Discussion Topic
Helen Keller's love for nature and its unkindness
Summary:
Helen Keller had a profound love for nature, finding it a source of joy and inspiration. However, she also experienced its unkindness, as exemplified by a traumatic incident where she was left alone in a storm, highlighting the challenges and dangers nature can present to those with disabilities.
How does Helen in The Story of My Life describe her love for nature and its unkindness?
Helen loves nature, but she describes a time when she was in a tree during a storm and realized nature could be frightening.
Helen adores nature. Anne Sullivan brings her into the fields to smell flowers and feel the waves of the grass. Helen is mesmerized. Nature seems wonderful, especially after her sheltered existence. It helps her experience the entire world and all life has to offer, despite her disabilities.
Even if you are blind and deaf, you can still enjoy nature. You can feel the sunlight on your face, smell flowers, and dip your toes in a pond. Helen Keller never really saw nature as dangerous or scary until one time she managed to climb a very tall tree.
Suddenly a change passed over the tree. All the sun's warmth left the air. I knew the sky was black, because all the heat, which meant light to me, had...
Unlock This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
died out of theatmosphere. (Ch. 5)
Helen can tell from the smell of the air that the weather is changing and thunder is imminent. She suddenly feels alone and vulnerable. She is in the tree, and the safe earth seems far away. Fortunately, Anne Sullivan rescues her.
...I clung to her, trembling with joy to feel the earth under my feet once more. I had learned a new lesson—that nature "wages open war against her children, and under softest touch hides treacherous claws" (Ch. 5).
This incident does not end Helen’s love for nature, but it tempers it a little. She realizes that nature can be wonderful, but also dangerous. You have to be careful of snow and water, for example. Even though Helen is missing two senses, being part of nature is important to her. It helps her feel alive. She just has to learn to interact with nature in a safe way.
In The Story of My Life by Helen Keller, what explains Helen's love for nature?
In The Story of My Life by Helen Keller, nature is fascinating, comforting and terrifying for Helen. When she is very young, Helen finds that the garden brings her relief from her frustrations; it is "the paradise of my childhood" (chapter 1). She recognizes sections of the garden by the smells and also the texture of the leaves and she is particularly in awe of the roses. The garden is her refuge because she can rely on her other senses (not sight and hearing) and, even if only momentarily, she is not restricted by her disabilities.
In chapter 5, after Annie Sullivan arrives and begins teaching Helen, she encourages Helen's love of the outdoors and helps her make the connection between her world and the world around her by making Helen feel that "birds and flowers and I were happy peers." Helen even remembers that her first lessons with Annie are "in the beneficence of nature." Helen notes that Annie does not concentrate on academic subjects at first but rather on "beauty in the fragrant woods, in every blade of grass, and in the curves and dimples of my baby sister's hand." However, Helen also learns about the unpredictability of nature and remembers how whilst climbing a tree "a nameless fear clutched at my heart." However, she sees it as another learning opportunity, and although she takes a long time to get over her fear, she does do so and feels "like a fairy on a rosy cloud."
Helen's education revolves around nature and she recognizes that "everything that could hum, or buzz, or sing, or bloom had a part" (chapter 6). Annie uses clay to teach Helen Geography and people send her collectibles which allow Helen to make associations and "learn from life itself." Helen recognizes that this love of nature stems from Annie's "genius" and continues to relish it. When out in the snow, she even suggests that the light is so bright that "it penetrated the darkness that veils my eyes" (ch 12). She finds the wind "exhilarating" while tobogganing and never misses an opportunity. She is inspired by her surroundings and this contributes to her positive frame of mind.