English, asked by kpgopilalowbs0d, 1 year ago

what memories did Helen relish

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Answered by Anonymous
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Summary

Writing this autobiography at the age of 21, Helen begins by acknowledging her hesitation with doing so, concerned that she has forgotten much of the poignancy of certain moments in her childhood, and afraid that her experiences in the present would distort her memories of the past. Sheinforms readers that she will recount only the episodes of her childhoodthat are quite clear and strong in her memory.

Helen Keller was born on June 27, 1880 in a small town called Tuscumbia, Alabama. She lived on theKeller homestead, specifically in a tiny cottage built on the property at the very beginning of her life. She remembers the plants, vines, and flowers that surrounded her very clearly, and their smell remained with her even after she lost her hearing and sight. She lived only alittle more than a year of life before the illness came that made her blind and deaf, and it was so terrible that the doctors believed she would die. She was stricken so young the she does not remember the world before it went dark, but she thinks fondly of the way her teacher came to bring her world back to life again.

In the immediate aftermath of her illness, Helen communicated withcrude signs and body language. Sometimes it made young Helen angry that she could not understand anyone, and she had fits of temper. Her two closest companions during this time were Martha Washington, the young black child of the Kellers' cook, and Belle, their dog. Martha could understand Helen's signs, and they had fun together cooking and baking in the kitchen and playing in the yard.

The family moved to a larger house when Helen was five; she takes a moment to remark on her father's devotion to his family and his work editing a newspaper. He was a great storyteller, and after Helen learned language he would spell stories into her hand. The day she found out he had died of acute illness, in the summer of 1896, was her first great sorrow. She does not speak as much about her mother, who she says is "so near to [her] that it almost seems indelicate to speak of her"(pg. 9). She reveals that for a long time she regarded her little sister Mildred as an intruder on her mother's love, and was particularly angry when she found her baby sister sleeping in her favorite doll, Nancy's, cradle. Eventually the two sisters grew to be companions, though Mildred could never understand Helen's finger language.
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