hap-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 

Books and reading were not the only things that Helen enjoyed. When Helen was not reading, she enjoyed outdoor activities. She liked swimming, canoeing, and sailing. She also loved trees and used to feel close to them so much so that she believed she could hear their sap flow and see the sun shining on the leaves. Helen felt that each one of us had the ability to understand the impressions and the emotions experienced by mankind from the beginning. Blindness or deafness could not rob us of our memory in the subconscious about the green earth. This, she termed as the sixth sense which can see, feel and hear.   

Give a brief character sketch of Helen Keller, Annie Sullivan, Alexander Graham Bell and Mr. Anagnos in The Story of My Life by Helen Keller.

Helen Keller is the main character in The Story of My Life which is a personal account of Helen's young life after she has a debilitating illness as a baby and is rendered blind and deaf. Annie Sullivan, Alexander Graham Bell and Mr Anagnos all change Helen's life dramatically and it is her first meeting with Dr. Bell which starts the process of her education and her fulfillment. In chapter III, Helen reflects how "that interview would be the door through which I should pass from darkness into light." 

Helen is a very expressive person and once she learns how to communicate, she is tireless in her efforts to learn as much as she can. She is intuitive and very demanding of others but she finds joy in the simplest things and shows appreciation through her acceptance and remarkable development. She is trusting and loving. Her high expectations do result in disappointments and one of her greatest regrets is after she unwittingly plagiarizes The Frost Fairies by Miss Margaret T. Canby which affects her confidence and belief in herself and after which her relationship with the beloved Mr Anagnos is irreparably damaged.  

Dr. Alexander Graham Bell is compassionate and kindhearted and an incredibly gifted inventor (as history will confirm). Helen dedicated The Story of My Life to him. He has a special relationship with children, especially the deaf, and his methods ensure that children are motivated and enthusiastic to learn. He is funny and immediately connects with Helen. He recommends The Perkins' Institute to the family which will begin Helen's long and extremely demanding path to learning.  

Annie comes from The Perkins' Institute for the Blind where she learnt to manage and overcome her own difficulties and is the person whom Helen recognizes as most significant in her education. Annie makes Helen "think" and the day she arrives is "the most important day I remember in all my life," such is the impact which Annie has on Helen's success. Annie is patient, determined and even stubborn, and it is her resolve which ensures that Helen is given time to adapt and to learn "language." Annie is visually impaired herself and, despite her young age and her complete lack of experience, she is dedicated and wise. She takes every opportunity to teach Helen, whether it be during lessons or out in the environment where she ensures that Helen has every opportunity to explore, discover and overcome her fears. She will become Helen's constant companion to the point that Helen feels that "the footsteps of my life are in hers."

Dr Anagnos is the director of The Perkins' Institute for the Blind and he understands potential, encouraging Annie as her mentor when she is uncertain whether she is ready to teach at the Keller's home. He recognizes Helen's enormous capacity for learning and becomes a dear friend to her. Unfortunately, although he claims to believe Helen, he is unable to shake the feeling that she may have deceived him  in writing her version of Canby's story and he never regains his unquestionable faith in her to the point of his attitude being "hostile and menacing" (ch XIV). However, his contribution to Helen's amazing success and to the lives of many blind children with whom Helen comes into contact is indisputable.

Role  of Anne Sullivan in Helen’s  life

Helen Keller's life changed when Miss Sullivan entered her life. Miss Sullivan became her mentor, teacher, friend, and companion. Miss Sullivan had an incredible impact on Helen's life. In her autobiography, Helen described how Miss Sullivan changed her life:

Gradually I got used to the silence and darkness that surrounded me and forgot that it had ever been different, until she came–my teacher–who was to set my spirit free (The Story of My Life, Chapter I).

Miss Sullivan taught Helen how to communicate using the manual alphabet. After Helen learned to communicate, her life was transformed. Miss Sullivan continued to help and guide Helen. The teacher assisted Helen when she went to school by reading books and spelling their content into her pupil's palm. Miss Sullivan did the same thing with the lectures given by Helen's teachers and professors. With Miss Sullivan's help, Helen finished school and also went to college. Miss Sullivan helped to guide Helen in making decisions about education.

In addition to this, Miss Sullivan encouraged Helen. She encouraged her to learn all that she could and to experience life. Miss Sullivan traveled to many places with Helen. Together they went on many adventures, such as exploring the World's Fair and sailing in Nova Scotia. Miss Sullivan wished for Helen to live a full life.

How did Helen learn different subjects?

Helen had a different way of learning subjects like Geography, History, etc. She went 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 all for fun, never realizing 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 kindgarten straws, she learned to add and subtract. She did not have much patience to arrange more than five or six groups at a time.

        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.

        The growth of a plant itself taught her a lesson in science. She bought a lily and set it in a sunny window. Very soon she noticed the signs of opening in the pointed buds. This process was reluctant in the beginning but later on used to go on rapidly-in order and systematically. There was always one bud larger and more beautiful than the rest which pushed her outer covering with more pomp. In a way she learned from life itself.

. Helen comes face to face with nature in its new white attire in Boston. How did the snow reveal its mysterious force to Helen in The Story of My Life?

Helen spends every winter in the North during her childhood, and that is where she experiences snow.

Helen is very excited during her first big snowstorm, even though it is somewhat scary.  She describes a visit to a New England village in her childhood when she was able to “enter into the treasures of the snow” (Ch. 12).  This was something that delighted her, though she could not see or hear it.  She could still experience it with the ways of communicating she had developed.

On the third day after the beginning of the storm the snow ceased. The sun broke through the clouds and shone upon a vast, undulating white plain. High mounds, pyramids heaped in fantastic shapes, and impenetrable drifts lay scattered in every direction. (Ch. 12)

This incident shows that Helen Keller could still live a very full life, and enjoy new experiences, even though she did not have all of her senses.  See how vividly the visual descriptions are included?  They must have been described to her using her signs.  Then she wrote them for us.

Even if you cannot see and hear, there are plenty of senses left in a snowstorm.  You can still feel the cool wind on your face (she says, "air stung my cheeks like fire"), and taste the icy snow, smell the pines in the air, and feel the crunch under your feet.  I imagine that between the descriptions and these other senses, she was able to imagine the rest. 

Our favourite amusement during that winter was tobogganing. In places the shore of the lake rises abruptly from the water's edge. Down these steep slopes we used to coast. We would get on our toboggan, a boy would give us a shove, and off we went! (Ch. 12)

A snowstorm is like sensory overload.  I think this is probably why little Helen liked it so much.  Even though she did not have use of two of the main senses that we have come to rely on to experience the world, she could use the others much more during this time.  Most little kids love playing in the winter snow, but when you live in the dark, everything takes on that much more meaning

 In The Story of My Life by Helen Keller, what explains Helen's love for nature?

In The Story of My Life by Helen Keller, nature is fascinating, comforting and terrifying for Helen. When she is very young, Helen finds that the garden brings her relief from her frustrations; it is "the paradise of my childhood" (chapter 1). She recognizes sections of the garden by the smells and also the texture of the leaves and she is particularly in awe of the roses. The garden is her refuge because she can rely on her other senses (not sight and hearing) and, even if only momentarily, she is not restricted by her disabilities.

In chapter 5, after Annie Sullivan arrives and begins teaching Helen, she encourages Helen's love of the outdoors and helps her make the connection between her world and the world around her by making Helen feel that "birds and flowers and I were happy peers." Helen even remembers that her first lessons with Annie are "in the beneficence of nature." Helen notes that Annie does not concentrate on academic subjects at first but rather on "beauty in the fragrant woods, in every blade of grass, and in the curves and dimples of my baby sister's hand." However, Helen also learns about the unpredictability of nature and remembers how whilst climbing a tree "a nameless fear clutched at my heart." However, she sees it as another learning opportunity, and although she takes a long time to get over her fear, she does do so and feels "like a fairy on a rosy cloud."

Helen's education revolves around nature and she recognizes that "everything that could hum, or buzz, or sing, or bloom had a part" (chapter 6). Annie uses clay to teach Helen Geography and people send her collectibles which allow Helen to make associations and "learn from life itself." Helen recognizes that this love of nature stems from Annie's "genius" and continues to relish it. When out in the snow, she even suggests that the light is so bright that "it penetrated the darkness that veils my eyes" (ch 12). She finds the wind "exhilarating" while tobogganing and never misses an opportunity. She is inspired by her surroundings and this contributes to her positive frame of mind. 

.A note on Helen Keller's education.

Helen Keller (1880 – 1968) was a great humanitarian who overcame the challenges of being blind and deaf. Keller’s education began on March 3, 1887 when she met Anne Sullivan who her parents hired to teach her. The relationship she formed with her teacher, Anne Sullivan, continued for over 50 years. With the help of Sullivan, by the time she was seven years old, Keller had learned to finger spell words and use over 60 hands gestures to communicate her thoughts, ideas, wants and desires. She also learned to read braille and print letters in a block style. She read several classical works, such as the Bible, Shakespeare’s Lamb’s Tales, Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, Charles Dickens’ A Child’s History of England, Heidi by Johanna Spyri, and The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss. By the time she was nine years old, she was speaking and reading lips

Keller’s formal education began in 1888, when she enrolled in the Perkins Institute for the Blind, where she studied for four years. Some of the subjects she studied there were arithmetic, geography and French. She attended the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf in New York, and in 1896, she studied at The Cambridge School for Young Ladies to prepare for matriculation at Radcliffe College. She graduated from Radcliffe in 1904 and made history by becoming the first deaf blind person to obtain a Bachelor of Arts degree and also graduate cum laude. While at Radcliffe, her teacher, friend, and companion Anne Sullivan had interpreted lectures and course materials for her.

Keller was a lifelong learner and was a voracious reader of braille books. She also continued learning about politics, philosophy, poetry, history, economics, German, Latin, and French. Throughout her life, she received several honorary degrees. She became the first to receive one from Harvard University. In addition to Harvard, she received honorary degrees from Berlin, Delhi, India; Berlin, Germany; Temple University, Witwatersrand and Johannesburg, South Africa, and the Universities of Glasgow, Scotland.