Characters of the book The Story of my Life
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Helen Keller: What Constitutes Character
Helen Keller was born on June 27, 1880. It is well known that she was blind and deaf, but not as well known that Helen had been a normal, healthy, active toddler until she was nineteen months old. It is now speculated that despite her rudimentary diagnosis of “acute congestion of the stomach and brain” that the child most likely had either contracted meningitis or scarlet fever. The illness robbed Helen not only of her sight and hearing, but also of her ability to acquire language.
Helen stayed in her isolated world of darkness and disorientation until she was six years old. Fortunately, her parents were well-to-do and her mother driven to find help. Kate Adams Keller, Helen’s mother, was not only educated but a tireless advocate (a fact that the famous film The Miracle Worker does not convey at all). Upon reading an essay about the education of another blind and deaf woman in Charles Dickens‘ American Notes, Kate researched the best specialists on the Eastern seaboard. She then sent her husband with Helen to Baltimore to visit Dr. Julian Chisholm, who put the Kellers in touch with Alexander Graham Bell. Bell recommended that the family seek help from the Perkins School for the Blind.
Anne Sullivan, herself visually impaired and only twenty years old, was selected to be Helen’s teacher. It was no easy task to pull the frightened and stubborn Helen out of the darkness. Sullivan spelled words into Helen’s palm until finally the child understood and her world opened wide.
Helen Keller was born on June 27, 1880. It is well known that she was blind and deaf, but not as well known that Helen had been a normal, healthy, active toddler until she was nineteen months old. It is now speculated that despite her rudimentary diagnosis of “acute congestion of the stomach and brain” that the child most likely had either contracted meningitis or scarlet fever. The illness robbed Helen not only of her sight and hearing, but also of her ability to acquire language.
Helen stayed in her isolated world of darkness and disorientation until she was six years old. Fortunately, her parents were well-to-do and her mother driven to find help. Kate Adams Keller, Helen’s mother, was not only educated but a tireless advocate (a fact that the famous film The Miracle Worker does not convey at all). Upon reading an essay about the education of another blind and deaf woman in Charles Dickens‘ American Notes, Kate researched the best specialists on the Eastern seaboard. She then sent her husband with Helen to Baltimore to visit Dr. Julian Chisholm, who put the Kellers in touch with Alexander Graham Bell. Bell recommended that the family seek help from the Perkins School for the Blind.
Anne Sullivan, herself visually impaired and only twenty years old, was selected to be Helen’s teacher. It was no easy task to pull the frightened and stubborn Helen out of the darkness. Sullivan spelled words into Helen’s palm until finally the child understood and her world opened wide.
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