..." (Keller) Helen Keller was able to learn and graduate college with honors even though she was blind and deaf. Helen Keller is on of the world's most inspiring readers because she popularized Braile ,and she was instrumental in the fight for the rights of the handicapped. Helen Keller had an emotional childhood. When Keller was 19 months old, Keller contracted scarlet fever (4). Keller almost died. The fever subsided, and her family was shocked to learn Keller was now blind and deaf. Keller was born on June 27,1880. Keller often got frustrated with her inability to see and hear, and lashed out at whoever was with her. Keller wanted more than anything to...
Words: 913 - Pages: 4
...Helen Keller may be the world's most famous ‘supercrip’. Very few people can claim to have "overcome" disability so thoroughly and spectacularly. A blind and deaf wild child at the age of 7, she became, by the time she published The Story of My Life at 22, one of Radcliffe's most successful and polished students, fluent in Latin, Greek, German, French and (not least) English--not to mention three versions of Braille (English, American, New York Point) and the manual alphabet in which her renowned teacher Anne Sullivan first communicated with her. But let me dispense with the scare quotes for a moment. Helen Keller is famous--and justly so--precisely because she did, in many respects, overcome the physical impairments of deafness and blindness, as well as the formidable social obstacles facing people with disabilities at the end of the nineteenth century. Her story retains its power to startle and inspire even now, just as Anne Sullivan's story remains among the most startling and inspiring tales in the history of pedagogy. Keller's story is also a member of the genre of disability autobiographies in which the writing of one's life story takes on the characteristics of what the philosopher J.L. Austin called "performative" utterances: The primary function of The Story of My Life, in this sense, is to let readers know that its author is capable of telling the story of her life. The point is hardly a trivial one. Helen Keller was dogged nearly all her life by the charge that she...
Words: 1765 - Pages: 8
...Helen Keller's Family Helen Adams Keller was born a healthy child in Tuscumbia, Alabama, on June 27, 1880. On her father's side she was descended from Colonel Alexander Spottswood, a colonial governor of Virginia, and on her mother's side, she was related to a number of prominent New England families. Helen's father, Arthur Keller, was a captain in the Confederate army. The family lost most of its wealth during the Civil War and lived modestly. After the war, Captain Keller edited a local newspaper, the North Alabamian, and in 1885, under the Cleveland administration, he was appointed Marshal of North Alabama. When Helen Keller Met Anne Sullivan At the age of 19 months, Helen became deaf and blind as a result of an unknown illness, perhaps rubella or scarlet fever. As Helen grew from infancy into childhood, she became wild and unruly. As she so often remarked as an adult, her life changed on March 3, 1887. On that day, Anne Mansfield Sullivan came to Tuscumbia to be her teacher. Anne was a 20-year-old graduate of the Perkins School for the Blind. Compared with Helen, Anne couldn't have had a more different childhood and upbringing. The daughter of poor Irish immigrants, she entered Perkins at 14 years of age after four horrific years as a ward of the state at the Tewksbury Almshouse in Massachusetts. She was just 14 years older than her pupil Helen, and she too suffered from serious vision problems. Anne underwent many botched operations at a young age before...
Words: 2031 - Pages: 9
...Summary of Helen Keller: The Story of My Life For my personal choice book I have chosen Helen Keller: The Story of My Life, by James Berger. I chose this book because it was very interesting to read about how her education developed throughout her life. It was also fascinating to know how she learned to understand what people were saying because she wrote how sometimes she would place her fingers on their lips and would discover what they were saying from the movements of their lips. At other times people would spell into her hand what they were saying. This book was about the first 22 years of her life. When she was 18 months old she suffered from Scarlet Fever, which left her blind and deaf. Her articulate speech was gone as well. With these disabilities she also had problems with relationships. She never had children or got married. Her greatest confidant was her teacher, Anne Sullivan. She learned to talk passably and dance. Once she opened her mind she became a happy participant of the world. She graduated from Radcliffe University. She became an artful writer and a crusading humanitarian. She also revolutionized the educational techniques and methods of teaching for the blind and deaf. The Main Characters Main Problem and How She Goes about Solving it. The main character in the book Helen Keller: The Story of My Life is Helen Keller. Helen Keller’s main problem was that she was battling with two disabilities in life. She was both deaf and blind from an illness she...
Words: 538 - Pages: 3
...Summary of Helen Keller: The Story of My Life For my personal choice book I have chosen Helen Keller: The Story of My Life, by James Berger. I chose this book because it was very interesting to read about how her education developed throughout her life. It was also fascinating to know how she learned to understand what people were saying because she wrote how sometimes she would place her fingers on their lips and would discover what they were saying from the movements of their lips. At other times people would spell into her hand what they were saying. This book was about the first 22 years of her life. When she was 18 months old she suffered from Scarlet Fever, which left her blind and deaf. Her articulate speech was gone as well. With these disabilities she also had problems with relationships. She never had children or got married. Her greatest confidant was her teacher, Anne Sullivan. She learned to talk passably and dance. Once she opened her mind she became a happy participant of the world. She graduated from Radcliffe University. She became an artful writer and a crusading humanitarian. She also revolutionized the educational techniques and methods of teaching for the blind and deaf. The Main Characters Main Problem and How She Goes about Solving it. The main character in the book Helen Keller: The Story of My Life is Helen Keller. Helen Keller’s main problem was that she was battling with two disabilities in life. She was both deaf and blind from an illness she...
Words: 348 - Pages: 2
...Helen Keller, a well known blind and deaf American Author, once said, “True friends are never apart. Maybe in distance, but never in heart.” The realism of this quote is shown throughout the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. John Steinbeck wrote this novella during The Great Depression, a time of great despair and economic decline, where citizens would migrate everywhere to get a job and that is exactly what the main characters, George and Lennie, do in Of Mice and Men. While George and Lennie were staying at the ranch, they met a series of new people, most of them coming in pairs. The character pairs in Of Mice and Men where the readers can see Helen Keller’s wise wisdom ring true is through George and Lennie, Candy and his dog,...
Words: 773 - Pages: 4
...graduated Radcliffe at age 24 in 1904 and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree. She was the first blind, deaf, and mute person to get that degree.http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100124132526AAe3nwd Helen Keller was born on June 27th, 1880, in a small town in Alabama. What makes her extra ordinary is the fact that at the age of 19th months she suffered from something that may have been scarlet fever. The illness left her blind and deaf. Keller did not let this make her give up on opportunities that most children and women have had. She was the first blind-deaf women to graduate from college. She attended Radcliffe College and graduated in 1904. Upon her college graduation Keller devoted her life to writing and public speaking. She wanted to serve as an inspiration to women. She fought for those with disabilities, she supported birth control, and she supported women’s suffrage. President Lyndon B. Johnson even awarded her the President Medal of Freedom for all achievements and for making a difference in the lives of others. At the age of 87, on June 1st, 1968 Helen Keller. In her long life of 87 years, I truly believe Helen Keller touched the lives of many people and I think her legacy still does today. Although she wrote and was an activist for many causes. Her own life story and her persistent struggle, and the fact that she refused to give up, and overcame all obstacles are what make her so accomplished. Overcoming her disability was her greatest accomplishment. The...
Words: 829 - Pages: 4
...Being placed in new situations can be challenging for anyone. Depending on how new the situation is, change may require difficult habituation and the overcoming of hardships. “All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming.” (Keller, 1960) The autobiography The Story of my Life by Helen Keller and the novel The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri reflect this quotation. The life experiences of non-fiction character, Helen Keller, greatly reflect those of fictional character, Ashima Ganguli. Both of these women and their families are faced with the similar challenges of adaptation, overcoming adversity and forming a positive sense of identity throughout their lives. These challenges are overcome using literature and the consistent,...
Words: 2779 - Pages: 12
...Story of my Life by Helen Keller The Story of My Life by Helen Keller is an autobiography of Helen, a girl who was born without any abnormalities until the age of 19 months that she came down with a fever. Leading to an acute congestion of the stomach and the brain, the doctor said she might not recover, although she did survive it lead to her being blind and deaf as a result. Helen’s autobiography talks about her childhood when she met Anne Sullivan, to learning to use sign language, to being able to learn to read on her own, which led her to write her first short story titled "The Frost King,” to Mr. Anagnos, but was sad at the fact it was plagiarized and was found similar to, "The Frost Fairies" by Miss Margaret T. Canby, in a book called "Birdie and His Friends,” and how it affected her friendship with Mr. Anagnos had ended because no one believed that she did not intend to plagiarize the story. She also talks about her visit to Boston, to the Perkins Institute, and seeing other children who are blind and chat with them, "what joy to talk with other children in my own language" (Ch9). Helen also talks about going to Radcliffe College for the first time and overcoming obstacles with her teacher, Anne Sullivan; for example, when she could not get her books published in Braille in time and it was a difficult learning process but Anne had some difficulty signing into Helen’s hand. She talks about Anne and her new acquired friendships such as with Mr. Anagnos, Alexander Graham...
Words: 851 - Pages: 4
...Helen Keller Helen was a girl with lots of smarts locked up in side of here, but she has no way to communicate them. Helen is one of the most influential people who ever walked the face of the earth. She persevered through hard ships you could never imagine, like being not just blind but also being deaf. She was born on June 27th, 1880 to Arthur and Kate Keller she was perfectly normal child. Until she was three years old, then all of that changed. She caught scarlet fever and barley escaped with her life, but lost sight and hearing in the process. But her story didn’t stop there. Growing nobody knew what to do with her; she was messy, undisciplined, and just plain spoiled. Everybody felt pity on her, and did nothing to try to correct the issue....
Words: 714 - Pages: 3
...chosen Helen Keller: The Story of My Life. I chose this book because it was very interesting to read about how her education developed throughout her life. It was also fascinating to know how she learned to understand what people were saying because she wrote how sometimes she would place her fingers on their lips and would discover what they were saying from the movements of their lips. At other times people would spell into her hand what they were saying. I also found it inspiring the way her friends helped her in her life, and not be quarrelsome to her just because she is different. In her story she mentioned how her teacher, who is also her friend, Miss Sullivan, helped her overcome her difficulties. She helped her by introducing Keller to a new sense to feel and make a conscious picture of what it would actually look like if she was not blind, and she described this sense as a soul- sense. My favorite part of this book was when Helen Keller wrote a story called ‘The Frost King’ and it was published in one of the Perkins Institution records. Then soon after it was published someone informed her that there was a woman named Margaret T. Canby who wrote a story long before Helen Keller was born called ‘The Frost Fairies’ that was similar to her story. After that 12-year-old Helen Keller was taken to court after being accused of her story being a plagiarism by Michael Anagnos. Mr. Anagnos was the director of the Perkins Institute for the Blind, and was a good friend of Helen Keller...
Words: 695 - Pages: 3
...Helen Keller: An Extraordinary Woman The name Helen Keller is known around the world as a symbol of courage in the face of overwhelming odds, yet she was much more than a symbol. She was a woman of luminous intelligence, high ambition, and great accomplishment. She was a woman to stand up for her believes in and would challenge anyone who would stand in her way. She had an ability to demand and captivate her audience. She was outspoken in her principles, and she inspired change in the way people with visual impairment were treated. She pushed revolutionary changes in the law that would allow people with disabilities to have jobs and an education. I am inspired by Helen Keller because she was a person with so many challenges at such a young age. Yet she was able to overcome them and change some many things in our country, but she didn’t stop just in our country. She went overseas where some people also had no way to speak their opinions and needs. Even with her disabilities she never wanted pity. She asked for sympathy and understanding. Helen was an extraordinary woman. When Helen was nineteen months old, she contacted a virus with a high fever and that was what caused her to deaf and blind. Unfortunately, being that young, what memory traces were left became impossible to say. In 1887, unknowing to Helen, someone was going to change her unruly behavior, that’s when Anne Sullivan became her teacher (Keller 15). One day when Helen and Ms. Sullivan were getting...
Words: 1538 - Pages: 7
...“Everyone’s identity develops over time with the life changes they choose or have forced upon them.” This is evident through the characters of Paul Crabbe and Charlie Kelmeckis in Peter Goldsworthy’s 1989 novel ‘Maestro’ and the 2012 film ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ written and directed by Stephen Chbosky. Paul is the narrator and protagonist of Maestro while Charlie is the narrator and protagonist of Perks. Both the book and the novel are written as memoir, or in Charlie’s case letters, and focus on the protagonist’s transition from youth to adulthood. The Identity of Paul is constantly developing throughout the novel, as new experiences unfold throughout his life. One example of this is the death of Keller and Paul’s responsibility for it. Paul feels responsible for Keller’s death due to his insensitivity towards Keller’s fondness for him. This is proven through...
Words: 882 - Pages: 4
...and racial discrimination would have continued. In 2008, the first African-American man, Barack Obama, was elected into the presidential office. In the upcoming election, a woman, Hilary Clinton will run for the presidential office. These major events in history would have never been possible without the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I think the most interesting person is my timeline is Anne Sullivan and how she became known as “the miracle worker”. Anne Sullivan had vision problems of her own and she began to work with Helen Keller when Helen was just 7 years old. Anne Sullivan had to work hard to figure out a way to communicate with Keller. Anne Sullivan successfully began a hand system where Sullivan was able to teach Keller vocabulary words, multiplication, and the Braille system within six months of her arrival. After a few years of working together, they began to work on Helen Keller’s speech and although...
Words: 807 - Pages: 4
...GROUP II ROLE: MRS. KELLER - ___________________________ MR. KELLER - _________________________ DOCTOR - ___________________________ DIRECTOR ANAGNOS - ___________________________ ANNE SULLIVAN - ___________________________ HELEN KELLER - ________________________ SCRIPT: On June 27, 1880, a girl named Helen Adams Keller, a very well-knowned writer, was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, in a white, frame cottage called “Ivy Green.” Her parents were captain Arthur Henley Keller and Kate Adams Keller. (Helen is two years old. Mrs. Keller enters the bedroom) MRS. KELLER: Helen, wake up, sweety!. It’s a beautiful day!. (she tries to wake her up, but Helen doesn’t open her eyes. Mrs. Keller touches Helen’s forehead) MRS. KELLER: Helen, what’s wrong?. Wake up!. Oh, no you have a high temperature!. (Mr. Keller enters the bedroom) MR. KELLER: What’s wrong?. Why are you yelling?. MRS. KELLER: It’s Helen, she’s burning!. MR. KELLER: Again?. MRS. KELLER: I thought she was better, but the temperature is back. MR. KELLER: I think we have waited too long. I’ll send someone for the doctor. (Mr. Keller leaves. A few minutes later he comes back with the doctor. The doctor approaches Helen and starts to examine her. Mrs. Keller and Mr. Keller look worried) MRS. KELLER: What’s wrong with her, doctor?. DOCTOR: First tell me, how much time did you wait before calling me?. MRS. KELLER: Well, I noticed that she was sick about two or three weeks ago, but the temperature disappeared, that’s...
Words: 1444 - Pages: 6
