The Story of My Life( Chapter: 1-3)




Answer the following question in 200 - 250 words.

 (a) From ‘The Story of My Life’, describe the relation between Helen Keller and Martha
Washington.
In the book - The Story of My Life Helen provides insight into her struggles to
communicate. Before the arrival of her teacher, Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller
sought out the companionship of Martha Washington, the African American
child of the family cook.
Helen and Martha developed a system of signs to communicate during play
and Martha appeared to tolerate Helen’s eccentric behaviour.
Martha understood Helen and needed little explanation of what Helen may
want even recognizing when and where Helen wanted to go. She indulges
her, understands her signs, and allows her to dominate their games. The two
shared a great love for mischief which is probably one of the reasons why
Helen related so well to her.
They spent a great deal of time in the kitchen and the stables, doing a variety
of tasks. Hunting for the eggs of the guinea fowl in the long grass was one of
their greatest delights.
Martha’s relation with Helen indicates that she was intuitive, even at such a
young age, patient and understanding.
Martha lived with the Keller family until Helen moved to a larger house before
the birth of her sister, Mildred and the death of her father.

(b) Discuss the role of nature in Helen’s childhood. Why does Helen find the garden to
be a source of comfort?
Helen lived with her family in a house that was completely covered with vines,
climbing roses and honey suckles. It was the favourite haunt of the humming
birds. A few steps away from the homestead was a garden. It was the paradise
of Helen’s childhood.
In the days before Anne Sullivan came into her life, and Helen realized that
she was different from others .When she was neither able to understand what
two people were conversing nor communicate to others what she wanted due
to her handicap, it vexed her and at times she kicked and screamed until she
was exhausted.
She sought refuge in the garden. Helen used to occupy herself feeling along
the stiff boxwood hedges. She followed smell to find the violets and lilies. She
went to find comfort and hide her hot face in the cool leaves and grass. It gave her joy to lose herself in the garden of flowers and wander happily from spot
to spot. When she came upon a beautiful vine, she recognized it by feeling its
leaves and blossoms.

(c) In what ways do Helen's intelligence and talent cause her frustration and rage?
Helen Keller was an active child full of curiosity about her surroundings. In the
first few months after her illness Helen Keller learned some kind of
communication with her mother. By the time she was five, she knew what was
going on about her.
She soon realized that that she was different from other people. They did not
use signs when they communicated, so when she tried communicating the
way they did without success, it frustrated and angered her.
She took refuge in the garden because she could not express herself.
Helen also tried mimicking her father’s actions as he read a newspaper, even
wearing his spectacles, thinking they might help solve the mystery but it only
added to her confusion.
Helen's intelligence and talent to learn by feeling allowed her to gain an
understanding of her surroundings. It also meant that she was more easily
frustrated.
The awareness that she was ‘different’ and that she could not communicate
effectively caused bouts of rage. Her intelligence did not seem to make any
difference in her attempts to communicate.
This led to frequent temper tantrums, sometimes hourly.
This was one of the motivations that drove her parents to seek help.

(d) ‘During the whole trip I did not have one fit of temper.’ Explain with reference to the
novel - ‘The Story of my Life’.
When Helen was about six years old, her father heard of an eminent oculist in
Baltimore who had been successful in many cases that had seemed hopeless.
They travelled by train and Helen describes the journey as pleasant. She made
friends with many people on the train. A lady gave her a box of shells, her
father made holes in them and stringing them kept

her busy and contented.
She went round with the conductor, clinging to his coat tails. He let her play
with his ticket punch and she amused herself for hours making funny holes in
bits of cardboard.
Her aunt made her a doll out of towels with no nose, mouth ears or eyes. The
absence of eyes struck her as being the most conspicuous defect with the
doll. Others were unable to provide the solution until Helen herself thought of
the beads on her aunt’s cape as eyes for the doll.
She had so many things to do during the journey to keep her mind and fingers
busy hence she did not lose her temper even once.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Image
\ Summary  The Rime of the Ancient Mariner relates the experiences of a sailor who has returned from a long sea voyage. The mariner stops a man who is on the way to a wedding ceremony and begins to narrate a story. The wedding-guest's reaction turns from bemusement to impatience to fear to fascination as the mariner's story progresses, as can be seen in the language style: Coleridge uses narrative techniques such as personification and repetition to create a sense of danger, the supernatural, or serenity, depending on the mood in different parts of the poem. The mariner's tale begins with his ship departing on its journey. Despite initial good fortune, the ship is driven south by a storm and eventually reaches Antarctic waters. An albatross appears and leads them out of the ice jam where they are stuck, but even as the albatross is praised by the ship's crew, the mariner shoots the bird. The crew is angry with the mariner, believing the albatross broug...
Read more

A Shady Plot

Image
Summary: ‘Shady Plot’ by Elsie Brown is a ghost story. Unlike the usual horror stories, this ghost story is an amusing one. It involves three main characters, John Hallock, his wife Lavinia and a ghost Helena. John Hallock was a writer and also worked as a book keeper for a lumber company. He was urged by his employer Mr. Jerkins to write a new ghost story for his magazine. He told Mr. Hallock to write a very horrifying story with supernatural elements because the public liked these kinds of stories. The writer agreed to this proposal for no one else printed his stuff. He was surprised how he could have written the earlier ghost stories for he was not a specialist in this genre. Whenever he had decided to write a ghost story, surprisingly the plot had appeared from nowhere. The writer sat down to pen the story, though no idea occurred to him. In fact his mind was wandering towards his wife’s shopping trips and other unghostly things. Suddenly, the ghost Helena appeared...
Read more

TEST-2

Section A: Reading                                                           20 marks 1. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow. 1 In the year 2000, the Sattriya dances of Assam received recognition as one of the eight classical dance forms of India. Some of the other traditions have been revived in the recent past, however, Sattriya has remained a living tradition since its creation by the founder of Vaishnavism in Assam, the great saint Srimanta Sankardeva, in the 15th century. 2 The core of Sattriya Nritya has usually been mythological stories. This was an artistic way of presenting mythological teachings to the people in in an accessible, immediate, and enjoyable manner. Traditionally Satrriya was performed only by bhokots (male monks) in monasteries as part of their daily rituals or to mark s...
Read more