A presentation on "A Story of my life" by Helen Keller.

2. The story of my life is an autobiography of Hellen Keller,
written by her when she was in her 3rd year at Redcliffe
college. She was born on June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia,
Alabama, to Captain Arthur Henry Keller, a confederate
army veteran and a newspaper editor, and Kate Adams
Keller. By all accounts, she was a normal child. But at 19
months, Helen suffered an illness that left her deaf and blind.
Although Helen learned basic household tasks and could
communicate some of her desires through a series of signs,
she did not learn language the way other children do. For
the next five years of her life, Helen lived in isolation but her
mother succeeded in making her feel confident. As Helen
grew, so did her need to express herself. She began to have
tantrums that she was unable to prevent or control. In those
days her only playmate was Martha Washington

3. In the summers of 1886, her parents took her to the famous eye
specialist in Baltimore, the trip for her was very pleasant and
she made many friends. With his advice they met Dr. Bell and
this meeting became the gateway to light in her life. Acting his
advice, they talked to Mr. Anagnos, and he found a teacher
for Hellen who made her realize that Knowledge is supereme
power, love, light and vision. The arrival of the teacher Miss
Anne Sullivan, brought about a tremendous change in her life.
Taking a doll as a tool, she began to teach the narrator to
fingerspell using the manual alphabet. This brought a new ray
of hope in Helen’s life. Sullivan taught her to find beauty in the
various forms of nature. She learnt a new lesson during her tree
climbing in a stormy day that nature wages an open war
against her children and under softest touch hides treacherous
claws.

4. Helen said that learning process for a deaf child was a slow and
painful process, yet the result was wonderful. During the
understanding of love, she learnt that “you cannot touch the
love but you can feel the sweetness that it pours into
everything. Sullivan illustrated everything in the form of a story or
a poem, many difficult problems seemed as precious memories
to the narrator. Sullivan’s teaching techniques help the narrator
to be a nature lover. Every little thing attracted her and she felt
them by her touch. She was so much attracted to Miss Sullivan
that she could not think of life without her. Helen had her first
real Christmas celebration with Tuscumbia school children. For
the first time, she was a giver, as well as receiver, and she
enjoyed the anticipation. Her favorite present came from Anne
Sullivan - a canary named Little Tim.

5. Helen learned to care for him herself. Unfortunately, a big cat
got him when she left Tim's cage to get water for the bird. In
May 1888, Helen visited the Perkins Institute in Boston. The trip
was "as if a beautiful fairy tale had come true.“ She
immediately developed friendship with the other children and
felt she had come home to her own country. All these events
left her with delightful memories. Sullivan illustrated everything
in the form of a story or a poem, many difficult problems
seemed as precious memories to the narrator. Sullivan’s
teaching techniques help the narrator to be a nature lover.
Every little thing attracted her and she felt them by her touch.
She was so much attracted to Miss Sullivan that she could not
think of life without her. After visiting Boston, Helen and her
teacher vacationed at Cape Cod with a friend, Mrs. Hopkins.
Her vivid recollection of the summer was the ocean. The waves
seemed to play a good game with her.

6. When fall arrived, Helen traveled with her family to Fern
Quarry for their vacation in the mountains outside
Tuscumbia. There, Helen spent her days riding her pony,
walking outdoors or gathering persimmons with her little
sister Mildred and their cousins.One day, Helen, Mildred
and Miss Sullivan got lost in the woods. Mildred
recognized a railroad trestle over a deep gorge, which
they decided to use to find their way home. As they
were crossing the trestle, a train approached. The three
climbed underneath, onto the cross braces, and held on
to the swaying trestles, terrified, while the train went
overhead . With great difficulty they reached back
home only to find that the cottage was empty as
everyone had gone to look for them.

7. That winter, and almost every winter afterward, Helen
spent in the North. When she was almost nine years old,
Helen experienced snow for the first time. She was very
fascinated with the snow covered fields , trees and
frozen lakes .One day a snowstorm came. Everyone
rushed outside to feel the tiny snowflakes. The next day
the whole landscape was covered with snow and
nothing could be distinguished from one another . On
the third day the sun rose. Helen put on her coat and
went out. Moving in the cold wind was new for her. Her
favorite sport was tobogganing. It brought her never
ending joy and she felt divine feeling the wind when
tobogganing.