The book “The Story of My Life” written by Helen Keller talks about her own life from her point of view or an autobiography. Helen was born on June 27, 1880. When she was one year old, she became ill and lost sight and hearing. This proved very influential in Helen’s life, as she could not make people understand her. She often had temper tantrums until Miss Sullivan came to her house. Miss Sullivan was an understanding teacher because she had gotten through blindness, like her. Miss Sullivan taught her many things, but at first, Helen could not understand why they were spelled in her hands. When she knew that “w-a-t-e-r” was water, she finally got what was the point of the words. She learned to speak. She also went to Perkins Institute for the Blind and met Mr. Anagnos. She wrote a story for him but was misunderstood as plagiarism. It was very sad. She went to another school and learned history, Latin, French, German, and arithmetic. Later she attended Radcliffe College to finish her studies and get a degree. There was a new set of obstacles, and Helen eventually succeeded.
Helen Keller’s description of her life significantly expresses her pain in her world, which tells people not to discriminate against those who are disabled. Some people may be disabled, and those who are disabled need to endure the challenges of other people. When a person is disabled, many people consider this person useless. Thus, he receives little attention and sometimes may get hurt by others. Helen was often conceived by others as a disabled person, thus thinking that Helen does not have the potential to be successful. Even when the doctor came to see her, he believed that she could not live. According to Helen Keller’s description, “The doctor thought I could not live.” The signs she made up after she survived her illness were also becoming less adequate. She said, “The few signs I used became less and less adequate.” With this disadvantage, Helen was forced to endure days of the discrimination. The doctors believed that she could not live. Plus, the signs she used became less and less understandable, which means that people are not paying attention to her. It was maybe because she was blind and disabled, so others looked down on her. Helen needed to pull herself together so that she can endure the discriminations other people give her. People should not discriminate against a person because of their disability to do things normally.
Education is like a pathway to success and prosperity, which leads to an advanced life of a person; without dedicated and compassionate teachers, students would not learn well. Someone who has gone through similar experiences as another person will understand him best. This is because sometimes people can mindread some people like Miss Sullivan knew that Helen felt tense and anxious. Miss Sullivan had the best understanding of Helen. She had been through a case of blindness and felt the fear Helen had. Helen cannot decipher why Miss Sullivan is so compassionate and understanding. She says, “I cannot explain the peculiar sympathy Miss Sullivan had with my pleasures and desires. Perhaps it was the result of a long association with the blind.” She also describes, “It was my teacher’s genius, her quick sympathy, her loving tact which made the first years of my education so beautiful.” The right kind of teaching is most effective when teachers know what students want and how to motivate them. This way,, kids will like to learn more while having fun. A good teacher is a teacher who knows how to handle children to guide them to education. They also need to read their mind so that they know how to teach them. Before Miss Sullivan came, her family always didn’t know what she wanted to say. Because Miss Sullivan had a case of blindness before, she also knows Helen’s fear. Teachers are an essential part of student education, and good teachers are the key to a successful education.
Imperfection may cause people many difficulties in life, but persistence is constantly used in order to overcome the challenges. To be persistent is to not ever give up, but people often give up when things got tough. This is called imperfection. When people are persistent, imperfections can be pushed away. During Helen’s college years, she had many oral lessons, which she could not understand. Ms. Sullivan was going to translate it all for Helen, but for the first time, it seems that she was not fit for the task. Helen thinks, “Miss Sullivan was obliged to read all the books to me, and interpret the instructor, and for the first time in eleven years it seemed as if her dear hand would not be equal to the task.” Also, she has to work with other girls who can see and hear. The worst of all was that she had to take exams and tests. For example, Helen said that “Sometimes I lose all courage and betray my feelings in a way I am ashamed to remember.” A person always meets some challenges during his lifetime. People should be persistent in order to be successful, as Helen succeeded in her studies. This is an important skill in life. If people were not persistent, there would be a lot of failures and no success. Every person has his own imperfection, like how Helen could not interact with other girls, and Miss Sullivan could not do the task, so the college years were very hard. Helen thinks tests are bad because she would lose all her time on one question and she would not get a good score. Imperfection is a natural occurrence, and people should try as hard as they can to overcome them.
The book “The Story of My Life” is an inspiring and encouraging, while also a story with many difficulties. Helen is enduring all kinds of challenges, like contributing with other girls and Miss Sullivan translating texts to her. Because most people could see and hear, people often didn’t understand her. Helen was discriminated by many other people because she could not understand what other people said, and other people couldn’t understand what she said. Therefore they took her as invaluable, holding a low potential for success. Another things about this is that Helen had a really good teacher. Miss Sullivan knew how to contribute with Helen and other little blind children. She was very experienced and knew how to make learning fun. Even when Helen was studying most earnestly, she would think it was more like playing than work. Imperfection is also one of the important themes in the story. She was blind, and that was a major barrier between her and education. People should stop discriminating people and let them be. All people are created equal, and all people should be treated fairly. Also, everyone is different, so being blind or deaf does not mean that people should give up on themselves.
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