1. Why did Helen perform better in preliminary examinations than the Finals for Radcliffe?
Helen did not have the advantage at the finals that she got at the preliminary
examination.
During the preliminary examination, Mr. Gilman read the examination paper to her,
and she wrote the answers. He read out the answers which she wrote to her and if she
wanted any changes, he inserted the changes. At Radcliffe no one read the papers to her after they were written. She did not have
the opportunity to correct errors unless she finished before the time was up. In that
she could only correct such mistakes that she could recall in the few minutes allowed,
and make notes of those corrections at the end of the paper.
Secondly, in the preliminaries, she offered subjects with some of which she was in a
measure familiar before her work in the Cambridge school. At the beginning of the
year she had passed examinations in English,History, French and German, which Mr.
Gilman gave her from previous Harvard papers.
2. What system did Helen’s tutor follow? How did Helen like the system?
Mr. Keith gave lessons five times a week, in periods of about an hour for eight
months. He explained each time what she did not understand in the previous lesson,
assigned new work, and took home with him the Greek exercises which she had
written during the week on her typewriter, corrected them fully, and returned them to
her.
Her preparation for college went on without interruption. She found it much easier
and pleasanter to be taught alone than to receive instruction in class. There was no
hurry, no confusion. Her tutor had plenty of time to explain what she did not
understand, so she did better work than she ever did in school.
She still found difficulty in mastering problems in mathematics But,Mr. Keith made
interesting. He succeeded in whittling problems small enough for Helen to grasp. He
kept her mind alert and eager, and trained it to reason clearly, and to seek
conclusions calmly and logically, instead of jumping wildly into space and arriving
nowhere. He was always gentle and forbearing, no matter how dull she might be.
3.What difficulties did Helen encounter while taking her final examinations for Radcliffe
college?
The college authorities did not allow Miss Sullivan to read the examination papers to
Helen. One of the instructors at the Perkins Institution for the Blind, who was a
stranger to her, was employed to copy the papers for her in American braille. The
braille worked in the languages, but difficulties arose in geometry and algebra.
She was familiar with all literary braille in common use—English, American, and New
York Point; but the various signs and symbols in geometry and algebra in the three
systems were very different, and she had used only the English braille in her
algebra.
Mr. Keith and Helen went over to the college a little before the examination began,
and had the instructor explain more fully the American symbols yet Helen found the
braille confusing, and could not fix clearly in her mind what she was reading.
She could not see what she wrote on her typewriter. She had always done her work
in braille or in her head. Mr. Keith had relied too much on her ability to solve problems
mentally, and had not trained her to write examination papers. Her work was slow;
she had to read the examples over and over before she could form any idea of what to
do.The administrative board of Radcliffe did not understand the peculiar difficulties she
had to surmount. But, she had the consolation of knowing that she
4.What are the important lessons that Helen has learnt while at college?
Helen had learnt many things that she would never have known had she not tried the
experiment of going to college. One of them is the precious science of patience,
which teaches us that we should take our education as we would take a walk in the
country, leisurely; our minds hospitably open to impressions of every sort. Such
knowledge floods the soul unseen with a soundless tidal wave of deepening thought.
"Knowledge is power." Rather, knowledge is happiness, because to have
knowledge—broad, deep knowledge—is to know true ends from false and lofty things
from low. To know the thoughts and deeds that have marked man's progress is to feel
the great heart-throbs of humanity through the centuries; and if one does not feel in
these pulsations a heavenward striving,one must indeed be deaf to the harmonies of life.
5.What is Helen’s opinion on ‘great poetry’?
Great poetry, whether written in Greek or in English, needs no other interpreter than a
responsive heart. She says that all those who analyze and make comments on the
great works of the poets must learn this simple truth! It is not necessary that one
should be able to define every word and give it its principal parts and its grammatical
position in the sentence in order to understand and appreciate a fine poem. Her
learned professors may have found greater riches in the great poems than she shall
ever find; but I she is not avaricious. She is content that others should be wiser than
her. But with all their wide and comprehensive knowledge, they cannot measure their
enjoyment of great poems, nor can she. When she read the finest passages of the
Iliad, she is conscious of a soul-sense that lifts her above the narrow, cramping
circumstances of her life. Her physical limitations are forgotten. Her world lies
upward, the length and the breadth and the sweep of the heavens are hers!
6. How did Helen learn to be content with her limitations?
Helen says that her life with all its limitations touches at many points the life of the
beautiful world. Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence,and she has
learnt to be content with, whatever state she may be in.
Sometimes, a sense of isolation enfolds her like a cold mist as she sits alone and
waits at life's shut gate. Beyond there is light, and music, and sweet companionship
but she cannot enter. She questions her fate but her tongue does not utter the bitter
words against it. The words fall back into her heart like unshed tears. Silence sits
upon her soul and then hope comes, smiles and whispers that there is joy in self-forgetfulness. So she tries to make the light in others' eyes her sun, the music in others' ears her symphony, the smile on others' lips her happiness.
7. What aspects of city life trouble Helen?
Noise is the dominant sensation that Helen associates with the city because her
whole body is alive to the conditions about her. There are no visual scenes to distract
her as they do to those who can see. Hence, the noise becomes even more
pronounced.
The other aspect of city life that troubles Helen is to think that some people should be content to live in fine houses and become strong and beautiful, while others are
condemned to live in dirty places. The children half-clad and underfed. The existence
of such people is an endless struggle, an immense disparity between effort and
opportunity.
She feels that the sun and the air are God's free gifts to all, but in city's dingy alleys
the sun does not shine and the air is foul. She wonders that if men leave the city and
return to woods and fields and simple, honest living then it would help them to
improve in mind and body.
8. What does Helen talk about in the last chapter of the book? What aspect of Helen’s nature
do we learn from it?
Helen wanted to enrich the concluding chapter of her autobiography with the names
of all those who have ministered to her happiness. She gratefully acknowledged the
help, gracious words, advice and support of the many people she met. Some were
well known while others were not. She says that the days when we meet people who
thrill us like a fine poem are red letter days. Such people give the healing touch to our
irritations and worries just as the ocean feels the mountain stream freshening its
brine.
This brings out her open nature. She is not embarrassed to admit that she owed a lot
in her life to the active involvement of many people in her life. She connected with and
established lasting relationships with people from diverse fields. She was keen to
learn from everyone whatever she could and whatever they were prepared to teach
her. She had the ability to attract people to her because of her interest in life and the
world around her. Her determination to overcome all obstacles in her life is what drew people to her.
Helen did not have the advantage at the finals that she got at the preliminary
examination.
During the preliminary examination, Mr. Gilman read the examination paper to her,
and she wrote the answers. He read out the answers which she wrote to her and if she
wanted any changes, he inserted the changes. At Radcliffe no one read the papers to her after they were written. She did not have
the opportunity to correct errors unless she finished before the time was up. In that
she could only correct such mistakes that she could recall in the few minutes allowed,
and make notes of those corrections at the end of the paper.
Secondly, in the preliminaries, she offered subjects with some of which she was in a
measure familiar before her work in the Cambridge school. At the beginning of the
year she had passed examinations in English,History, French and German, which Mr.
Gilman gave her from previous Harvard papers.
2. What system did Helen’s tutor follow? How did Helen like the system?
Mr. Keith gave lessons five times a week, in periods of about an hour for eight
months. He explained each time what she did not understand in the previous lesson,
assigned new work, and took home with him the Greek exercises which she had
written during the week on her typewriter, corrected them fully, and returned them to
her.
Her preparation for college went on without interruption. She found it much easier
and pleasanter to be taught alone than to receive instruction in class. There was no
hurry, no confusion. Her tutor had plenty of time to explain what she did not
understand, so she did better work than she ever did in school.
She still found difficulty in mastering problems in mathematics But,Mr. Keith made
interesting. He succeeded in whittling problems small enough for Helen to grasp. He
kept her mind alert and eager, and trained it to reason clearly, and to seek
conclusions calmly and logically, instead of jumping wildly into space and arriving
nowhere. He was always gentle and forbearing, no matter how dull she might be.
3.What difficulties did Helen encounter while taking her final examinations for Radcliffe
college?
The college authorities did not allow Miss Sullivan to read the examination papers to
Helen. One of the instructors at the Perkins Institution for the Blind, who was a
stranger to her, was employed to copy the papers for her in American braille. The
braille worked in the languages, but difficulties arose in geometry and algebra.
She was familiar with all literary braille in common use—English, American, and New
York Point; but the various signs and symbols in geometry and algebra in the three
systems were very different, and she had used only the English braille in her
algebra.
Mr. Keith and Helen went over to the college a little before the examination began,
and had the instructor explain more fully the American symbols yet Helen found the
braille confusing, and could not fix clearly in her mind what she was reading.
She could not see what she wrote on her typewriter. She had always done her work
in braille or in her head. Mr. Keith had relied too much on her ability to solve problems
mentally, and had not trained her to write examination papers. Her work was slow;
she had to read the examples over and over before she could form any idea of what to
do.The administrative board of Radcliffe did not understand the peculiar difficulties she
had to surmount. But, she had the consolation of knowing that she
4.What are the important lessons that Helen has learnt while at college?
Helen had learnt many things that she would never have known had she not tried the
experiment of going to college. One of them is the precious science of patience,
which teaches us that we should take our education as we would take a walk in the
country, leisurely; our minds hospitably open to impressions of every sort. Such
knowledge floods the soul unseen with a soundless tidal wave of deepening thought.
"Knowledge is power." Rather, knowledge is happiness, because to have
knowledge—broad, deep knowledge—is to know true ends from false and lofty things
from low. To know the thoughts and deeds that have marked man's progress is to feel
the great heart-throbs of humanity through the centuries; and if one does not feel in
these pulsations a heavenward striving,one must indeed be deaf to the harmonies of life.
5.What is Helen’s opinion on ‘great poetry’?
Great poetry, whether written in Greek or in English, needs no other interpreter than a
responsive heart. She says that all those who analyze and make comments on the
great works of the poets must learn this simple truth! It is not necessary that one
should be able to define every word and give it its principal parts and its grammatical
position in the sentence in order to understand and appreciate a fine poem. Her
learned professors may have found greater riches in the great poems than she shall
ever find; but I she is not avaricious. She is content that others should be wiser than
her. But with all their wide and comprehensive knowledge, they cannot measure their
enjoyment of great poems, nor can she. When she read the finest passages of the
Iliad, she is conscious of a soul-sense that lifts her above the narrow, cramping
circumstances of her life. Her physical limitations are forgotten. Her world lies
upward, the length and the breadth and the sweep of the heavens are hers!
6. How did Helen learn to be content with her limitations?
Helen says that her life with all its limitations touches at many points the life of the
beautiful world. Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence,and she has
learnt to be content with, whatever state she may be in.
Sometimes, a sense of isolation enfolds her like a cold mist as she sits alone and
waits at life's shut gate. Beyond there is light, and music, and sweet companionship
but she cannot enter. She questions her fate but her tongue does not utter the bitter
words against it. The words fall back into her heart like unshed tears. Silence sits
upon her soul and then hope comes, smiles and whispers that there is joy in self-forgetfulness. So she tries to make the light in others' eyes her sun, the music in others' ears her symphony, the smile on others' lips her happiness.
7. What aspects of city life trouble Helen?
Noise is the dominant sensation that Helen associates with the city because her
whole body is alive to the conditions about her. There are no visual scenes to distract
her as they do to those who can see. Hence, the noise becomes even more
pronounced.
The other aspect of city life that troubles Helen is to think that some people should be content to live in fine houses and become strong and beautiful, while others are
condemned to live in dirty places. The children half-clad and underfed. The existence
of such people is an endless struggle, an immense disparity between effort and
opportunity.
She feels that the sun and the air are God's free gifts to all, but in city's dingy alleys
the sun does not shine and the air is foul. She wonders that if men leave the city and
return to woods and fields and simple, honest living then it would help them to
improve in mind and body.
8. What does Helen talk about in the last chapter of the book? What aspect of Helen’s nature
do we learn from it?
Helen wanted to enrich the concluding chapter of her autobiography with the names
of all those who have ministered to her happiness. She gratefully acknowledged the
help, gracious words, advice and support of the many people she met. Some were
well known while others were not. She says that the days when we meet people who
thrill us like a fine poem are red letter days. Such people give the healing touch to our
irritations and worries just as the ocean feels the mountain stream freshening its
brine.
This brings out her open nature. She is not embarrassed to admit that she owed a lot
in her life to the active involvement of many people in her life. She connected with and
established lasting relationships with people from diverse fields. She was keen to
learn from everyone whatever she could and whatever they were prepared to teach
her. She had the ability to attract people to her because of her interest in life and the
world around her. Her determination to overcome all obstacles in her life is what drew people to her.
I just really loved this and is really very helpful thank you so much maam for such an easy concept for us......
ReplyDelete