Question

Draw up a character sketch of Helen as a little girl before she started her education in a formed way.

Answer 1

Major Themes

Author and the Book

About the Author:


Helen Adams Keller, born on June 27, 1880, in Alabama, was an American author, political activist and lecturer. She was the first deaf-blind person to receive a Bachelors of Arts degree. Her physical disabilities were the results of an illness, most likely scarlet fever or meningitis, at the young age of nineteen months. Despite her illness, Helen showed keen concern for communication with others and for overcoming her physical disabilities. Her teacher, Anne Sullivan taught her for many years to prepare her to face the outside world.

In 1903, at the age of twenty two, Helen wrote her autobiography The Story of my Lifewith the help of her teacher Ann Sullivan and Ann’s husband John Macy. The book uncovers the inspirational journey of Helen from her childhood through her adolescence; the struggle to gain education; and her experience in college. Helen enjoyed the companionship of many famous literary geniuses of her age, including Dr. Alexander Graham Bell and Mark Twain. Helen Keller and Mark Twain are often regarded as the ‘radicals’ of the twentieth century. Helen spent most of her life raising funds for the blind and her social work was rewarded by several honours awarded to her by the President of the United States. She died in her sleep on June 1, 1968, at her home in Connecticut. Her ashes were buried next to her beloved teachers’, Anne Sullivan and Polly Thompson.