Annie Thought Helen example essay topic

2,481 words
HELEN KELLER'S MIDDLE LIFE The summer of 1887 was more fun for Helen than all of her previous years. Every object she touched and named seemed to bring her closer to the rest of the world, which pleased her and made her more confident. One thing Annie worked on with Helen was to find the beauty in everything. She taught her the different kinds of flowers, and trees, by their smell and the way they felt. Annie and Helen had most of their lessons in the outdoors that summer. The two liked to climb trees, and read books because they thought it was relaxing and something different.

Helen later said, "The birds and flowers and Were happy peers". 1 That goes to show just how much the two were outdoors. That same summer, Helen began to learn geography, although she did not know it at the time. Annie built dams out of pebbles, and made raised maps in the sand to show where mountains and valleys were. Annie informed Helen about glaciers and volcanoes and other natural disasters. Even though Helen was actually learning some vitally important things, it seemed to her like the two were just playing in the sand.

One day the two of them were in the woods, and decided that it was time to eat lunch. Annie helped Helen up into a nearby cherry tree because they were the easiest to climb, and she ran back to the Keller house to get some food. Helen promised to stay there and keep still. While Annie was away, the sky suddenly turned dark, which Helen could tell, because the warmth of the sun turned into coolness. Helen knew the smell of a rainstorm, and was positive one was coming. The wind started to howl, so strong that it almost knocked her out of the tree.

Helen began to get scared, and hoped Annie was coming soon. Helen was just about ready to jump when she felt Annie's hand pull her down from the tree. The two girls made it back home before it began to rain, . but it was not until many years later that Helen would climb another tree. Helen explained nature by saying, "It wages open war against her children, and under softest touch hides treacherous claws". 2 Captain and Kate were pleased with the progress Helen had made, and hoped Annie wanted to stay with them until Helen knew how to learn on her own.

It didn't take much persuading for Annie to stay. Annie wanted Helen to make even more accomplishments than Laura Brig man, and she believed Helen could do it. Already Helen had a large vocabulary and was very well behaved. In 1888, Annie decided to take Helen to the Perkins Institute, to show MichaelAnagnos how much Helen had learned. On their way down to the Institute, Annie read Hans Christian Andersen's Tales and other poems to Helen. Helen loved the poems.

She especially liked Oliver Wendell Holmes and John Greenleaf Whittier. When the two girls arrived at the Institute, Helen immediately fit in. All the children there were either blind or deaf, so Helen understood the way their life was. Most of the children there spoke using the manual alphabet which had been invented by Trappist monks many years before. The monks came up with the manual alphabet because they had taken a vow of silence so they had to have some way of communicating. Laura Bridgman, who was now about sixty years old, still lived in the Institute.

Annie had known Laura from her previous years at the Institute, so wanted to introduce her to Helen. Helen became excited knowing that she was soon to meet Laura, but that excitement left her shortly after she did. Laura immediately recognized Annie's fingers other lips, and was thrilled to have Annie back. But since Laura's development had stopped after childhood, she had never been able to really understand the world.

She was normally an unhappy lady, and it made her even more unhappy to know that there was another person who had accomplished the same feat as her. So Laura kissed Helen's cheek, but didn't exactly make her feel welcome. Laura had been crocheting lace, but didn't let Helen touch it because she thought Helen's hands were dirty. She said, "Helen, you must not be forward when calling on a lady". 3 Helen was hurt by the way Laura treated her, but soon became happy again because she enjoyed the Perkins Institute so much.

Annie and Helen spent the entire winter of 1888 at the Perkins Institute, during which time Helen learned many things. While there, Helen had her first lesson in History. Annie took Helen to Plymouth where they both touched the rock on which the pilgrims had landed years before. She also climbed Bunker Hill Monument.

Helen also learned to swim, and especially liked to toboggan. Michael was extremely impressed with how much Helen had learned. He encouraged Annie to keep working, because Helen was learning fast. He said, "Helen, Iam so impressed with the progress you have made that I will call you the eighth wonder of the world". 4 Michael and Helen became so close that, whenever he would leave town, he would write to her, just as he had when Annie was attending the Institute. While living in the Institute this first year, Annie thought Helen was ready to learn how to read.

Louis Braille invented a way of reading for the blind in 1829, which can be described as having raised dots on paper. Annie took cardboard pieces and printed letters on them. Day after day the two went over the different words, and Helen finally caught on. Annie gave Helen Reader for Beginners, a dictionary of words in Braille. 5 Helen read the book many times, until she could read the words fluently. When summer came around, the Perkins Institute had to close, so the girls had to make a decision where to live for their vacation.

It was decided that they stay with Mrs. Hopkins, an old friend of Annie in Cape Cod. Helen was thrilled. Her dream had always been to go swimming in the ocean. The first time Helen went swimming, she swallowed the sea water, and was pushed underwater by a wave. Luckily her teacher helped her out from the water.

After Helen settled down from the panic she was in, she said, "Who put the salt in the water anyway". 6 After that day, it took a while before she was not scared to swim in the ocean. Helen and Annie returned the following winter to the Perkins Institute. They stayed there off and on until 1891.

Helen was never enrolled as a student in the Institute, but often went to class with the students. Her favorite classes were those of Greek, Latin, and German. Michael and Helen were still really close, and wrote each other frequently. Whence was away in Greece, she wrote him a long letter in French. He was amazed, and showed many people the letter that showed how talented Helen was getting. Although Annie was happy that Michael and Helen were friends, she wished that he wouldn't give her so much publicity.

Soon, Helen and Annie were known around the world. But because people were talking so much about their progress, lies were beginning to be made about them. Some of them including things like Helen could speak fluently, and could play the piano, neither of which were true. As the rumors circulated more, people began to think of Annie and Helen as frauds.

Annie encouraged Michael to quit bragging about Helen so much by saying, "Children require sympathy and guidance far more than praise". 7 After saying this, the rumors began to fade away. While still living in the Institute, Helen wrote her first book. It was entitled The Frost King.

8 Helen was only eleven years old at the time, and had written the story to Michael as a birthday present. The story was about the four seasons and how they came about. Michael had the book published, which brought attention again to Annie and Helen. She was praised until people began to notice that Helen's Frost King was very similar to Margaret Canby's The Frost Fairies.

9 People around the world including Michael began to accuse Helen of plagiarizing. Both Helen and Annie fought back against the accusations saying that Helen had never read the book. Helen was quoted as saying, "I love the beautiful truth, and I am not lying". 10 This controversy brought an end to the friendship between the girls and Michael, which also meant that they would no longer be staying in the Institute. Still today, there is no proof whether Annie and Helen had once read Canby's story. Although Helen's ending with the Institute was not one she had asked for, she always remembered the Institute as one of the best times of her life.

Annie and Helen traveled back to Tuscumbia in 1891, and stayed there until 1894. While living in Tuscumbia, Helen accomplished many honorable things. She raised two thousand dollars for blind children by saving her own pennies and collecting contributions from others around the town. She rescued a poor, blind and deaf boy from Pennsylvania by raising money for him to be sent to a school for the handicapped. When people would ask Helen why she was doing such nice things for people, she would answer, "I am preparing to assert my independence".

11 During the three years Helen was not attending school, she traveled a lot. On eman in particular that she liked to travel with was Alexander Graham Bell. He was the man who first gave Helen's parents the idea to enroll her in the Perkins Institute. Since then, they had become fairly close.

He took her to the Niagara Falls which Helen enjoyed. She liked the way the vibrations of the waterfalls felt. He taught Helen about Religion and Science and also told her numerous Greek oracles. In 1894 Helen was enrolled in a school for the deaf in New York.

It was named Wright-Huma son School. Annie traveled along with Helen to spell the teachings into her hand while the teachers taught. Helen became especially close to Miss Ready, her German teacher. Helen had progressed a lot in German, and was now even able to speak a little bit, and her Miss Reams also knew the manual alphabet. Whenever the two had a chance they would talk together in German. In February 1896, Captain Keller died.

Helen and Annie returned home for a few months to help comfort the family. Helen and her father had always been close, so the death was hard for her to move on. Helen is later quoted as saying, "Since my father died, there has been a vacancy in both my teacher's; and my lives, and it has never been filled". 12 Toward the end of October 1896, Helen entered Cambridge School for Young Ladies.

Annie again attended this school with her, it was even more necessary because the school was for normal children. Helen studied German, Latin, Arithmetic, History, and English Literature. Annie translated the lessons for Helen three school days a week. The other two days were translated by the school's principle. Not only was translating the lessons for Helen difficult, but also very time consuming, for Annie had to help Helen with her nightly lessons also.

Helen was a very fluent Braille reader now and read many books. Her favorite, books were by Shakespeare and the Bible. Helen and Annie continued to attend Cambridge School for Women until 1900. Helen's goal ever since she had been able to read was to attend college, preferably Radcliff, or Harvard University. She reached this goal in 1900, when she was accepted into Radcliff.

At first, Helen was eager to learn, and meet new people. Then, as she later quotes, "I began to feel that there were disadvantages in going to college". 13 She thought this, because there was never enough time for her to study, and have fun. During class, Annie interpreted the lessons, like she always had, but since the lecture hall was so large, it was sometimes hard for Annie to hear what the professor was saying, which made translating to Helen difficult. The professors also talked really fluently, making it hard to translate everything. Helen described her time in college as, "a race against time".

Although Helen didn't especially love her time in Radcliff, she was a good student. She took as many classes as the other students, including Latin, German, History, English composition, and English Literature. Studying at Radcliff made Helen realize that she needed to decide what she would do for a career for the rest of her life. She had always wanted to do something involving the blind or deaf, but she didn't know what. The Queen of Roumania, Carmen Sylva, asked Helen if she might want to manage a home for the Roumanian blind. Helen felt honored to be asked to do this, but knew that she was not capable of such a task, so she turned the queen down.

After a couple of years at Radcliff, Helen began to get extremely good grades in English. During these years, she became close friends with Mark Twain. He, along with others, encouraged Helen to go into writing stories. Helen liked the idea, but still had a desire to work with the blind and / or deaf. She asked herself, "Why not do both?" Helen says later about Twain, "He opened many windows in my dark house".

14 Helen started writing, but also finished college with honors in English, German, and advanced credit in Latin. She was praised for doing to so well in college, with the disabilities that she has had. Her example influenced and continues to influence other handicapped people to keep trying, no matter how difficult things may seem at the time.

Bibliography

1 Helen Keller, Story of my Life. (Park Ridge, New Jersey: Andor Publishing., 1976), p.
17.2 Ibid., p. 24.3 Van Wyck Brooks, Helen Keller. (New York: E.P. Dutton and Company., 1956), p.
30.4 Marion March Brown, The Silent Storm. (New York: Abingdon Press., 1983), p.
24.5 Ibid., p. 26.6 Helen Keller, Story of my Life. (Park Ridge, New Jersey. Andor Publishing., 1976), p.
30.7 Ibid., p. 36 8 Ibid., p. 40.9 Van Wyck Brooks, Helen Keller. (Park Ridge, New Jersey. Andor Publishing., 1976), p.