Summary of Helen Keller: The Story of My Life

Summary of Helen Keller: The Story of My Life
For my personal choice book I have chosen Helen Keller: The Story of My Life, by James Berger. I chose this book because it was very interesting to read about how her education developed throughout her life. It was also fascinating to know how she learned to understand what people were saying because she wrote how sometimes she would place her fingers on their lips and would discover what they were saying from the movements of their lips. At other times people would spell into her hand what they were saying. This book was about the first 22 years of her life. When she was 18 months old she suffered from Scarlet Fever, which left her blind and deaf. Her articulate speech was gone as well. With these disabilities she also had problems with relationships. She never had children or got married. Her greatest confidant was her teacher, Anne Sullivan. She learned to talk passably and dance. Once she opened her mind she became a happy participant of the world. She graduated from Radcliffe University. She became an artful writer and a crusading humanitarian. She also revolutionized the educational techniques and methods of teaching for the blind and deaf.

The Main Characters Main Problem and How She Goes about Solving it.
The main character in the book Helen Keller: The Story of My Life is Helen Keller. Helen Keller’s main problem was that she was battling with two disabilities in life. She was both deaf and blind from an illness she had at the age of 18 months old. She battled with mot fitting in and desperately wanted to advance in life. She looked up to her teacher Anne Sullivan. Her teacher moved in with her at the age of six and was able to teach Helen to read and write. Helen and Anne moved to New York so Helen could attend attend a school to learn to speak as a deaf person. She continued through school and attended Radcliffe University College in 1900 and graduated in 1904. Through the help, tough love and inspiration of her loving teacher Anne Sullivan, Helen Keller developed into an inspirational educator for other deaf and blind children. She also became a great writer and wrote many books. Helen Keller was intelligent in spite of her handicaps and had the family backing her to achieve what she wanted to do. Before Helen Keller, it was the norm to hide physically handicapped members of the family from society and to protect them, but not waste money on their education. Her first teacher, Annie Sullivan, spent years in a public poor house because she was a blind child. Until someone cared enough to get her transferred to the school for the blind, she was stuck. Her sight was eventually restored, but she told Helen of her experiences. Helen came from a wealthy family and was never in danger of being institutionalized, but she knew others were. She fought for their rights and her own.

Two Different topics I would write about and there titles.
The Life and Challenges of a High School Cheerleader.
How Public Schools have changed since Religion has been Kicked Out.