The Story of My Life: Chapter 3 (Detailed Summary)
How did Helen Keller feel when she loses her sight?
Gradually the demand for having communication with people around her increased in her. The few signs invented at home were not sufficient. She tried hard to make herself understand others but in vain. Such failures were followed by her outburst of anger as she was helpless. She felt as if some invisible power was holding her and she was frantically trying to free herself from that helpless situation. But she continued struggling because the spirit to struggle was very strong in her. Sometimes she broke down in tears and physical exhaustion when she failed to communicate with others even with signs. If her mother happened to be near, she would go into her arms.
Her Outbursts of Anger at Her Helplessness
As the time passed and she grew in age, the need for some
ways of communication became so urgent that outbursts occurred daily and even
hourly. Her parents were deeply grieved and they did not know what to do for
their daughter. They lived at a long distance from any school for the deaf and
the blind. It also seemed unlikely that some doctor would ever come to treat a
child who was both blind and deaf at Tuscumbia a place that is off way. Her
friends and even relatives did not believe that Helen could ever be taught. Her
mother’s only ray of hope was from Dickens’ ‘American Notes.’
She had read the account of Laura
Bridgman and remembered dimly that she was also deaf and blind. Despite that, she had been educated.
The Doctor who Discovered the Way to Educate the Deaf and Blind:
But her mother remembered with pain
that the person Dr. Howe, who had discovered the way to educate the deaf and blind,
had been dead already. She thought that her methods of teaching must have died
with him. She also thought if the ways to teach a blind and deaf child were
alive, then how it would be possible to teach such a child at Alabama.
Helen Keller's Journey to #Baltimore at the Age of Six
When Helen reached the age of six, her father came to know about a famous oculist (oculistˈɒkjʊlɪst/optician) at Baltimore, and he had been successful in many hopeless cases. Her parents, at once, decided to take Helen to go to Baltimore for the treatment of her eyes. The journey was very pleasant and she made several friends on the train. A woman gave her a box of shells and her father made holes in them so that they could be put in a string.
The conductor on the train was also very kind to her and he let her play with his punch. She passed maximum of her time making funny little holes in the pieces of the cardboard. Her aunt made a big doll out of towels. It seemed to her the most comical shapeless thing that had no nose, ears, or eyes. The absence of eyes struck Helen more than all other defects in the doll. She showed the doll to all, but no one could provide the doll its eyes.
After that, an idea struck Helen’s mind. She tumbled (fell) off the seat and searched for something on the floor that could become the eyes on the face of her doll. Soon she found her aunt’s cape (It is a sleeveless garment worn in various sizes), which had large beads at its trim (a strip of cloth or paper). She pulled two beads from that and showed them to her aunt indicating that she wanted to sew them on the face of the doll. Then the aunt picked Helen’s hand, raised it to her eyes to make sure if she wanted them to for eyes on the doll.
Thus the beads were sewed at the right place and it made Helen extremely happy, but very soon, she lost interest in the doll.
During the whole trip, she did not
have any fit of temper as she was busy with so many things or activities.
#Dr. Chisholm's Advice to Helen Keller's Father to Consult Doctor Alexander Graham Bell at Washington
Dr. Chisholm (chizm) received them very kindly at Baltimore, but he could do nothing for Helen. Showing his inability to help the child, he added that she could be educated if her father could consult Doctor Alexander Graham Bell at Washington. He further told Helen’s father that Alexander Graham Bell would give him further information about school or teachers of deaf and blind children. After that, they went to Washington to meet Dr. Bell.
Helen Keller adds here that she was unaware of
her father’s mental pain and doubts at that time, and she kept herself busy
enjoying herself in the excitement of moving from one place to the other. She
was also deeply impressed at the sympathy showed by Dr. Bell to her. He held
her on his knees to examine her eyes. He also understood the signs she had
invented. But Helen did not have at that time any dream that could take her out
of the world of darkness to that of light, from isolation to friendliness,
companionship, knowledge, love, etc.
#Perkings Institution in Boston
Then Dr. Bell advised her father to
have written communication with Dr. Anagnos, who was the director of the
Perkings Institution in Boston, and asked him for a competent teacher for the
deaf and blind child. Her father lost no time to do so and after a few weeks,
there came a letter from Mr. Anagnos assuring them that there was a competent
teacher. This happened in the year 1886, but due to some reasons, #Miss Sullivan
reached in March.
In the next passage, Helen quotes
some lines from the Bible to show that she had come out of the world of
darkness and entered the world of knowledge, love, light, and wisdom with the help of her teacher miss Sullivan
