Student Question
What do you like or dislike about The Story of My Life by Helen Keller?
Quick answer:
"The Story of My Life" by Helen Keller is an inspiring and motivational autobiography that details her early years and her determination to overcome her disabilities. Some readers criticize the formal language and focus on normalcy rather than her disabilities. However, the book is celebrated for its portrayal of Keller's resilience and inner strength, offering hope and optimism. It emphasizes her desire for communication, education, and achievement, appealing to both disabled and non-disabled audiences.
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller is an autobiographical account of Helen's early years. It includes descriptions by and letters from her teachers, mentors and friends in order to give a full account of those years without detracting from or deliberating on the very emotional turmoil that filled some of those years.
The Story of My Life is NOT a novel as it is a true-life account whereas a novel is a fictitious account but with many realistic elements - thus making it believable.
Whilst The Story of My Life is motivational and inspiring some have criticized it for the formal language that would normally not accompany a life story. Helen's style is a result of her access to language being mainly through the written word as conversation and thus the ability to use a conversational tone would obviously have escaped her understanding.
Helen has also been criticized for...
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her recounting in her book of her efforts to be "normal" rather than how she manages her disabilities. Her life is spent striving to be just like a sighted, hearing and speaking person which of course she is not. This however is the whole point:
I try to make the light in others’ eyes my sun, the music in others’ ears my symphony, the smile on others’ lips my happiness.
Every person is "normal" within the context of his or her own life and "normal" is a relative word. Helen strived for a means to communicate, a better education, success, achievement and to help others who face the same - or even a fraction of her - difficulties. It highlights the ignorance of those who do not suffer any disabilities to suggest that her life story should be one about her differences from others rather than her similarities and her desires for exactly the same things as everyone else.
From a personal perspective, I cannot fault the book. It is not meant to be a piece of literature that is to be studied for its artistic merit or contribution to literary styles nor is it meant to make the reader feel sorry for someone so afflicted that we would have understood if she had disappeared into oblivion, the task too much to expect! The amazing thing about The Story of My Life is that it has the capacity to appeal to everyone. It is not motivational only for those who have disabilities but for those who have the "gift" and yet do not make the most of it.
Do you like the book The Story of My Life by Helen Keller? Why?
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller is a very good book, well-written, compelling, and inspiring in equal measure. It gives the reader a privileged glimpse into a world of darkness and silence, yet a world which is still full of hope and optimism.
Despite Helen's serious disabilities she's able to dig deep into her soul and find the courage to make something of her life, to get an education and acquaint herself with as much knowledge as she can get. More than anything else, Helen's story is a triumph of the will. Her vast inner strength means that at no point is she ever an object of pity, a passive victim of disability unable to define herself.
Helen's blindness and deafness are an integral part of who and what she is, but they don't tell us everything about her. As the story makes clear, there's something burning deep inside her, some life-force, if you will, that drives her on and enables her to surmount the numerous obstacles that her condition and an uncomprehending society have put in her way.
Having read this poignant memoir of a brilliant and courageous young woman when I was a girl, I was in absolute awe of the challenges that she overcame. Her story was, indeed, inspiring and Helen Keller's accomplishments were amazing to me. This experience of reading about Helen's determination to overcome her difficult challenges was humbling as I realized how insignificant and petty many of my own disappointments in certain circumstances were.
The Story of My Life has given hope to many children enrolled in various schools throughout the United States. Helen's home state of Alabama has The Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind. This institute is composed of the Alabama School for the Blind, the Alabama School for the Deaf, and the Helen Keller School, which is for those who are both blind and deaf (to some degree or another) and who sometimes have other disabilities. Residents of the state pay no tuition to these schools.
Having been employed there, I personally know that at the School for the Blind, there are numerous copies of The Story of My Life in braille or in large print. These copies are a perennial favorite of students who are encouraged by Helen's memoir. Often they speak of a trip that they have taken to Tuscumbia, where they have touched the water pump at which Helen finally understood the meaning of Anne Sullivan's sign language. Furthermore, students who have only one of Helen's handicaps are certainly encouraged by someone who has both handicaps, feeling that if Helen could achieve what she did, they certainly should be able to succeed.
It is interesting to note that Miss Keller rewrote her memoir after receiving a braille copy. The revised format of short episodes makes for an easier read for younger readers, and for those who are new at braille reading. More importantly, the revisions have made the book truly Helen's. For this reason, The Story of My Life is all the more inspiring.
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller is an interesting and important book as it gives a first hand account of the experience of being deaf and blind in a world which, especially in the period she was writing, had only minimal accommodations in place. Its description of how Keller struggled to learn how to understand and communicate with people is fascinating, and its publication, and the continued advocacy of Keller herself, contributed much to improve the lives of people with disabilities and increase sympathy and understanding for them.
Despite the importance of the book, and the inherent interest of the narrative, I do not find the prose style particularly appealing, and do not generally enjoy autobiography as a genre. Thus while I enjoy what I learn from the book, and the sense of discovery of a world alien to my own experience, I do not find it pleasurable in the sense that I might enjoy Austen or Gibbon or Eco, or other writers whose prose style I enjoy.