The Education of Laura Bridgman (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Ernest Freeberg
- First Published: 2001
- Type of Work: Biography
- Time of Work: 1829-1889
- Setting: Hanover, New Hampshire, and Boston, Massachusetts
- Principal Characters: Laura Dewey Bridgman, Samuel Gridley Howe, Charles Dickens, Julia Ward Howe, Mary Swift, Helen Keller, Anne Sullivan
- Genres: Nonfiction, Biography
- Subjects: Teaching or teachers, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Nineteenth century, Blindness or blind persons, New England, New Hampshire, Disabilities or physically challenged persons, Deafness or hearing-impaired persons, Massachusetts
- Locales: Boston, MA, New Hampshire
In the middle years of the nineteenth century, Laura Bridgman was one of the best-known women in the world, possibly second only to Queen Victoria. Her mentor, Samuel Gridley Howe, publicized her accomplishments as proof of the power and resilience of human nature. Ernest Freeberg, mindful of Howe’s importance in Bridgman’s life, accords him a major role in her biography, using Howe’s ideas to illuminate mid-nineteenth century beliefs.
Samuel Gridley Howe, born November 10, 1801, attended Brown University because his father, an ardent Jeffersonian, refused to send him to...
[The entire page is 2007 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
