Helen Keller (1)Critiques

When a toddler, Helen Keller was stricken with a devastating illness which left her both deaf and blind. With no means of communicating her desires, needs or emotions with her family members, her next few years were tumultuous for all. Anne Sullivan, a teacher, arrived at their home when Keller was six years old and was successful over time in breaking through Keller's veil of darkness and silence, beginning by teaching her the names of objects in her environment by spelling words into her hand. Keller ultimately learned to read braille, to write and type using a braille typewriter, and even to speak aloud with intensive coaching. She also became a student of history, mathematics, and multiple languages, and graduated from college. This is the first of her autobiographies, written at age twenty.

In my youth I had read an abridged-for-children version of this autobiography, and that, combined with cultural knowledge absorbed, made her story already feel pretty familiar. As the book is overall relatively brief, the addition of correspondence was interesting, particularly Keller's earliest efforts, but I grew somewhat bored with her letters after a while. When I try to imagine how one could successfully learn abstract concepts without the benefit of sight or hearing it kind of blows my mind. Keller was clearly possessed of great intelligence and a brain starved for learning during her years of darkness. As someone with full use of all my senses I have difficulty imagining the rigor of her studies, not to mention the selfless dedication of Sullivan whose constant presence, and who had to spell every single word of every conversation and in every textbook out for Keller using the hand alphabet, made Keller's achievements possible. I find it impossible that Sullivan didn't experience burnout, but her own feelings about her 50-year commitment are rarely spoken of.

This is Helen Keller’s autobiography (for about the first half). Then, it includes some of the letters Helen wrote to various people. Helen, of course, was both blind and deaf in the late 19th century as a child when she and a teacher had a breakthrough as her teacher, Annie Sullivan, was trying to teach her to communicate. Helen grew up to become very educated and published more than one book.

I listened to the audio, and it was ok, but I did lose focus more than I would have liked. It turns out Helen loved books and reading, which was interesting. It was kind of repetitive between the biography portion, then much of what was in the letters had already also been mentioned in the autobiography. Helen Keller was a pretty impressive woman.

A fabulous and candid story of Helen Keller’s education. There are times I forgot her disabilities. Such wonderful insight to an amazing woman.

I can see how it would make a good young adult biography.

If I had read Helen Keller's The Story of My Life without this version's supplementary accounts by her teacher Anne Sullivan, her editor John Macy, and the introduction and afterward by Roger Shattuck, I'd have been very skeptical of it because the eloquence of the writing. How could she have had such a strong connection to the world of language, as isolated as (I thought) she was? The additional material about her life experiences, her education, the unique methods used by her teachers, and her own lifelong devotion to reading and letter writing erased any trace of skepticism I had.

One of the most beautiful books I have ever read.It is so wonderful..thanks to school..we got the unabridged version for reading this year.
Helen Keller is one of the most awesome people ever..She is determined,intelligent and funny.I got even more fond after I realized that we have a common love for books and that we both dislike examinations and textbooks with passion.She is not afraid to say what's in her heart.She has written about both her good and bad times.Again,I was able to understand her more after she told about her inability in solving math problems.She is a nature loving outdoorsy person that we love and is very extrovert.She is nice to everyone she meets which makes us love her even more.What makes her so amazing is that she is ever ready to acknowledge the people who have helped her and is grateful and down to earth.Love you,Helen Keller..you just went into my list of role-models!

Helen Keller's story is inspirational and must read for any person who wants to understand a memoir of an individual who had special needs during a time period when she would have been more isolated from society. Her story is important for parents, educators, and social scientists as we strive to create a more inclusive world that includes those with disabilities. Inspiring and tragic in equal measure.

It is very inspirational to hear Keller speak so honestly on her struggles of learning and studying. She admits sometimes it is wonderful to learn but sometimes it is tedious but yet she persevered and eventually attended and graduated college. It is also wonderful to hear how she describes people and smells. Every scene from her childhood is accompanied by a certain smell. She goes on for a while about different authors and stories but they are huge part of her life. One can really tell how much Keller loves life, nature, and her fellow humans.

"Silence sits immense upon my soul. Then comes hope with a smile and whispers, 'There is joy in self-forgetfulness.' So, I try to make the light in others' eyes my sun, the music in others' ears my symphony, the smile on others' lips my happiness." (pg. 142)
"For, after all, every one who wishes to gain true knowledge must climb the Hill Difficulty alone" (pg. 106)

The autobiography of Helen Keller, written when she was still quite young, as she had just finished college. It is a fascinating thing to even contemplate what a brilliant mind she had despite the obvious obstacles that were set in her way at such an early age. My greatest admiration goes to Miss Sullivan, without whom Helen Keller's mind would undoubtedly remained locked in her disabled body.

Miss Keller describes things so vividly it is difficult to remember that she has not seen nor heard any of the things with which she has become acquainted by her senses of touch, taste and smell or her extensive reading. Throughout the reading you simply keep saying to yourself, "what a remarkable woman." Were the subject of this book not so fascinating, I doubt it would hold the interest as acutely as it does. I was amazed at the number of noted people who took an interest and had a direct impact on her life. Alexander Graham Bell being one of the key figures who enabled her to find a way out into the world and help to foster her education.

Well worth reading, with a solid 3.5 star rating.

This is Helen Keller's memoir. She was a deaf and blind woman born in late 19th century and ultimately became a world renowned inspirational figure. I think she wrote this memoir while she was still in college. She wrote about her childhood, how she became educated, how she got into college and what she thought of college, her favorite books, her favorite hobbies....etc.

I was very interested in how she learned language. She didn't know any language at all until she was 6! So when she did start to learn, she didn't learn language the way babies did, naturally and almost effortlessly picking up bits and pieces. She learned it the way I learned English when I was 8 years old -- by intentionally memorizing vocabulary words, doing a lot of "listening" and reading, and applying grammatical rules to structure the words she knew into sentences. I think she's just a genius. She was capable of understanding the content of Little Lord Fauntleroy being "read" (i.e. spelled into her hand) to her after learning English for only a year. And over her teenage years she became fluent in French, German, Greek and Latin. Not just simple sentences. She could actually read literature written in these four languages. That's incredibly gifted!

And something really interesting happened to her when she first started to learn language. Apparently she was so gifted, she was capable of memorizing an entire story word for word without even trying. This was so effortlessly a part of how she leaned English, she would memorize passages and forget the source. Then when she later tried to write a short story, she unknowingly used sentences word for word from a fairytale she read before; and people found out; and that became a big plagiarism scandal that made her scared of writing fiction for the rest of her life. She wrote about this incident in detail in her memoir. I think it's likely that when she read the fairytale, she was not even fluent enough in English to comprehend it; she just memorized the content anyways. And then she used whatever was already in her word bank when she needed to do relevant things with language. It's a common practice in learning second languages.

I didn't realize it before, but upon reading the memoir it became apparent that Helen Keller came from a wealthy family. They provided her with all kinds of enrichment and resources, including a pony to ride, a servant girl to be her playmate, a live-in tutor, access to all the best schools for the deaf or blind and the best educators, and means to travel to various places for leisure, both tourist attractions and summer homes, with her tutor at her side. Her extraordinary achievements were the result of a combination of her own giftedness and her family's financial means.

Mark Twain once said that the two most fascinating people of the 19th century were Napoleon and Helen Keller. I've yet to read anything on Napoleon but I can feel the fascination with Helen.

This edition was in three parts. The first is a series of installments originally written for the Ladies Home Journal in 1902. Serial installments just don't strike me really well. Or it could just be that Helen Keller does not give herself credit to the person she became. Later I realized that it's the words that she doesn't say that say the most.

Helen if you do not know is both blind and mute. She writes better than most people and thinks more than most people. She wanted to do everything that everyone else did ... learn to talk, go to college ... and never did brag about it. Three's a quiet determined ... innocent strength about her. I've written about a load bravado of a strength within us that brandishes a sword in the middle of a bloodstained battlefield. There's the patient energy wisdom of an elder. Then there's Helen ... innocent and determined. Not knowing her limitations she has exceeded our expectations.

Her letters filled the second part of the book. One must smile when watching the learning curve of her first letters to the advanced letters at the end.

The final part Anne Sullivan writes her version. I appreciate Helen more after listening to Anne's version. Anna gives us some contrast to Helen against the world that we understand.

Beautiful book about a beautiful person.

It's actually a rollercoaster of feelings that I went through when I read Keller! I was so curious to know how she became this influencial of a person with all her misfortunes!
Equally enjoying and insighful read. Pleasuring every broken bit of mine. Assuring I'm more privileged and spoiled for what I have.
She's a brave woman I respect. As a little girl she's like all us. Doing naughty, laughing around and playing games . But she was also mature for her age because she had to be brave to face the world. I loved meeting her parents and teacher and her friends. Their support and love is what made Helen what she is!
And also great admiration to her, she make us realise no little thing in this world is perfect and had to be belittled!!

Helen Keller's triumph over her blindness and deafness

This was the only book on a "never-finished" shelf. I abandoned it because I thought the supplemental material of Helen Keller's letters, personality, speech, and literary style, as well as the account of Miss Sullivan's teaching methods, would be dull to read. In parts they were; but I found most of it fascinating, because no one at the time thought it possible, let alone necessary, to teach a deaf-blind child in the same way you would teach one who can see and hear. This book is proof that if allowed to flourish, a child is a lot smarter than adults think it is.

A truly fascinating account in Helen’s own words about her earliest memories before her teacher arrived, her experiences of discovering language and connecting with the world around her, and the obstacles she overcame to reach her goal of going to college.

It also contains samples of Helen’s letters and a supplementary account from Anne Sullivan describing how she navigated the uncharted territory of teaching a young girl with no sight or hearing how to communicate effectively.

Have to read this for school. UGH.

Interesting. Uneventful. Written when she was 22, Keller reflects on her childhood and what she learned from Teacher (Sullivan) as well as recounting people she met and books she read and languages she studied (French & German). Actually a very accomplished young lady and if you factor in that she's blind and deaf, it almost seems magical. But, not presented in a particularly interesting way. It was ...... ok.

I liked this book, but some things I didn't understand. I couldn't understand how she knew what race someone was unless someone told her. I mean she couldn't see? How did she know if someone did a great job in a play or not without being able to see or hear? I loved her words, but I just kept wanting to know more about how she was able to do some of the things she was able to do. This book has me wanting to read more about her life.

This is a composition of Helen Keller's diaries, notes, and observations from her childhood up through her time in college. She talks openly of what it was like to be blind and deaf, to finally learn once a teacher was brought to her that could help her learn to communicate, and how she decided what she was going to study in college. She talks openly about her disability and how hard it was for her to go to college knowing her professors could not communicate well with her and it would be hard for her to access the curriculum.



The story of Helen Keller is near and dear to me. Having a daughter who is legally blind, Helen Keller is an inspiration. I see what she was able to accomplish at the turn of the century, and how far accessibility has come for the blind. Helen was reliant on her teacher so much more than students today are. Technology for the blind plus the development of cochlear implants for the deaf has changed the world for these two classes of disabilities.



As for the book, well.....it was fine. IT was a little boring - as I am sure more people would find reading anyone's diary a bit boring. I wanted to hear more about her story and and her struggle, but what it mostly was - was her mundane day to day activities. Almost to a fault she would explain visits from people in great detail. It was constant positive spin from Helen's point of view. She seemed to live an extremely normal life according to her account. What was revealing was actually notes at the end that spoke more of the truth about Helen and her daily life. (as in - she still had a very difficult getting around even her most familiar environments). I would rather it has been more truthful than all rainbows and sunshine.

This short book is a glowing testament to the will and determination of human spirit, and to the enjoyment of life even in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

Helen Keller, blind and deaf due to an early childhood illness, lives in painful emotional isolation until the arrival of her beloved teacher, Miss Sulivan. She teaches Helen language by spelling words into her hand. Soon she learns to read, write, and eventually, she is determined to learn speech and lipreading via touching. She enrolls in college, writes with a Braille typewriter, and with her teacher’s assistance, enjoys a variety of activities that would have been unattainable before for a blind and deaf person - such as swimming, bicycling and theater. She particularly enjoys reading, experiencing stories and sensations otherwise unattainable to her. She learns Greek and German, meets and converses with wide array of interesting and famous people, and keeps a large correspondence.

I was particularly struck by her great enjoyment of life and the richness of her descriptions of her experiences and sensations. We assume that seeing and hearing are just about all of our experience - Helen proves otherwise. Another surprise is the eloquence, the richness of language. For someone unable to hear sounds and see letters, to attain such a high degree of literacy, it makes one think that anything is possible.

The reason I deducted a star was because she wrote this at 22, so it mainly deals with her education, and it gets a bit repetitive towards the end. Overall, a book that everyone should read. So inspiring.

This was incredibly disappointing...more like a text book than a memoir.

I was never aware that faith was so important in the life of Helen Keller until reading this little book. It is filled with quotes and thoughts from her various previously published books. Lots of inspiring stuff here, especially taking into consideration all of it was written by a woman that had conquered not only being deaf, blind and mute- learning how to not only speak English, but several other languages. One poem she wrote that I thought profound:

"They took away what should have been my eyes,
(But I remembered Milton's Paradise).
They took away what should have been my ears,
(Beethoven came and wiped away my tears).
They took away what should have been my tongue,
(But I had talked with God when I was young).
He would not let them take away my soul--
Possessing that, I still possess the whole."

and a quote:

"I, too, may construct my better world, for I am a child of God, and inheritor of a fragment of the Mind that created all worlds."

and one last one to leave you with:

"The conflict between the artistic impulse and the calculating scientific tendency in modern times repels me-- a future civilization is likely to be hard, practical, monotonous. I feel fortunate indeed that it has been possible for me to be a barbarian, to enjoy sculpture, poetry, happy make-believe in bleak corners of my limitations. It seems to me more urgent than ever to foster in the present young generation a spiritual philosophy and imagination that shall keep the morning dew in their souls when an age arrives that knows not the muses."

I remember reading this 10 years ago, such is the lasting impression of this feisty girl and dedicated teacher. The book was not easy to get into but the outcome is nothing short of a miracle.

Earlier this year, Andrew was heading to pick up Jefferson in Chicago, and wanted a book to entertain him in the car on the way home. I handed him a children's biography of Helen Heller that I had loved as a child. Evidently Jefferson loved it, too. So for our Christmas road-trip I was sure to include a biography of her teacher, Anne Sullivan, also from my childhood, in my bag of tricks. These things, combined with coming across references to Helen Keller as a progressive icon in her adult life, made me grab this memoir for my stack of prospective New Year's Eve reads.

As it turns out, Keller wrote this autobiography at the age of 22, so it didn't get me any closer to understanding her activism in later life. But this slim book is still remarkable for the joy in life that leaks through the print, and then conversely her intensely introspective self-criticism for limitations that I feel NEARLY EVER OTHER HUMAN BEING HAD AT HER AGE.

I am happy to have read it and will be glad to share it with Jefferson, but I think I'll wait a few years, so the descriptions of her prep school and college studies will be more relatable.

An amazing autobiography by Helen Keller. An illness makes her both deaf and blind as a little child. With the help of an untiring and patient teacher she learns how to communicate with the outer world through sign language signed into her hand, and later she learns to read and even reaches the university.

What struck me most was the joyous spirit she possesses. Her wonder and appreciation of nature, friends, art, litterature and just the exitement of the everyday events like smelling a flower or touching a dog. She enjoys going to the museum and let her hand grace the sculptures:

I sometimes wonder if the hand is not more sensitive to the beauties of sculpture than the eye. I should think the wonderful rhythmical flow of lines and curves could be more subtly felt than seen. Be this as it may, I know that I can feel the heartthrobs of the ancient Greeks in their marble gods and goddesses.

I found her determination and joy in the everyday life very refreshing and inspiring, despite of her limitations and sorrow.

Is it not true, then, that my life with all its limitations touches at many points the life of the World Beautiful? Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.

Sometimes, it is true, a sense of isolation enfolds me like a cold mist as I sit alone and wait at life’s shut gate. Beyond there is light, and music, and sweet companionship; but I may not enter. Fate, silent, pitiless, bars the way…. Silence sits immense upon my soul. Then comes hope with a gentle smile and whispers, “There is joy in selfforgetfulness”. So I try to make the light in others’ eyes my sun, the music in others’ ears my symphony, the smile on others’ lips my happiness.