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1-Page Summary of The Story of My Life
Overall Summary
Helen Keller was born on June 27th, 1880. Her family lived in a small town in Northern Alabama. She grew up with her parents and siblings on the family estate where they enjoyed a happy childhood until she became ill at age two. Helen’s illness left her blind, deaf and unable to speak.
After Helen’s illness, she became very close to her mother. They developed a few signs that Helen could use to communicate her needs and wants. Despite being impaired, she still understood what was happening around her and could complete small tasks such as playing with the family dog or Mildred (her baby sister).
Helen Keller was born deaf and blind. She had little way to communicate with others, so her parents feared that she wouldn’t be able to learn anything. They were referred by a doctor in Baltimore to Alexander Graham Bell (inventor of the telephone), who told them about the Perkins Institution for the Blind in Boston. The Kellers wrote a letter there, and soon received an invitation from Mr. Anagnos, director of Perkins at the time, inviting Helen’s teacher Miss Sullivan to come teach her right away.
Miss Anne Sullivan arrived in Tuscumbia, bringing a new chapter to Helen Keller’s life. They had an instant connection with each other and Miss Sullivan was able to teach Helen how to spell words using her fingers. This changed the way that she viewed the world around her, and she began looking forward instead of back at what could have been. She also learned about nature from Miss Sullivan who loved it as much as she did. Although nature is both beautiful and dangerous, Helen still appreciated it very much because of the lessons that were taught by Miss Sullivan.
Helen Keller was a child who learned how to read and communicate through sign language. Her teacher, Anne Sullivan, would take her outside into nature for lessons in communication. These experiences awakened Helen’s senses and she developed a love of learning that has lasted throughout her life.
In the fall of 1888, Helen Keller returned to Alabama with her teacher and sister. They stayed at a house in the country called Fern Quarry. It was there that she learned how to enjoy being around other people like herself and discovered her love for water. She also had many adventures in the mountains with her little sister Mildred.
In 1890, Helen Keller heard about a Norwegian girl who was deaf and blind but had learned to speak. This inspired her to learn how to speak herself. She went to New York for speech lessons from Sarah Fuller at the Horace Mann School. As she progressed in her speech lessons, she felt more free and alive inside, so she returned home and shared that gift with her family.
In the winter of 1892, Helen Keller experienced a setback in her writing career. She wrote a story called “The Frost King” based on someone else’s description of fall foliage. However, it was later discovered that she had plagiarized another person’s work and Mr. Anagnos forced her to appear before a board at Perkins Institution for the Blind where she was found innocent but still felt guilty about what happened. Ultimately, though, this incident taught Helen how to think deeply about problems and methods of composition when writing as well as ways in which young writers must wade through temptations toward assimilation and reproduction of others’ words and ideas in order to find their own true voices.
In 1893, Helen Keller visited the inauguration of President Cleveland and saw Niagara Falls. She also attended a World’s Fair with Alexander Graham Bell that year. In 1894, she began studying at Wright-Humason School for the Deaf in New York City. It was an exciting time for her because she fell in love with German literature and enjoyed two years there learning many things about Greek and Latin languages as well as French grammar. Unfortunately, when Helen’s father died during that time period, it caused her family great sorrow.
