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 Bell and Mark Twain. Helen was a difficult spoiled child, when she would scream and throw temper tantrums, which often led her relatives to call her a “monster” and say Helen was “mentally defective” and it was hard for her family to look after her at times. When Helen was six years old, her mother read Charles Dickens’ “American Notes”, which included the work that had been done with another deaf and blind child. It intrigued Helen’s mother that the deaf-blind woman was successfully educated, which she had thought would be impossible. However, even though she was spoiled as a child by her mother and father, when Helen fell in love at the age of 36 to a man name Peter Fagan, her mother, her mentor Anne, her family and her friends disapproved of Helen’s behavior and romance to Peter, and eventually the romance ended for Helen. When Helen was six years old, her parents at the time took Helen to Baltimore to see Dr. Chisholm for treatment with no avail. However, Dr. Chisholm advised Helen’s parents to see Dr. Alexander Graham Bell in Washington for information for any schools for the hearing and deaf children; which lead to writing a letter to Mr. Anagnos, the director of the Perkins Intuition, who in turned said there is a teacher for Helen, who was later revealed to be Anne Sullivan. Although no preventative or medical treatment could help Helen, she could learn to express herself through sign language. Later on Helen went to see Miss Sarah Fuller, to learn how to articulate words and restore her speech. When Helen and her teacher Anne Sullivan returned to Tuscumbia, Alabama, her families were overjoyed at the progress of Helen’s speech The book taught me how strong Helen Keller’s perseverance was. Even though she was both blind and deaf, she eventually learned to use sign language and overcame the obstacles of not being able to communicate and eventually she learned to read and go to college and was the first deaf and blind person to earn a college degree. She became an author, a political activist, and an advocate for people with disabilities.
However, as successful as she was in her Helen Keller: A Life book, when Helen was 36 years old, she also fell in love once with 29 year old, Peter Fagan, a reporter who was sent to Helen's home to act as her private secretary when Anne Sullivan, fell ill. The couple took out a marriage license, intending a secret wedding. However, a Boston reporter found out about the license, and his article on the romance horrified Mrs. Keller, who ordered Mr. Fagan out of the house and broke up the love affair. It was frowned upon in 1916 that society did not deem it appropriate for someone in her condition to marry nor even have such romantic feelings. I learned that the family views then is nothing like it is now. However, the way that society and her family deemed it inappropriate because of her “condition,” does not seem appropriate to say. Just because she was deaf-blind does not mean she was not mentally aware of her surroundings. I have a brother who is hearing and speech impaired; but my family does not stop him from having romantic feelings for another human being, if he should have feelings for the opposite sex. In the end, even till her death she died alone and unmarried, but successful.