spirit free." The most significant part of those earliest memories are Helen's recollections of the garden " the paradise of my childhood" which would become Helen's vital link to the outside world as her senses of touch and smell became so crucial to her survival.

In chapter 2, Helen reveals her stubborn streak as she recalls an occasion when locks Miss Sullivan in a room and refuses to release the key, forcing her father to help Miss Sullivan out through a window. Helen's independence is also revealed and her attempts almost lead to disaster as she almost sets the house and herself on fire in an attempt to dry her apron. No mention is made of her parents reaction which is key as obviously their support contributes to her growing independence. Everything Helen does at least lessens the effect of her  "silent, aimless, dayless life." Martha Washington becomes her friend and helps Helen explore and have a life as normal as possible.

In chapter 3, there is a huge breakthrough as Helen's parents take her to Baltimore and onward to Washington where her appointment with Alexander Graham Bell will provide " the door through which I should pass from darkness into light." It is becoming urgent that she finds some way to communicate as her outburts are becoming unmanageable as they occur "daily, sometimes hourly."  It is subsequent to this meeting that will introduce the family to Ann Sullivan in chapter 4.

"The most important day I remember in all my life" is of course the arrival of Miss Sullivan who will become her companion, friend and interpreter. The event for which Helen Keller is most easily remembered takes place in chapter 4 as the word "W-A-T-E-R" becomes "That living word (that) awakened my soul."

In chapter 5 Helen has her first real scare as she experiences the full force of nature which "hides treacherous claws" under a soft exterior. Helen though learns from everything that happens to her.Chapter 6 expresses Helen's first attempts with language as she struggles to understand abstract concepts such as "love."

The importance of Helen's educaion and Ann Sullivan's approach is revealed in chapter 7 asanything that  can "hum, or buzz, or sing, or bloom" becomes a part of it. Learning to read is a great adventure and she learns from "life itself." Helen struggles with arithmetic but relishes anything natural. By chapter 8 she recalls an exciting Christmas experience and Chapter 9 is her first visit to Boston.

It is possible to learn a lot about the personality of this little girl in just a short space of time.  

Chapter 1:  Helen introduces her parents and writes of the early years of her life.  She explains the circumstances of the illness that left her deaf and blind.  A few months before her second birthday, Helen had become seriously ill.  Though she recovered in some ways, she never gained back her hearing or sight.

Chapter 2:  Helen writes of the years following her illness.  She explains how she adjusted to life.  She introduces Martha Washington, her close friend.  She also writes more about her parents.

Chapter 3:  Helen tells of how she desired to communicate more effectively as she grew older.  Her parents seek help, and take her to a doctor in Baltimore.  He recommends that they see Dr. Alexander Graham Bell.  Helen grows to love Dr. Bell when they meet.  He advises Helen's parents to contact Mr. Anagnos at the Perkins Institution.

Chapter 4:  Mr. Anagnos had recommended Miss Annie Sullivan to be Helen's teacher.  Miss Sullivan arrives, and Helen's life changes.  The teacher makes many attempts to teach Helen by spelling words into her hands.  One day, Helen finally makes the connection between words and objects.  Her life is transformed.  The first word Helen recognizes is "water."  She explains what learning this word did in her life:

That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free!  There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away. 

Chapter 5:  Helen eagerly learns whenever she can.  Miss Sullivan takes her out in nature.  She teaches her young pupil about the wonders of nature.  Helen gets stuck alone in a thunderstorm, and she is afraid.  She clings to a tree branch until Miss Sullivan comes.

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller is an autobiography, which was published when the author was in her early twenties.  In it, Helen told her life story from birth until she was in college.  Helen began by giving family background about her parents and ancestors.  She told about her early life, before she became deaf and blind due to an illness.  She detailed the facts about her illness.  Helen described her vague memories after she lost her sight and hearing:

I got used to the silence and darkness that surrounded me and forgot that it had ever been different.

Helen briefly wrote about what her life was like as a little girl, before Miss Sullivan came to be her teacher.  During this time, Helen struggled with frustration because she longed to be like everyone else.  She knew that she was different.  Her frustrations were manifested in fits of rage.

Desperate, Helen's parents contacted many experts.  Finally, they met with the famous Alexander Graham Bell.  He suggested that they contact Mr. Anagnos, who was in charge of the Perkins Institution for the Blind.  Through Mr. Anagnos, Mr. and Mrs. Keller were able to connect with Miss Sullivan.  The young woman came to Alabama to become Helen's teacher.

Miss Sullivan attempted to reach Helen by communicating with her.  Helen could not make the connection between the letters spelled into her palm by Miss Sullivan and the objects they were describing.  Finally, one day Miss Sullivan's teachings broke through.  Helen finally understood.  This changed her life.  Helen described this moment as her "soul's sudden awakening."  

Helen was a fast learner, and soon she knew how to spell and read using raised letters.  She left home with Miss Sullivan to attend school.  She even learned how to speak.  Throughout the first twenty years of Helen's life, she did a great deal of traveling.  Miss Sullivan, her constant companion, traveled with her.  Helen made friends wherever she went, whether it was in New York or in Nova Scotia.  Friendship was important to Helen.  She also loved to learn new things and to spend time in nature.

Helen eventually was accepted into Radcliffe College.  She was happy and relieved.  Helen ended her autobiography when she was still a student at Radcliffe.

Well, the first five chapters of The Story of My Life involve mostly exposition.  Helen Keller spends some time describing both the setting (her Alabama home) and the members of her family.  Helen Keller also relates the true story of how she became deaf, dumb, and blind.  In short, she had a sickness when she was almost two years old.  It involved a very high fever that was too high for her age and damaged her body as a result.  It left her both blind and deaf and, consequently, in not being able to see or hear, she wasn't able to speak well either.  Helen Keller then talks a lot about her very first memories: those of not being able to communicate with family members.  The frustration begins. 

What comes next is a very interesting description of how Helen Keller coped with the change in her life: the change from being able to see and hear to NOT being able to see and hear.  She vividly remembers all of the sounds and the sights of her early, early childhood!  (This shows Helen's intelligence.)  Unfortunately, they are just memories, and Helen is left to get used to both silence and utter darkness.  With no outside help, Helen makes up her own way to communicate with her family.  It isn't enough, however, and Helen Keller relates how, even though she knew she was incorrigible, she had to throw temper tantrums in order to make herself understood.

Even though Helen Keller wasn't able to understand it from this young age, the older Helen (writing the book) recounts how hard her mother and father tried to get her some kind of medical help.  More frustration ensued.  Finally, the most interesting and influential character appears: Anne Sullivan.  The older Helen Keller (again, the one writing here) relates her very earliest experiences with her teacher as both frustrating and even humiliating.  These are Helen Keller's first memories of real education.

Helen Keller's parents are hopeful when they hear about Boston's Perkins Institute.  First, though, they hear of Dr. Howe.  Dr. Howe had supposedly taught a girl named Laura who was both blind and deaf.  Then they hear about possible eye surgery, but as the eye doctor only points them to Dr. Bell (the famous Alexander Graham Bell in history), he suggests the Perkins Institution.

The Kellers DO contact Boston and the Perkins Institution and, when Helen is only six years old, Anne Sullivan arrives in Alabama to teach Helen.  Here is where we fast-forward through other works of literature such as The Miracle Worker.  By the end of chapter five, Anne Sullivan succeeds in teaching Helen the entire alphabet and Helen already understands that there is a word associated with every single thing she comes in contact with.  This is the key to Helen's further education.  Chapter five ends with this breakthrough.  Here is a beautiful description of Helen's feelings on the subject:

I began my studies with eagerness. Before me I saw a new world opening in beauty and light, and I felt within me the capacity to know all things. In the wonderland of Mind I should be as free as another [with sight and hearing]. Its people, scenery, manners, joys, and tragedies should be living tangible interpreters of the real world.