1.Why did Helen make frantic efforts to free herself? Why were her parents
perplexed? What served as a ray of hope to Helen’s mother?
Helen made frantic efforts to communicate, which became very difficult
as she felt her signs for communicating become less and less adequate.
As she grew older, the need for expressing her emotions and
communicating with others became stronger. Her numerous attempts to
do so failed and she grew frustrated. She expressed that frustration in
physical outbursts and these happened frequently. This made her parents
worried and anxious. They knew that something had to be done to keep
her occupied. They thought of her education but they lived in Tuscumbia
which was far away from all the schools for the deaf and the blind. Helen’s
mother’s only hope was Dicken’s ‘American Notes’ in which she had read
about Laura Bridgman, a deaf and blind person who had been educated.
2. The narrator thoroughly enjoyed the train journey to Baltimore. Elucidate.
The narrator made friends with the fellow passengers. One lady gave her a
box of shells. Her father made holes in those shells so that she could string
them and for long time they kept her happy and contented. The conductor
on the train was also very kind and friendly. She clung to his coat tails as
he went on his rounds. He also allowed her to play with his punch. Helen
curled herself on a seat and amused herself punching holes in bits of
cardboard. During the whole trip she did not have any fit of temper as
there were so many things that kept her mind and fingers busy.
3. Though the narrator could not see she could feel the imperfections in the
doll made for her by her aunt. Describe how the narrator described the
doll, its defects and how she corrected them. What does this show about
her character?
The narrator was given a big doll by her aunt and it was made out of
towels. It was the most comical shapeless thing; it had no nose, mouth,
ears or eyes-nothing that even the imagination of a child could convert
into a face. Curiously enough the absence of eyes struck her more than all
the defects put together. She pointed that out to everybody persistently
but no one seemed equal to the task of providing the doll with eyes. She
had a bright idea and the problem was solved. She tumbled off the seat
and searched under it until she found her aunt’s cap which was trimmed
with large beads. She pulled off two beads and indicated to her aunt that
she wanted them sewn on her doll. Her aunt raised her hand to her eyes in
a questioning way and the narrator nodded energetically. The beads were
sewn in the right place and the narrator could not contain her joy. This
showed how she felt about the lack of eyes or sight whether in objects or in
human beings. She felt that the doll was incomplete if it had no eyes.
Moreover it also showed how persistent and determined she was to restore
the eyes to the doll in order to give it a semblance of sight. She also felt
that the absence of eyes was the biggest of all defects put together.
4. When did Anne Sullivan, the teacher come to teach Helen? What did
Anne begin to do as soon as she arrived at Helen’s home?
Miss Anne Sullivan came to Helen’s home on March 3, 1887. It was the
most important day of Helen Keller’s life.
Miss Sullivan began to teach Helen to fingerspell using the manual
Alphabet. At the time of Sullivan’s arrival, Helen was sunk in deep thoughts.
She felt trapped in a never-to-abate darkness and her soul kept screaming
for Light. The moment she was embraced by Miss Sullivan she felt the light
of love shining on her.
Miss Sullivan gave her a doll and slowly spelled into her hand the word ‘d- o-l-l’ After Helen imitated these letters she learned from Miss Sullivan how
to spell a great many words on her hand
5. Describe the nature of the narrator before Miss Sullivan came into her life.
What changes took place in her nature after she spent a few days with
Miss Sullivan?
Before Miss Sullivan entered the narrator’s life the narrator was in a state of
despair because she did not know what the future held for her. Anger and
bitterness had preyed upon her continually for weeks. She felt like she was
ship stuck in a fog, trying to find its way to the shore; the ship was without a
compass or sounding-line and had no way to knowing how near the
harbour was. Her soul cried for light wordlessly.
After she spent a few days with Miss Sullivan, she learned to spell in an
uncomprehending ways a great many words and a few verbs like: sit,
stand and walk. After several weeks she understood that everything had a
name. The word ‘water’ awakened her soul, gave it light, hope, joy and set
it free. She now knew that everything with the strange, new sight that had
come to her. She remembered many words like mother, father, sister,
teacher that had come to her. She said that it would have been difficult to
find a happier child than she was as she lay in her crib and lived over the
joys that had brought her and for the first time she longed for a new day to
come.
6. What incident led the narrator to dash her doll to the floor that resulted in
its breaking up into pieces? What were her feelings then?
One day, while the narrator was playing with her new doll, Miss Sullivan put
her big doll into her lap, spelled‘d-o-l-l‘ and tired to make her understand
that ‘d-o-l-l’ applied to both. Earlier in that day she had a tussle over the
words ‘m-u-g’ and ‘w-a-t-e-r’. Miss Sullivan tired to impress upon her that
‘m-u-g’ is mug and ‘w-a-t-e-r’ is water but she persisted in confounding
the two. In despair, Miss Sullivan stopped teaching for sometime hoping to
resume later. By then the narrator had become frustrated at Miss sullivan’s
attempts at teaching her and seized her new doll and dashed it upon the
floor. The doll broke into fragments. Neither sorrow nor regret followed her
passionate outburst. She had no sensitivity towards others. In the dark
world in which she lived there was no sentiment of tenderness. She felt her
teacher sweep the doll’s fragments and she was content that the cause of
her discomfort had been removed.
perplexed? What served as a ray of hope to Helen’s mother?
Helen made frantic efforts to communicate, which became very difficult
as she felt her signs for communicating become less and less adequate.
As she grew older, the need for expressing her emotions and
communicating with others became stronger. Her numerous attempts to
do so failed and she grew frustrated. She expressed that frustration in
physical outbursts and these happened frequently. This made her parents
worried and anxious. They knew that something had to be done to keep
her occupied. They thought of her education but they lived in Tuscumbia
which was far away from all the schools for the deaf and the blind. Helen’s
mother’s only hope was Dicken’s ‘American Notes’ in which she had read
about Laura Bridgman, a deaf and blind person who had been educated.
2. The narrator thoroughly enjoyed the train journey to Baltimore. Elucidate.
The narrator made friends with the fellow passengers. One lady gave her a
box of shells. Her father made holes in those shells so that she could string
them and for long time they kept her happy and contented. The conductor
on the train was also very kind and friendly. She clung to his coat tails as
he went on his rounds. He also allowed her to play with his punch. Helen
curled herself on a seat and amused herself punching holes in bits of
cardboard. During the whole trip she did not have any fit of temper as
there were so many things that kept her mind and fingers busy.
3. Though the narrator could not see she could feel the imperfections in the
doll made for her by her aunt. Describe how the narrator described the
doll, its defects and how she corrected them. What does this show about
her character?
The narrator was given a big doll by her aunt and it was made out of
towels. It was the most comical shapeless thing; it had no nose, mouth,
ears or eyes-nothing that even the imagination of a child could convert
into a face. Curiously enough the absence of eyes struck her more than all
the defects put together. She pointed that out to everybody persistently
but no one seemed equal to the task of providing the doll with eyes. She
had a bright idea and the problem was solved. She tumbled off the seat
and searched under it until she found her aunt’s cap which was trimmed
with large beads. She pulled off two beads and indicated to her aunt that
she wanted them sewn on her doll. Her aunt raised her hand to her eyes in
a questioning way and the narrator nodded energetically. The beads were
sewn in the right place and the narrator could not contain her joy. This
showed how she felt about the lack of eyes or sight whether in objects or in
human beings. She felt that the doll was incomplete if it had no eyes.
Moreover it also showed how persistent and determined she was to restore
the eyes to the doll in order to give it a semblance of sight. She also felt
that the absence of eyes was the biggest of all defects put together.
4. When did Anne Sullivan, the teacher come to teach Helen? What did
Anne begin to do as soon as she arrived at Helen’s home?
Miss Anne Sullivan came to Helen’s home on March 3, 1887. It was the
most important day of Helen Keller’s life.
Miss Sullivan began to teach Helen to fingerspell using the manual
Alphabet. At the time of Sullivan’s arrival, Helen was sunk in deep thoughts.
She felt trapped in a never-to-abate darkness and her soul kept screaming
for Light. The moment she was embraced by Miss Sullivan she felt the light
of love shining on her.
Miss Sullivan gave her a doll and slowly spelled into her hand the word ‘d- o-l-l’ After Helen imitated these letters she learned from Miss Sullivan how
to spell a great many words on her hand
5. Describe the nature of the narrator before Miss Sullivan came into her life.
What changes took place in her nature after she spent a few days with
Miss Sullivan?
Before Miss Sullivan entered the narrator’s life the narrator was in a state of
despair because she did not know what the future held for her. Anger and
bitterness had preyed upon her continually for weeks. She felt like she was
ship stuck in a fog, trying to find its way to the shore; the ship was without a
compass or sounding-line and had no way to knowing how near the
harbour was. Her soul cried for light wordlessly.
After she spent a few days with Miss Sullivan, she learned to spell in an
uncomprehending ways a great many words and a few verbs like: sit,
stand and walk. After several weeks she understood that everything had a
name. The word ‘water’ awakened her soul, gave it light, hope, joy and set
it free. She now knew that everything with the strange, new sight that had
come to her. She remembered many words like mother, father, sister,
teacher that had come to her. She said that it would have been difficult to
find a happier child than she was as she lay in her crib and lived over the
joys that had brought her and for the first time she longed for a new day to
come.
6. What incident led the narrator to dash her doll to the floor that resulted in
its breaking up into pieces? What were her feelings then?
One day, while the narrator was playing with her new doll, Miss Sullivan put
her big doll into her lap, spelled‘d-o-l-l‘ and tired to make her understand
that ‘d-o-l-l’ applied to both. Earlier in that day she had a tussle over the
words ‘m-u-g’ and ‘w-a-t-e-r’. Miss Sullivan tired to impress upon her that
‘m-u-g’ is mug and ‘w-a-t-e-r’ is water but she persisted in confounding
the two. In despair, Miss Sullivan stopped teaching for sometime hoping to
resume later. By then the narrator had become frustrated at Miss sullivan’s
attempts at teaching her and seized her new doll and dashed it upon the
floor. The doll broke into fragments. Neither sorrow nor regret followed her
passionate outburst. She had no sensitivity towards others. In the dark
world in which she lived there was no sentiment of tenderness. She felt her
teacher sweep the doll’s fragments and she was content that the cause of
her discomfort had been removed.
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