Answer the following question in 150 —200 words.
1. From ‘The Story of My Life’, describe the relation between Helen Keller and Martha Washington.
In the book - The Story of My Life Helen provides insight into her struggles to
communicate. Before the arrival of her teacher, Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller
sought out the companionship of Martha Washington, the African American
child of the family cook.
Helen and Martha developed a system of signs to communicate during play
and Martha appeared to tolerate Helen’s eccentric behaviour.
Martha understands Helen and needs little explanation of what Helen may
want even recognizing when Helen where wants to go. She indulges her,
understands her signs, and allows her to dominate their games. The two
shared a great love for mischief which is probably one of the reasons why
Helen relates so well to her.They spend a great deal of time in the kitchen and the stables, doing a variety of tasks. Hunting for the eggs of the guinea fowl in the long grass was one of their greatest delights. Martha’s relation with Helen indicates that she is intuitive, even at such a young age, patient and understanding.
Martha lived with the Keller family until Helen moved to a larger house before
the birth of her sister, Mildred and the death of her father.
2. Discuss the role of nature in Helen’s childhood. Why does Helen find the garden to be a source of comfort?
Helen lived with her family in a house that was completely covered with vines,
climbing roses and honey suckles. It was the favourite haunt of the humming
birds. A few steps away from the homestead was a garden. It was the paradise
of Helen’s childhood.
In the days before Anne Sullivan came into her life, and Helen realized that
she was different from others .When she was neither able to understand what
two people were conversing nor communicate to others what she wanted due
to her handicap, it vexed her and at times she kicked and screamed until she
was exhausted. She sought refuge in the garden. Helen used to occupy herself feeling along
the stiff boxwood hedges. She followed smell to find the violets and lilies. She went to find comfort and hide her hot face in the cool leaves and grass. It gave her joy to lose herself in the garden of flowers and wander happily from spot to spot. When she came upon a beautiful vine, she recognized it by feeling its
leaves and blossoms.
3. In what ways do Helen's intelligence and talent cause her frustration and rage?
Helen Keller was an active child full of curiosity about her surroundings. In the
first few months after her illness Helen Keller learned some kind of
communication with her mother. By the time she was five, she knew what was
going on about her.
She soon realized that that she was different from other people. They did not
use signs when they communicated, so when she tried communicating the
way they did without success, it frustrated and angered her.
She took refuge in the garden because she could not express herself.
Helen also tried mimicking her father’s actions as he reads a newspaper, even
wearing his spectacles, thinking they might help solve the mystery but it only
added to her confusion.
Helen's intelligence and talent to learn by feeling allowed her to gain an
understanding of her surroundings. It also meant that she was more easily
frustrated.
The awareness that she was ‘different’ and that she cannot communicate
effectively caused bouts of rage. Her intelligence did not seem to make any
difference in her attempts to communicate. They remained inadequate.
This led to frequent temper tantrums, sometimes hourly.
This was one of the motivations that drove her parents to seek help.
4. ‘During the whole trip I did not have one fit of temper.’ Explain with reference to the novel - ‘The Story of my Life’.
Helen’s parents took her to Baltimore to consult an oculist. They travelled by
train and Helen describes the journey as pleasant. She made friends with
many people on the train. A lady gave her a box of shells, her father made
holes in them and stringing them kept her busy and contented. She went
round with the conductor, clinging to his coat tails. She played with his ticket
punch, making holes in bits of cardboard.
Her aunt made her a doll out of towels with no nose, mouth ears or eyes. The
absence of eyes struck her as being the most conspicuous defect with the
doll. Others were unable to provide the solution until Helen herself thought of
the beads on her aunt’s cape as eyes for the doll.
She had so many things to do during the journey to keep her mind and fingers
busy hence she did not lose her temper even once.
5. In ‘The Story of My Life’ by Helen Keller, what kind of "peculiar sympathy" did Miss Sullivan have with Helen's ‘pleasures and desires’?
In The Story of My Life, Helen Keller's autobiography of the first twenty-two years of
her life, Helen reveals the special relationship she has with Annie Sullivan. Helen
remembers the day she met Annie as ‘the most important day in all my life’ and she is
well aware of Annie's contribution to her own development. Annie is only partially
sighted herself and has had her own difficult childhood which allows her to
understand Helen's many frustrations. Annie could relate to Helen like no-one else
can.
It is this unsaid understanding or "peculiar sympathy" which Helen refers to that
allows Annie to help Helen achieve what she couldn’t otherwise. Helen admits that,
because of Annie, she learns ‘from life itself’. She cannot explain it herself but does
acknowledge Annie's long association with the blind. She also recognizes Annie's
wonderful faculty for description and the fact that she does not deliberate onprevious
day's lessons. Helen appreciates her style and the way Annie introduced dry
technicalities of science little by little, all of which ensure that Helen cannot help
remembering what she taught.
6. How can you say that Helen read and studied out doors?
Usually students read and study in their classrooms, but for Helen Keller whole
nature was her classroom. Most of her learning took place out of doors. This way she
learnt more about the world around her. She was close to the nature. Generally
students read with books but Helen Keller read by using her sense of smell and
touch. In a way, nature became her teacher, guide and philosopher. She learnt from
nature that everything has beauty of its own. Miss Sullivan provided her practical
knowledge of everything. Helen read Geography by raised maps in clay. She touched
and felt the opening up of a plant. The study of tadpole made her understand that for
creatures their natural habitats are indispensable. So Helen learnt from life itself and
in this learning her teacher played an exemplary role. It was she who made her
education appear like a game. Helen learnt more out of doors and nature herself
unfolded the book of life for her.
7. Helen learnt a new lesson that “Nature wages open war against her children and under softest touch hides treacherous claws”. How did Helen learn that lesson?
The benevolent aspect of nature thrilled Helen, but soon she learnt that nature could
be ferocious also. Once Helen along with Miss Sullivan, were returning from a walk.
The weather grew warm and humid. They stood under the cool shade of a tree. With
her teacher’s help Helen sat amidst the branches. Miss Sullivan went to fetch lunch
leaving Helen all alone. Suddenly, the weather changed and a thunderstorm was
imminent. Helen felt paralysed and frightened and she wanted to climb down from the
tree. She clung to the branch with all her might as the tree swayed and strained. The
branches lashed about her. She felt as if she would fall and at that very moment Miss
Sullivan came and helped her down. Helen had learnt a new lesson that “Nature
wages open war against her children and under softest touch hides treacherous
claws”. She learnt a great lesson that life is not always pleasant and one should be
prepared for the risks and stakes also.
8. How did Helen learn to read? Describe Helen’s long process of learning?
Learning to read was an important step in Helen’s education. Miss Sullivan gave her
slips of cardboard on which raised letters were printed words. Helen learnt that each
printed word stood for an object, an act or a quality. She learnt to use these words in
making short sentences. One day she pinned the word ‘girl’ on her pinafore and stood
in the wardrobe. On it, she arranged the words ‘is in wardrobe’. Miss Sullivan and
Helen played this game for hours together. From the printed slips Helen moved to the
printed book “Reader for Beginners” and hunted for the words she knew. Gradually, she began to read. Once she brought some flowers for her teacher. Miss Sullivan
spelled into her hand, “I love Helen.” Helen asked “what is love?” Initially, she failed
to understand. One day as she was trying to string beads of different sizes in
symmetrical groups, she made many mistakes. Unknowingly she tried to think how
she could arrange them. Miss Sullivan touched her forehead and spelled, “Think”. In a flash she learnt that the word was the name of the feeling that was going on in her
head. Thus, she learnt about an abstract idea.
9. How did Helen learn subjects like Geography, History and Science?
Helen had a different way of learning subjects like Geography, History, Science. She
walked down with Miss Sullivan to an old tumble-down lumber wharf on the
Tennessee River which was used during the Civil War to land soldiers. She built dams
of pebbles, made islands and lakes, dug river-beds, never realising that she was
learning a lesson. She listened to Miss Sullivan’s descriptions of burning mountains,
buried cities, moving rivers of ice, etc. She made raised maps on clay so that she
could feel the mountain ridges and valley and follow the course of river with her
fingers. She learnt Arithmetic by stringing beads in groups and by arranging
kindergarten straws she learned to add and subtract. She studied Zoology and Botany also in a leisurely manner. She listened carefully to the description of terrible beasts which tramped the forests and died in the swamps of an unknown age. She learnt about the growth of a plant by planting a lily in her balcony.
10. How did Anne Sullivan make Helen understand the meaning of word ‘Love’?
Miss Sullivan was a great teacher for Helen. One day, when Helen brought violets for
her teacher. She gently put her arm around Helen and spelled on her hand that she
loved Helen. When Helen asked what love is, Miss Sullivan drew her closer and
pointed towards her heart and told her that love is here. Helen felt the beat of heart
but couldn’t understand the meaning of love. She was disappointed that her teacher
couldn’t show her the love.
Once, Helen was arranging beads in symmetrical pattern but found it difficult. Miss
Sullivan touched her forehead and spelled ‘think’. Helen quickly understood that the
word was the name of process that was going on in her head.
This was her first conscious perception of an abstract idea.
Miss Sullivan explained her that love is like the clouds that we cannot touch. But
when it rains, flowers and the thirsty earth feel glad to have it. We cannot touch love
but can feel the sweetness that it pours into everything. Without love no one can be
happy. This made Helen understood the meaning of love.
