The King's Literature Series THE STORY OF MY LIFE Helen Keller

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2 Recommended for the Latest CBSE Syllabus The King's Literature Series THE STORY OF MY LIFE Helen Keller (Unabridged Edition) For Class X (Parts I and II) Annotated by: SANJAY KUMAR SINHA Author of The King's Grammar Guinness World Record Holder for: The Longest Grammar Teaching in the World for 73 Hours and 37 Minutes The Fastest Grammar Teaching in the World (L.)

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4 Preface Life is a dream, and we see dreams by closing our eyes. Whatever we sketch in our dream, we wish to see the same in our lives; but it is not possible as the real life is different from the dream world. It is our duty to remain consistent with the direction of our destination till will get to it in our real life. If the direction is right and the feelings are pious, we shall get to our destination at any cost one day, but we need to have dedication and a positive approach. Helen Keller's story proves the same. She achieved the pinnacle of her life even though she was incapable of seeing or speaking anything. She studied with common students and proved herself to be the best. She achieved the destination that even students with extraordinary skills cannot dream to get. In fact, her first story was blamed to be copied and she had to go through an insulting phase of life but she did not lose her patience. She knew that if she would attempt to write anything, she might face the same kind of accusations again so she intelligently decided to write the story of her own life so that none could claim that she had copied. She did not wish to see repeated failures in her life. Although all her sense organs were not as active as the normal students, she seemed to be more sensible than common students. In fact, it is not a story, it is a lesson to our life; a lesson of determination, dedication, and devotion. Sanjay Kumar Sinha thekingsgrammar@gmail.com Note : Pictures are based on imagination only. We are thankful to the various sources of internet websites for getting pictures and informations. We have tried to approach various sources for the uses of those pictures. In case we are not able to contact; please contact the concern authority at : thekingsgrammar@gmail.com Disclaimer : While the author of this book has made every effort to avoid any mistakes or omissions and has used his skill, expertise and knowledge to the best of his capacity to provide accurate and updated information, the author and S. Chand do not give any representation or warranty with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this publication and are selling this publication on the condition and understanding that they shall not be made liable in any manner whatsoever. S. Chand and the author expressly disclaim all and any liability/responsibility to any person, whether a purchaser or reader of this publication or not, in respect of anything and everything forming part of the contents of this publication. S. Chand shall not be responsible for any errors, omissions or damages arising out of the use of the information contained in this publication. Further, the appearance of the personal name, location, place and incidence, if any; in the illustrations used herein is purely coincidental and work of imagination. Thus the same should in no manner be termed as defamatory to any individual.

5 Contents Introduction 5 48 PART I Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter PART II Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Value-based Questions Assignments 258 Glimpses of Helen Keller's Life

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7 THE STORY OF MY LIFE CLASS X 6 HELEN KELLER The life of Helen Keller, the author of The Story of My Life, was full of ups and downs. In fact, she was a normal child but once she was so seriously ill that she could neither see nor hear anymore. Helen s parents, being worried about her future, contacted Perkins Institution for Blind, which was located at Boston. They wished to educate Helen to make her at least capable of understanding the common objects and ideas related to her life. Helen was an ambitious and dedicated girl who had the ability to face the challenges and conquer even under unfavourable circumstances. Being frustrated, Helen started to recall her memory, whether she would have ever heard such a story anywhere. Surprisingly, she had no idea how it all happened but it was really an unfortunate incident for her. Being a book lover, she could be seen busy reading books related to literature, grammar, languages, etc., but mathematics was not among her favourite subjects.

8 THE STORY OF MY LIFE CLASS X 7 Besides study, Helen liked swimming, canoeing, sailing, rowing, etc. During her life, she went for many excursions and even met scientists, authors and so many literary personalities and came to know about their experiments and adventures in their related fields. Helen was emotional and honest but once she was shocked to know that she was blamed for copying a story. In fact, she wrote The Frost King but ultimately it was found that the sentences were same as Frost Fairies written by Miss Canby. Although Helen was a handicapped girl, she proved herself to be better than common students. While attending lectures with normal students, she had so many difficulties but her devotion helped her to adjust to those conditions and reach the destination of life. Helen obtained her graduate degree from Radcliffe College in She got the doctorate from Harvard University and got so many awards from various universities. Even after her death in 1968, she is still remembered for her never-ending struggle and her contribution to the social world.

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10 THE STORY OF MY LIFE CLASS X 9 MISS SULLIVAN In fact, Miss Sullivan's full name was Miss Anne Mansfield Sullivan. After doing her graduation from Perkins Institution, she started teaching at the age of twenty-one in March Because of poor family background, she had to join an almshouse located at Massachusetts. Miss Sullivan was an expert teacher for teaching blind and deaf students as she had adopted Howe s style of teaching deaf and blind students. She had sympathy for such handicapped students as she had lost her eyesight once at the almshouse. Fortunately, Miss Sullivan recovered and thus she seemed to be devoted to such handicapped students while teaching them. She was not only a teacher but also a friend. Her friendly behaviour prompted Helen to learn and give better results. Helen learnt Braille, the manual alphabets, so that she could communicate in a better way. Miss Sullivan s patience and forbearance were the keys to her successful teaching approach. Miss Sullivan seemed to be very creative and calculative as she used to take Helen outdoors in order to teach her various lessons relating to nature and other related sources helpful for Helen to get introduced to new things important in daily life. Despite being her teacher Miss Sullivan used to accompany Helen in her classroom in order to teach her the concept of teaching using spelled words on her hands. During the college days at Radcliffe, while attending lectures with common students, Miss Sullivan had to sit beside Helen and spell the lectures on her hands as fast as she could do. Although it was not an easy task, she did her job well with forbearance and patience. Even she worked hard to arrange the books related to Helen s courses printed in raised letters form particularly useful for those students who had no eyesight. Miss Sullivan's fingers and brain could be seen very busy and tireless trying to clear Helen s concept and get the desired result as soon as possible. She seemed to be selfless

11 THE STORY OF MY LIFE CLASS X 10 as she never wished to get something more for her dedicated efforts and hard-working approach. If her one attempt failed to provide the proper concept, she was ready with another. She used to keep on attempting continuously till she got the desired result. Miss Sullivan encouraged Helen to write something that could touch the soul of the readers. She was very happy when she came to know that Helen s story would get published soon. Unfortunately Helen was blamed for plagiarism, still Miss Sullivan did not lose her patience and pointed out to Helen her mistakes which might have been done by her unknowingly. Even then Miss Sullivan was very confident about Helen s talent and kept on inspiring her to prove her ability to the world. Miss Sullivan married John Albert who was known as Helen s editor. Her glittering success could be seen in the form of Helen Keller as she successfully completed The Story of My Life and made her immortal in the world of literary work. Miss Sullivan died in 1936.

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13 THE STORY OF MY LIFE CLASS X 12 MR ARTHUR GILMAN Mr Arthur Gilman, Principal of Radcliffe College, learnt manual alphabet as he desired to teach Helen. Thus, he could communicate directly to her without any hesitation. He seemed to be very friendly. Although Mr Arthur Gilman had so many students, he was anxious and desirous to teach Helen. He had a selfless attitude as he knew that Helen was unlike other common students and teaching her was a challenging task. A scholar of English Literature himself, he needed much dedication and forbearance as Helen could neither see nor speak. Helen learnt Macaulay s Life of Samuel Johnson, Burke s Speech on Conciliation with America, Shakespeare s As You Like It from Mr Arthur Gilman. Teaching such great literary works would never have been an easy task but he continued his efforts just for the sake of his sympathetic feelings for Helen. Mr Arthur Gilman was very reluctant and persistent in his approach to academic activities and literary approaches. Having come to know that Mildred s presence would make her feel psychologically active and positive, she wished to get his friendly company. Mr Arthur Gilman had a very calculative attitude. When he found that Helen was overburdened, he immediately advised to reduce her burden of study so that Helen could comfortably continue her study. According to his view, Helen should study the two-year course in three years. Although his suggestion was taken positively by Helen s parents and Miss Sullivan, Helen did not seem to show much interest in it.

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15 THE STORY OF MY LIFE CLASS X 14 DR ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL Dr Alexander Graham Bell was a well-known scientist who invented the telephone, which is a very important instrument. Nowadays it has become an integral part of human life. As Helen was only six years old, her parents were much worried about her future. They wished that she should have knowledge about at least the common elements of human life. Helen s parents came to know from reliable sources about Dr Graham Bell who could help them in such condition. He suggested them to go to Perkins Institution for Blind. After getting suggestion, they approached the authorities concerned and got a dedicated teacher named Miss Sullivan. Even though Dr Graham Bell belonged to a very high status family, he had a very kind attitude with friendly nature. He was the source of inspiration for Helen and he could be seen encouraging Miss Sullivan most of the time. While visiting World Fair, he expressed his views and gave details of so many experiments and discoveries. Having poetic feelings and love for the children, Mr Graham Bell used to mock and make fun in a friendly manner. Most often, he would be upset to see a handicapped child as he was very sensitive and emotional to the kids. Dr Graham Bell wished to dedicate his life to the welfare of deaf and blind students. Helen felt that all her achievements were because of Dr Bell s blessings and dedicated guidelines. As she completed The Story of My Life, she dedicated her literary work to Dr Alexander Graham Bell.

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