Chapter 13
Helen’s urge to speak
With the loss of the ability to hear, Helen’s speech had died down. However, from a young age, she had an impulse to speak. She tried to feel the noise that she made by keeping one hand on her throat and the other on her lips, feeling their movements. She produced sounds not to speak but for the exercise of her vocal chords. There was a feeling of lack in Helen which needed to be fulfilled. She was not satisfied with the means of communication she used and desperately wanted to learn to speak.
In 1890, Mrs. Lamson, one of the teachers at the Perkins Institutions, told Helen about a deaf and blind girl, Ragnhild Kaata who had been taught to speak. Helen resolved that she will also learn to speak and Mrs. Lamson took her for advice and assistance to Miss Sarah Fuller, the principal of Horace Mann School.
Speaking lessons from Miss Sarah Fuller
Miss Sarah Fuller was a “sweet-natured lady” who started tutoring Helen on the 26th of March, 1890. Miss Fuller passed Helen’s hand lightly over her face to make her feel her tongue and lips when she made a sound. Within the first hour itself, Helen learnt six elements of speech: M, P, A, S, T, I. “It is warm” is the first complete sentence that Helen managed to utter. In total, eleven lessons were given to her by Miss Fuller. The syllables were broken but, nevertheless, human. She was eager to share her happiness with her family and to see the joy on their faces. Miss Fuller taught her the elements of the speech but she was to continue practicing herself with Miss Sullivan’s help.
Helen learns to speak with Miss Sullivan’s assistance
Miss Sullivan dragged Helen’s attention to the “mispronounced words”. Helen had to depend on the vibrations felt by her fingers, the movement of the mouth and expressions of the face. Discouragement wearied her efforts initially but as soon as she thought of the joy of her family, she felt optimistic. Helen gave up the manual alphabet method to develop her speech even though Miss Sullivan and her friends continued to use it to communicate with her.
The final moment of joy: Helen’s speech
Finally, the happiest moment arrived. Helen had developed speech and was eager to return home. As she reached the station and her family heard her speak, they were overjoyed. Her mother was speechless with delight and hugged her tightly; Mildred danced in joy clasped her hand and kissed her; and her father expressed his pride and affection by a “big silence”.
Chapter 14
Helen’s first attempt to write a composition on her own
During her stay at the Fern Quarry, Miss Sullivan described to her the beauty of the “late foliage” plants. This apparently revived in Helen the memory of a story that had been read to her in the past. The story had been unconsciously retained in her mind but she thought that she was making up the story herself. She eagerly jotted down her ideas before they would slip away from her mind. The words and images smoothly flowed from her mind and she felt the joy of composing a story. The story was called “The Frost king”. She did not realize that the words and images coming to her mind without effort were not her own. For her, the boundary line between her own ideas and those she gathered from the books were blurred because most of the impressions came to her mind through the “medium of others’ eyes or ears”.
“The Frost King” appreciated by family and friends
After completing the story, she read it to everyone at dinner. Despite some pronunciation errors, she managed to impress everyone with her story. However, someone did ask her if she had read the story in a book. Helen did not have the faintest recollection of the story been read to her and so she denied it saying that it was her story and she had written it for Mr. Anagnos. Mr. Anagnos was delighted with her story and published it in one of the Perkins Institution reports.
Helen’s happiness gets crushed in Boston
During her short stay in Boston, Helen was astonished to discover that her story “The Frost King” was similar to “The Frost Fairies” written by Miss Margaret T. Canby. This story had appeared in the book, “Birdie and His Friends”, which was published even before Helen's birth. The fact that the language of the two stories was alike confirmed that Miss Canby’s story had been read to her and that hers was “a plagiarism”. Her joy changed into grief.
Mr. Anagnos felt deceived. He believed that Helen and Miss Sullivan had deliberately stolen the thoughts of a great writer to win his appreciation.
Helen at the court of investigation
Helen was brought before a court of investigation where she was examined and cross-examined by the teachers and officers of the Perkins Institution. The investigators seemed to force Helen to acknowledge that she remembered “The Frost Fairies” being read to her. Helen felt heavy at her heart because of the doubts and suspicions from her loved ones. She could respond to them only in monosyllables. Her consciousness could not be unburdened by the realization that she had only committed a ‘dreadful’ mistake. At last she was allowed to leave the room. Her friends and family assured her that she was a brave girl and that they were proud of her. That night, Helen wept pitiably, suffering for her mistake.
The problem in the composition of “The Frost King” acknowledged
Miss Sullivan had never heard “The Frost Fairies”, let alone read it to Helen. So, with the assistance of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, she investigated the matter. At last, it was found out that Miss Canby’s story had been narrated to Helen by Mrs. Sophia Hopkins when she had spent a summer with her at Brewster. Even though Helen did not recall hearing the story, it sustained in her memory.
During this distressing time, Helen received a lot of messages of love and sympathy from her loved ones. She also received a kind note from Miss Canby herself, encouraging her to write something of her own in future that might help others. This was comforting to Helen but she was afraid of “playing with words” again for a long time fearing that she would repeat her mistake again. Miss Sullivan’s encouragement, however, helped her to continue writing in future.
Helen’s early compositions
Helen recognized herself as a part of the process of learning by “assimilation” and “imitation” to put ideas into words. Her early compositions are mainly assimilation of the descriptions from various forgotten sources. Helen gives an example of the composition she wrote for Mr. Anagnos about the beauty of the Greek and Italian old cities. Mr. Anagnos appreciated the ‘poetical essence’ in her ideas. Helen was happy that even though the works resembled a “crazy patchwork” comprising of her own thoughts and others’, they proved her ability to express of her admiration for beautiful objects in clear and “animated” language.
Effects of “The Frost King” incident in the later life of Helen
The good part of the tragic experience of “The Frost King” was that Helen started thinking about the problems of composition.
After the publication of “The Story of My Life” in the “Ladies’ Home Journal”, Mr. Anagnos, in a letter to Macy, stated his views supporting Helen in the matter of the “Frost King”. He also stated that he had cast his vote in favour of Helen in the court of investigation.
Helen remarks the “Frost King” incident as an important one for her education and, therefore, has included it in the chapter without an attempt to defend herself or laying the blame on anyone else.
Chap-15 to 23-SA-2 The Story of my Life: Summary (Chapter 15-22) The story of my life
Chapter 15
Helen spent the next summer and winter with her family in Alabama. Staying at home made her forget about the controversy over ‘The Frost King’. Helen was scared that people would discover that the ideas were not her own. To help her, Helen’s teacher Anne Sullivan encouraged her to write the story of her own life in the form of an assignment. Helen was 12 years old at that time and used to write for a magazine called Youth's Companion. Her visit to President Cleveland’s inauguration, to Niagara Falls, and to the World’s fair were the big events of 1893. Although she couldn’t see the Falls, Helen said that their power had a big impact on her. Helen claimed that beauty and music were like goodness and love to her.
Chapter 16
By the time Helen was 13, she could fingerspell and read in raised print and Braille. He could not only speak in English, but also a little bit of French. Helen began her formal schooling and preparation for college in for college by taking Latin and Math lessons. She initially liked Math more, but later grew to love Latin too.
Anne Sullivan taught Helen based on her interests until now. She used to teach her what she wanted to know and provided her with experiences. However, when preparing for college, Helen worked systematically and things that did not gratify her immediately. She had to achieve her goal of receiving formal education.
Chapter 17
In October 1894, Helen went to the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf in New York City for two years. Miss Sullivan accompanied her and attended the school as her interpreter. Helen studied arithmetic, physical geography, French and German at the school. The school was chosen because it was the best for continuing the development of Helen’s speech and lip reading skills. Helen and her teachers were disappointed as her lip-reading and speech skills were not what they had hoped and expected to be despite the practice. Helen did not like Math. In spite of the setbacks, her admiration for geography and languages helped her form fond memories of her stay in New York. The only thing she liked about New York was Central Park. The daily walks in Central park and closeness to nature were the two things that helped her get closer to her former life in her country.
Chapter 18
In 1896, Helen went to Cambridge school for Young Ladies to be prepared to get into Radcliffe. It was her first experience of attending classes with girls who could hear and see. At the Cambridge School too, Miss Sullivan was to attend the classes with Helen as her interpreter. The teachers had never taught someone like Helen. The subjects that Helen learnt in the first year were English history, English literature, German, Latin, arithmetic, Latin composition and occasional themes. Miss Sullivan tried her best to spell into Helen’s hands everything that was in the books. Although Helen’s sponsors in London and Philadelphia worked to have the textbooks embossed in raised print for Helen to read, the books were not ready in time to suit Helen’s purpose. The Principal and the German teacher learnt to fingerspell so that Miss Sullivan could take a break. Although they were not as fluent as Miss Sullivan, Principal Gilman took over teaching Helen English Literature for the remaining part of the year.
Chapter 19 Summary
Helen looked forward to her second year at Gilman’s school. However, she was confronted with unexpected difficulties that year which caused her a great deal of frustration. She had to study mathematics without the needed tools. The classes were larger and it was not possible for the Cambridge teachers to give her special instructions. Anne Sullivan had to read all the books to her. Helen had to wait in order to buy a Braille writer so that she could do her algebra, geometry and physics.
When the embossed books and the other apparatus arrived, Helen’s difficulties began to disappear and she began to study with confidence. However, Mr. Gilman thought that Helen was overworked and was breaking down. He insisted that I was overworked, and that I should remain at his school three years longer. He made changes in her studies. A difference of opinion between Mr. Gilman and Miss Sullivan resulted in Helen’s mother withdrawing Helen and Mildred from the Cambridge school. Helen went on to continue her studies under a tutor. Helen found it easier to study with a tutor than receive instructions in class.
When Helen took her exam in June 1899, she faced many difficulties, as the administrative board of Radcliffe did not realize how difficult they were making her examinations. They did not understand the peculiar difficulties Helen had to go through. However, Helen, with her grit and determination, overcame them all.
Chapter 20
Helen Keller took the entrance exams for Radcliffe College in 1899 just after her 19th birthday. She became the first blind-deaf college student in the fall of 1900. She had thought of college romantically, that it would be a time to reflect and think about her subjects. However, her college life was different from her fellow students. She had to use her hands to listen rather than take down notes. The speed at which the lectures took place made it difficult for Keller to understand and remember everything that was taught.
Ms. Keller and Ms. Sullivan worked hard at Radcliffe College. Ms. Sullivan attended all of Ms. Keller's classes and helped with reading. Radcliffe was not prepared for deaf or blind students at that time. Many of the other students had never met a deaf and blind person. Although she enjoyed college, Ms. Keller thought that schedules of the students were too hectic and gave no time to sit and think. She also wrote, "we should take our education as we would take a walk in the country, leisurely, our minds hospitably open to impressions of every sort."
Chapter 21
In this chapter, Helen Keller goes back to tell readers about her initial experiences with reading. Helen first read when I was seven years old. That was her first connected story in May 1887. There were only a few books in raised print, which Helen read repeatedly until a time when the words were so worn and pressed that she could scarcely make them out.
During her visit to Boston, she was allowed to spend a part of each day at the Institution library, and here she used to wander from bookcase to bookcase and take down whatever her “fingers lighted upon”. When she discovered the book ‘Little Lord Fauntleroy,’ Miss Sullivan read it to her and the book became Helen’s “sweet and gentle companion” throughout her childhood.
From there she read many books and she loved "Little Women" because it gave her a sense of kinship with girls and boys who could see and hear. She also loved ‘The Jungle Book’ and ‘Wild ‘Animals I Have Known’ as she felt a genuine interest in the animals themselves, they being “real animals and not caricatures of men”. She was fascinated by Greek literature and it was Iliad that made Greece her “paradise”. According to her, great poetry did not need an interpreter but a responsive heart. Macbeth and King Lear impressed her most among Shakespeare’s works. She read the Bible for years “with an ever-broadening sense of joy and inspiration”. She said she loved it as she loved no other book.
Helen also expresses her love for history apart from her love for literature. The first book that gave her a real sense of the value of history was Swinton's "World's History," which she received on her thirteenth birthday. Among the French writers, she liked Molière and Racine best. Literature was Helen’s Utopia, where she faced no barrier of the senses. The things that she had learned and the things that were taught to her seemed of ridiculously little importance compared with their "large loves and heavenly charities."
Chapter 22
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