How was helen persuaded to write the story of her life at the age of twelve after her bad experience with 'The Frost King'?
Answers
In 1892, Helen's tender heart was broken and she had to face extreme humiliation. Miss Sullivan had described the beauty of nature to Helen and it stirred up some memories. Helen eagerly wrote a story, as the images and words streamed through her finger-ends. Helen had no thought of authorship or borrowed thoughts. The story impressed everyone and Helen named it “The Frost King” . She dispached it to Mr.Anagnos, who got it published in Perkins Institution reports. It was discovered that a similar story , much alike in thought and language, had appeared in a book called “Birdie and his Friends” written by Miss Margaret Canby. Helen could not remember this story , being read out to her , and Mr. Anagnos was deeply troubled and felt cheated . he believed that Miss Sullivan and Helen had stolen the story to impress him.
Helen was asked to appear before a court of investigation composed of teachers and officers of the Institution. Helen was so discouraged that she could not answer their questions properly. When Helen left the room, she was dazed and totally shattered.
later Helen tried to investigate the matter with the help of Dr. Graham Bell and she felt that ay be Mrs. Hopkins could have read the story to her, when Helen was on vacation. Nevertheless, Helen was scarred for life. Whenever she would write something, she would grow doubtful if the words belongs to someone else. Writing became a Chinese puzzle to her. This debacle matured Helen for the future, She became more wary. Her greatest regret was that she had lost her friend, Mr Anagnos forever.