapter 4). Helen was left blind and deaf after an illness when she
was a baby, and it is her parents' desperation that leads them to seek help.
Dr. Alexander Graham Bell represents the turning point for Helen whose outbursts
have admittedly escalated to the point of being "sometimes hourly"
(chapter 3). It is Helen's inability to communicate which causes so much
frustration and which Annie understands, herself only being partially sighted.
She intends to teach Helen "language" and "W-A-T-E-R" (ch
3) becomes the first significant word which then allows Helen to form
associations between what Annie spells into her hand and what needs to be
understood.
Annie's style of
teaching means that Helen is not bored by lessons which would be difficult to
grasp for any child and Helen feels that she "learned from life
itself" (ch 7) as Annie's methods are inspiring and bring everything into
context. Annie's patience and perseverance ensure that Helen is able to reach
her true potential.
2.What is an overview of The Story of My Life?
The Story of My Life
is an autobiography about Helen Keller who lost her sight and hearing after
suffering an illness at 19 months of age. She had to reestablish her
communication and feel every object around the house and use crude signs to
facilitate her learning and communication. Her situation frustrated her at
first, especially when she realized that other people communicated by talking
while she had to use signs. The entry of her teacher and life-long companion,
Anne Sullivan, helped the young girl surmount some of the challenges of her
condition. Helen was mostly interested in the written word, which she
eventually relied on mostly to express herself. She even achieved the major
milestone of writing her books. Despite the challenges, Helen went on to become
a social activist and participated in lecture tours accompanied by her teacher
Sullivan.
The story shares her
brief memories before she lost her sight and hearing and her life with the
condition up until her college years, when she actually wrote the book. She
went on to write other books and articles throughout her lifetime.
3. Based on her autobiography The Story of My Life, how was Helen Keller as a child and as a student?
In her
autobiography, The Story of My Life, Helen Keller
confesses to having been quite a wild child before she met her
teacher Anne Sullivan. Her wildness is seen in the fact that she was prone to temper
tantrums and used manipulation to get her way. But
she also explains that her temper tantrums were a result of feeling angered by
being trapped in a world she didn't understand and her poor behavior a result
of having no way to learn morals.
One example she gives of a tempter tantrum due to frustration concerns the times she observed people around her moving their lips to communicate. After recovering from her high fever, as she got older, she explains that she felt a basic need to communicate with others around her and started making gestures to do so:
One example she gives of a tempter tantrum due to frustration concerns the times she observed people around her moving their lips to communicate. After recovering from her high fever, as she got older, she explains that she felt a basic need to communicate with others around her and started making gestures to do so:
4. A shake of the head meant "No and a nod, "Yes," a
pull meant "Come" and a push, "Go." Was it bread that I
wanted? Then I would imitate the acts of cutting the slices and buttering them.
(Ch. 2)
At some point in her
early life, she realized that other people didn't use gestures
to communicate. She used to stand between two people she knew were talking and
touch their lips. She could feel their lips moving but didn't
understand why. She tried moving her lips too but knew she wasn't communicating
anything by doing so. As she explains, "This made [her] so angry at times
that [she] kicked and screamed until [she] was exhausted" (Ch. 2).
She also explains that she spent all of her time with their cook's daughter her age named Martha Washington, mostly because she "seldom had any difficulty in making [Martha] do just as she wished" (Ch. 2). She further says she realized when she was behaving badly and felt something "akin to regret" anytime she hurt someone with her kicking but not enough regret to stop herself from behaving that way in the future.
However, all of this changed when she started learning from Sullivan. The lessons were very challenging at first, but, soon, Helen learned manners, how to do new tasks on her own, and how to communicate, which opened up the door for her to be able to understand kindness, compassion, and moral behavior.
She also explains that she spent all of her time with their cook's daughter her age named Martha Washington, mostly because she "seldom had any difficulty in making [Martha] do just as she wished" (Ch. 2). She further says she realized when she was behaving badly and felt something "akin to regret" anytime she hurt someone with her kicking but not enough regret to stop herself from behaving that way in the future.
However, all of this changed when she started learning from Sullivan. The lessons were very challenging at first, but, soon, Helen learned manners, how to do new tasks on her own, and how to communicate, which opened up the door for her to be able to understand kindness, compassion, and moral behavior.
5. According to Helen Keller's autobiography, The Story of My Life, who was Arthur H. Keller? What did he do?
As we
learn from the first chapter of Helen Keller's autobiography, The
Story of My Life, Helen came from a very noteworthy Southern family of
Tuscumbia, Alabama. Her father was Arthur Henley Keller, who
served as a captain of the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Captain
Keller owned a homestead in Alabama that they named Ivy Green because, as Helen
informs us, the house and the surrounding trees and fences were covered in
beautiful English ivy. Helen also informs us that, after the Civil War, when he
married Helen's mother, Kate Adams, his second wife, he built a small house
annexed from the main house, in Southern tradition, and Helen was born in this
house and lived their until her illness had passed.
Though Helen does not mention so in her autobiography, there are several other things we know about Captain Keller. First,
after the Civil War, he worked as a lawyer until 1874. He then bought the
publication the North Alabamian and presided for 10 years as editor.
Later, in 1885, "he was appointed United States Marshall for the Northern
District of Alabama" and later was elected as a senator (Kentucky Comprehensive
Genealogy Database Project, Colbert County, Alabama,
Biographies, "Arthur Henley Keller").
6. Why did Helen call Boston "the city of kind hearts"?
To start, Helen's
experiences with kind people in Boston have greatly influenced her thoughts
about the city. Because of the people, Helen will forever equate Boston with
kindness, welcome, and compassion. The main example of someone who embodies the
spirit of such welcoming hospitality would be Mr. William Endicott. Helen tells
us that she was thinking of Mr. Endicott when she called Boston The City Of
Kind Hearts. Mr. Endicott opens up his house to Helen and talks to her as
if they are great friends who have always enjoyed each other's company.
Another example you
might consider using would be that of Mr. Anagnos (director of the Perkins
Institution For The Blind in Boston). When Helen's father writes to request a
teacher for Helen, we are told that Mr. Anagnos answers with a 'kind letter'
filled with ' the comforting assurance that a teacher had been found.'
In May 1888, Helen
gets a chance to visit the Perkins Institution For The Blind. Her is joy is complete
when the children greet her with eagerness and enthusiasm. She feels so
thoroughly at home in Boston that she begins to regard Boston 'as the beginning
and the end of creation.'
Another instance of
kindness is experienced in the presence of the child actress, Elsie Leslie, who
stars in the play, 'The Prince and The Pauper,' in Boston. Despite fatigue,
Elsie receives Helen with a generous warmth and a kind welcome after the play.
Helen tells us that it 'would have been hard to find a lovelier or more lovable
child than Elsie...'
Helen tells us of
her sadness at the death of Mr. John Spaulding, a great supporter of Helen's
studies.
Only those who knew
and loved him best can understand what his friendship meant to me. He, who made
every one happy in a beautiful, unobtrusive way, was most kind and tender to
Miss Sullivan and me. So long as we felt his loving presence and knew that he
took a watchful interest in our work, fraught with so many difficulties, we
could not be discouraged. His going away left a vacancy in our lives that has
never been filled.
7. What is the relationship between Helen and Martha?
Before the arrival
of her teacher, Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller sought out the companionship of
Martha Washington, the African American child of the family cook.
Helen and Martha
developed a system of signs to communicate during play, and Martha appeared to
tolerate Helen’s eccentric behavior. Helen tells how she used to “double [her]
hands and put them on the ground” when she wanted to go egg-hunting with Martha.
Helen describes how she cut off all of Martha’s black curls, and Martha
proceeded to cut off all of Helen’s curls before her mother intervened. Martha
and Helen helped in the kitchen and played in the family stable. Helen admits
that she was a domineering child, but it is apparent that Martha and Helen
learned to share similar interests and enjoy each other’s company. Martha lived
with the Keller family until Helen moved to a larger house before the birth of
her sister, Mildred, and the untimely death of her father.
8.
In The Story
of My Life by Helen Keller, what explains Helen's love for nature?
In The Story of
My Life by Helen Keller, nature is fascinating, comforting and terrifying
for Helen. When she is very young, Helen finds that the garden brings her
relief from her frustrations; it is "the paradise of my childhood"
(chapter 1). She recognizes sections of the garden by the smells and also the
texture of the leaves and she is particularly in awe of the roses. The garden
is her refuge because she can rely on her other senses (not sight and hearing)
and, even if only momentarily, she is not restricted by her disabilities.
In chapter 5, after
Annie Sullivan arrives and begins teaching Helen, she encourages Helen's love
of the outdoors and helps her make the connection between her world and the
world around her by making Helen feel that "birds and flowers and I were
happy peers." Helen even remembers that her first lessons with Annie are
"in the beneficence of nature." Helen notes that Annie does not
concentrate on academic subjects at first but rather on "beauty in the
fragrant woods, in every blade of grass, and in the curves and dimples of my
baby sister's hand." However, Helen also learns about the unpredictability
of nature and remembers how whilst climbing a tree "a nameless fear
clutched at my heart." However, she sees it as another learning opportunity,
and although she takes a long time to get over her fear, she does do so and
feels "like a fairy on a rosy cloud."
Helen's education
revolves around nature and she recognizes that "everything that could hum,
or buzz, or sing, or bloom had a part" (chapter 6). Annie uses clay to
teach Helen Geography and people send her collectibles which allow Helen to
make associations and "learn from life itself." Helen recognizes that
this love of nature stems from Annie's "genius" and continues to
relish it. When out in the snow, she even suggests that the light is so bright
that "it penetrated the darkness that veils my eyes" (ch 12). She
finds the wind "exhilarating" while tobogganing and never misses an
opportunity. She is inspired by her surroundings and this contributes to her positive
frame of mind.
9. In Helen Keller's autobiography The Story of My Life, the arrival of Anne Sullivan coincided with the coming of spring. What symbolic significance does it hold?
In Chapter
III of her autobiography The Story of My Life, Helen Keller
explains her experiences with traveling to various doctors and being
recommended a teacher in "the summer of 1886," when she was six years
old. It was a little less than a year later, the next March, that her teacher Anne
Sullivan came to them. While we certainly can see spring as being
symbolic, one might hesitate to call spring in Helen's
autobiography symbolic since Helen is accounting for us the
true facts of her life. In real life, life occurrences do not happen at certain
times for deeper symbolic meaning; they simply happen. While
one might attribute symbolic meaning to a real-life event, it would be a
stretch to say that the event actually has symbolic meaning because an historic
event is simply an historic event. Only in literature do events really have
symbolic meaning.
In the summertime during 1886, she and her family had journeyed from their home in Alabama to Baltimore, where they went to see Dr. Chisholm, an oculist who had helped many cases of blindness. Dr. Chisholm was unable to do anything for Helen but suggested they speak with Dr. Alexander Graham Bell in Washington, D.C., the inventor of the telephone, for advice on seeing to Helen's education. Dr. Bell recommended they write to Mr. Anagnos, the director of the Perkins Institution for the blind in Boston, for a teacher he could recommend. Mr. Anagnos responded within a few weeks giving "comforting assurance that a teacher had been found." However, Anne Sullivan "did not arrive until the following March."
Spring is a time of growth, rebirth, and rejuvenation. All of nature that had been asleep during the winter awakens and begins to grow. Plus, new seeds that had taken root in an earlier season begin to grow. In addition, baby animals are born. This period of growth and birth helps nature progress through its endless cycle. We can also symbolically apply nature's time of growth, rebirth, and rejuvenation to our own mental and spiritual states to see spring as a time of awakening and of transforming ourselves into something new. Hence, Miss Sullivan's appearance in early spring is certainly coincidental because it coincides with Helen's own awakening and rebirth into a person with new knowledge and eventually new spiritual and moral understanding.
In the summertime during 1886, she and her family had journeyed from their home in Alabama to Baltimore, where they went to see Dr. Chisholm, an oculist who had helped many cases of blindness. Dr. Chisholm was unable to do anything for Helen but suggested they speak with Dr. Alexander Graham Bell in Washington, D.C., the inventor of the telephone, for advice on seeing to Helen's education. Dr. Bell recommended they write to Mr. Anagnos, the director of the Perkins Institution for the blind in Boston, for a teacher he could recommend. Mr. Anagnos responded within a few weeks giving "comforting assurance that a teacher had been found." However, Anne Sullivan "did not arrive until the following March."
Spring is a time of growth, rebirth, and rejuvenation. All of nature that had been asleep during the winter awakens and begins to grow. Plus, new seeds that had taken root in an earlier season begin to grow. In addition, baby animals are born. This period of growth and birth helps nature progress through its endless cycle. We can also symbolically apply nature's time of growth, rebirth, and rejuvenation to our own mental and spiritual states to see spring as a time of awakening and of transforming ourselves into something new. Hence, Miss Sullivan's appearance in early spring is certainly coincidental because it coincides with Helen's own awakening and rebirth into a person with new knowledge and eventually new spiritual and moral understanding.
10. What were the fears around Helen in The Story of My Life? Who helped her to overcome these fears?
Helen was a brave
child, but being blind and deaf meant that she would sometimes become fearful
of things she could not see or hear. Since she could only sense, fear of
the unknown led her to panic. For instance, one day she was in a tree
before a thunderstorm hit, and became very frightened.
I knew it, it was
the odour that always precedes a thunderstorm, and a nameless fear clutched at
my heart. I felt absolutely alone, cut off from my friends and the firm earth.
The immense, the unknown, enfolded me. I remained still and expectant; a
chilling terror crept over me. (Ch. 5)
After this, it is a
long time before she climbs another tree. She says the “mere
thought filled me with terror” (Ch. 5). Yet when she climbs a tree again,
it is like a wonderful new world, a paradise. She has proven that she can
conquer any fear, eventually. Nature is too beautiful and bountiful to be
missed.
Another example of
fear also involves nature, in a way, because it involves water. Helen
again gets into a situation where she is in over her head.
The buoyant motion
of the water filled me with an exquisite, quivering joy. Suddenly my ecstasy
gave place to terror; for my foot struck against a rock and the next instant
there was a rush of water over my head. (Ch. 10)
She manages to get
herself out of the situation because the waves throw her back out. Like
the incident with the tree, Helen got out of the situation on her own just like
she got into it on her own. Sometimes, however, as in this time, it is
her teacher Anne Sullivan who comforts her.
Helen describes an
episode of more personal fear in the winter of 1892.
THE winter of 1892
was darkened by one cloud in my childhood's bright sky. Joy deserted my heart,
and for a long, long time I lived in doubt, anxiety, and fear. Books lost their
charm for me, and even now the thought of those dreadful days chills my heart.
(Ch. 14)
The incident
involved a mistaken plagiarism on Helen’s part, where she wrote a story that
she thought was her own, that turned out to be remembered from a story read to
her when she was a child. It was an innocent mistake, but it hurt her
pride and turned her world upside down. Anne Sullivan knew that she did
not make the mistake deliberately or plagiarize, and comforted her.
At first some people
believed her and others did not, but then she was brought up upon charges
“brought before a court of investigation” and her beloved teacher “Miss
Sullivan was asked to leave” her (Ch. 14). She was terrified that this
would happen, because she relied on Anne Sullivan and had come to cherish her
company.
Fortunately, Anne
Sullivan was able to investigate the incident and figure out where Helen first
heard the original story, and soon the whole incident was forgotten.
Still, from then on, Helen notes that the “thought that what I wrote might not
be absolutely my own tormented” her (Ch. 15). From then on she was
absolutely careful about what she wrote. This was a fear that her teacher Anne
helped her with, but no one else knew about.
Helen was always
strong, and strong-willed. Able to overcome every challenge and every
fear, she went from facing scary thunderstorms and the sea to the perils of
writing and academics. Through all of this, she had her impenetrable will
and her steadfast teacher Anne Sullivan to help her face her fears and stay
successful.
11.A note on Helen Keller's education.
Helen Keller (1880 –
1968) was a great humanitarian who overcame the challenges of being blind and
deaf. Keller’s education began on March 3, 1887 when she met Anne Sullivan who
her parents hired to teach her. The relationship she formed with her teacher,
Anne Sullivan, continued for over 50 years. With the help of Sullivan, by the
time she was seven years old, Keller had learned to finger spell words and use
over 60 hands gestures to communicate her thoughts, ideas, wants and desires.
She also learned to read braille and print letters in a block style. She read
several classical works, such as the Bible, Shakespeare’s Lamb’s Tales,
Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, Charles Dickens’ A Child’s
History of England, Heidi by Johanna Spyri, and The Swiss
Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss. By the time she was nine years old,
she was speaking and reading lips.
Keller’s formal
education began in 1888, when she enrolled in the Perkins Institute for the
Blind, where she studied for four years. Some of the subjects she studied there
were arithmetic, geography and French. She attended the Wright-Humason School
for the Deaf in New York, and in 1896, she studied at The Cambridge School for
Young Ladies to prepare for matriculation at Radcliffe College. She graduated
from Radcliffe in 1904 and made history by becoming the first deaf blind person
to obtain a Bachelor of Arts degree and also graduate cum laude. While at
Radcliffe, her teacher, friend, and companion Anne Sullivan had interpreted
lectures and course materials for her.
Keller was a
lifelong learner and was a voracious reader of braille books. She also
continued learning about politics, philosophy, poetry, history, economics,
German, Latin, and French. Throughout her life, she received several honorary
degrees. She became the first to receive one from Harvard University. In
addition to Harvard, she received honorary degrees from Berlin, Delhi, India;
Berlin, Germany; Temple University, Witwatersrand and Johannesburg, South
Africa, and the Universities of Glasgow, Scotland.
12. In The Story of My Life by Helen Keller, what kind of "peculiar sympathy" did Miss Sullivan have with Helen's "pleasures and desires"?
In The Story of
My Life, Helen Keller's autobiography of the first twenty-two years of her
life, Helen reveals the special relationship she has with Annie Sullivan. Helen
remembers the day she met Annie as "the most important day in all my
life" (chapter 4) and she is well aware of Annie's contribution to her own
development to the point that "I scarcely think of myself apart from
her" (chapter 7).
Annie is only
partially sighted herself and has had her own difficult childhood which allows
her to understand Helen's many frustrations even though they are very distinct
from her own. She has far more than just sympathy for Helen and her refusal to
feel pity for her ensures that Helen is able to strive towards her potential,
even without realizing it. Annie knows the obstacles that already exist because
Helen cannot see and knows how important it is "to supply the kinds of
stimulus I lacked" (ch 6) because Helen's problems are confounded by her
inability to hear as well. Annie is only young and the Keller home is her first
job and although this means she lacks experience it also means that she can
relate to Helen like no-one else can, "as if she were a little girl
herself" (ch 7). Annie therefore ensures that Helen's lessons are relative
to her situation, and as Helen says, "everything that could hum, or buzz,
or sing, or bloom had a part in my education."
It is this unsaid
understanding or "peculiar sympathy" which Helen refers to in chapter
7 that allows Annie to help Helen achieve. Helen admits that, because of Annie,
she learns "from life itself." She cannot explain it herself but does
acknowledge Annie's "long association with the blind." She also
recognizes Annie's "wonderful faculty for description" and the fact
that she does not deliberate on previous day's lessons. Helen appreciates her
style and the way Annie "introduced dry technicalities of science little
by little," all of which ensure that Helen cannot "help remembering
what she taught."
13. Helen comes face to face with nature in its new white attire in Boston. How did the snow reveal its mysterious force to Helen in The Story of My Life?
Helen spends
every winter in the North during her childhood, and that is where she
experiences snow.
Helen is very
excited during her first big snowstorm, even though it is somewhat scary.
She describes a visit to a New England village in her childhood when she was
able to “enter into the treasures of the snow” (Ch. 12). This was
something that delighted her, though she could not see or hear it. She could
still experience it with the ways of communicating she had developed.
On the third day
after the beginning of the storm the snow ceased. The sun broke through the
clouds and shone upon a vast, undulating white plain. High mounds, pyramids
heaped in fantastic shapes, and impenetrable drifts lay scattered in every
direction. (Ch. 12)
This incident shows
that Helen Keller could still live a very full life, and enjoy new experiences,
even though she did not have all of her senses. See how vividly the visual
descriptions are included? They must have been described to her using her
signs. Then she wrote them for us.
Even if you cannot
see and hear, there are plenty of senses left in a snowstorm. You can
still feel the cool wind on your face (she says, "air stung my cheeks
like fire"), and taste the icy snow, smell the pines in the air, and feel
the crunch under your feet. I imagine that between the descriptions and
these other senses, she was able to imagine the rest.
Our favourite
amusement during that winter was tobogganing. In places the shore of the lake
rises abruptly from the water's edge. Down these steep slopes we used to
coast. We would get on our toboggan, a boy would give us a shove, and off
we went! (Ch. 12)
A snowstorm is like
sensory overload. I think this is probably why little Helen liked it so
much. Even though she did not have use of two of the main senses that we
have come to rely on to experience the world, she could use the others much
more during this time. Most little kids love playing in the winter snow,
but when you live in the dark, everything takes on that much more meaning.
14. Why does Keller say that "many of the joys and sorrows of childhood have lost their poignancy" in The Story of My Life?
Keller means
that as you get older, memories are not as strong because more time has passed.
At the beginning of
her autobiography, Keller describes the difficulty of writing about her early
life. Sometimes some memories are distant, and others are forgotten or
misremembered.
When I try to
classify my earliest impressions, I find that fact and fancy look alike across
the years that link the past with the present. The woman paints the child's
experiences in her own fantasy. (Ch. 1)
Keller says that in
order to avoid making her biography “tedious” she will focus on the episodes
that stand out to her as the most “interesting and important (Ch. 1). The
point is that some people’s lives are more interesting than others, but not all
parts of even the most interesting person’s life are interesting.
Helen Keller led an
interesting life. When she was a toddler, she became very ill, and lost
her sight and hearing. Yet she was so intelligent that she managed to
learn to read and write with the help of her teacher, Anne Sullivan.
Keller shares the pivotal movements that shaped her childhood in her
biography. She describes her life from when she was born until the time
of writing, as an adult.
The book begins by
describing her home and parents, then describes her early childhood and
teacher, and then her education. Despite what Keller comments about
memory being faulty, her descriptions of even early childhood are very
specific. She can describe how she felt, even as a child. Consider
this description of her child self struggling with not being able to
communicate before she was brought a teacher and only new a few signs.
The few signs I used
became less and less adequate, and my failures to make myself understood were
invariably followed by outbursts of passion. … I struggled–not that struggling
helped matters, but the spirit of resistance was strong within me… (Ch. 3)
Keller’s strength as
a writer is her ability to help the reader imagine events, because she can
describe them in such vivid detail and include the emotional component.
She always describes not just what happened, but how she felt about what
happened.
15. Describe Christmas before and after Miss Sullivan came in The Story of My Life.
In The Story of
My Life, Helen Keller recounts her life before and after "the most
important day in all my life" (chapter 4), that being the day Annie
Sullivan arrives. The book is an autobiographical account of Helen's first
twenty-two years in which Helen attempts to provide inspiration to those who
find life's struggles almost unbearable. Before Annie's arrival, and despite
her frustrations, Helen describes Christmases as "a delight." It is
the "smells... and tidbits" (chapter 2) that Helen enjoys the most
rather than the actual event itself and Helen admits that she is never inspired
to rise particularly early in the morning to receive presents.
Helen's life changes
dramatically after Anne Sullivan's arrival and in chapter 8, Helen talks about
the family's first Christmas with Miss Sullivan. Having learnt
"language," Helen can now enjoy the subtleties and "mystery"
of Christmas. Now it is Helen who lies awake at night and who wakes the family
early in the morning on Christmas morning and who delights in the discovery of
presents everywhere. It is the canary that Annie gives her that makes her
"cup of happiness overflow." Therefore, even though Helen loved
Christmas before she learnt to communicate effectively, how different
Christmases are after she "learnt from life itself" (chapter 7).
16. Helen's intelligence and talent serve her well as revealed in The Story of My Life. In what ways do Helen's intelligence and talent cause her frustration and rage?
Helen Keller
recounts the first twenty-two years of her life in The Story of My
Life. She intends for the autobiographical book to serve as an
inspiration to others and therefore, although often described as poetic and
told purely from her perspective, it is honest and includes many of those
instances of which Helen is not proud but all of which contribute to her
development and ability to motivate others.
Just as Helen's
intelligence and talent allow her to gain an understanding of her surroundings
and to thrive, they also mean that she is more easily frustrated. She has an
awareness that she cannot communicate effectively but no amount of intelligence
and hard work seem to make any difference. In chapter 2, Helen talks about when
she is a small child and takes refuge in the garden because she cannot express
herself. She also refers to her awareness that her mother and her mother's
friends do not use signs like she has to. She "moved my lips and
gesticulated frantically without result" and this is extremely frustrating
for her. On another occasion, Helen refers to her father's "secret"
and she mimics his actions as he reads a newspaper, "even wearing his
spectacles, thinking they might help solve the mystery" but it only adds
to her confusion. It is the fact that she knows that she is
"different" which contributes to her bouts of rage as she cannot
accept it.
In chapter 3, Helen
talks about how "inadequate" her forms of communication are to the
point of having temper tantrums "sometimes hourly." This is one of
the motivations that drive her parents to seek help and Annie Sullivan's
arrival and ability to connect with Helen contribute to her soul's "sudden
awakening" (chapter 5). Helen loves all her opportunities to learn and it
is her natural ability which allows her to "learn from life itself"
(ch 7). However, she admits that arithmetic is something she is not able to
master to her own satisfaction as she sets her expectations high- another
reason why her intelligence causes her frustrations.
17. Describe Helen's sailing experience in The Story of My Life by Helen Keller.
Helen Keller, in her
autobiography, The Story of My Life, recounts many of the experiences she had
up to the age off 22 when she wrote The Story of My Life as a means to
inspire others to rise to challenges that otherwise can become a "nameless
fear." (ch 5) Helen learns to appreciate everything and "learns from
life itself." Amongst her many pleasurable activities, including reading
and "outdoor pursuits," is sailing.
Helen has been to
the ocean before but on her trip to Nova Scotia, she is able to experience the
ocean in a completely different way through sailing to various places such as
Bedford Basin, McNabb's Island and other fascinating places and relishing
thoughts of past events and men-of-war who would have sailed the same waters.
Helen recalls one "thrilling experience" in particular when she goes
to "watch" races between the boats from some of the warships when the
water is calm but, on the way back to shore the wind rises and a black cloud
threatens. She is in a boat on the sea, the best vantage point to be a part of
the excitement. Helen is not afraid and her "hands trembled with
excitement" as she has complete confidence in the "skipper" who
receives applause from the large boats for his bravery in facing the stormy
weather. Despite being tired and hungry, Helen returns satisfied from her
experience.
18. Give a brief character sketch of Helen Keller, Annie Sullivan, Alexander Graham Bell and Mr. Anagnos in The Story of My Life by Helen Keller.
Helen Keller is the
main character in The Story of My Life which is a personal
account of Helen's young life after she has a debilitating illness as a baby
and is rendered blind and deaf. Annie Sullivan, Alexander Graham Bell and
Mr Anagnos all change Helen's life dramatically and it is her first meeting
with Dr. Bell which starts the process of her education and her fulfillment. In
chapter III, Helen reflects how "that interview would be the door through
which I should pass from darkness into light."
Helen is a very
expressive person and once she learns how to communicate, she is tireless in
her efforts to learn as much as she can. She is intuitive and very demanding of
others but she finds joy in the simplest things and shows appreciation through
her acceptance and remarkable development. She is trusting and loving. Her high
expectations do result in disappointments and one of her greatest regrets is
after she unwittingly plagiarizes The Frost Fairies by Miss
Margaret T. Canby which affects her confidence and belief in herself and
after which her relationship with the beloved Mr Anagnos is irreparably
damaged.
Dr. Alexander Graham
Bell is compassionate and kindhearted and an incredibly gifted inventor (as
history will confirm). Helen dedicated The Story of My Life to him. He
has a special relationship with children, especially the deaf, and his methods
ensure that children are motivated and enthusiastic to learn. He is funny and
immediately connects with Helen. He recommends The Perkins' Institute to the
family which will begin Helen's long and extremely demanding path to learning.
Annie comes from The
Perkins' Institute for the Blind where she learnt to manage and overcome her
own difficulties and is the person whom Helen recognizes as most significant in
her education. Annie makes Helen "think" and the day she arrives is
"the most important day I remember in all my life," such is the impact
which Annie has on Helen's success. Annie is patient, determined and even
stubborn, and it is her resolve which ensures that Helen is given time to adapt
and to learn "language." Annie is visually impaired herself and,
despite her young age and her complete lack of experience, she is dedicated and
wise. She takes every opportunity to teach Helen, whether it be during lessons
or out in the environment where she ensures that Helen has every opportunity to
explore, discover and overcome her fears. She will become Helen's constant
companion to the point that Helen feels that "the footsteps of my life are
in hers."
Dr Anagnos is the
director of The Perkins' Institute for the Blind and he understands potential,
encouraging Annie as her mentor when she is uncertain whether she is ready to
teach at the Keller's home. He recognizes Helen's enormous capacity for
learning and becomes a dear friend to her. Unfortunately, although he claims to
believe Helen, he is unable to shake the feeling that she may have deceived him
in writing her version of Canby's story and he never regains his
unquestionable faith in her to the point of his attitude being "hostile
and menacing" (ch XIV). However, his contribution to Helen's amazing
success and to the lives of many blind children with whom Helen comes into
contact is indisputable.
