English Summary

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding.

The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 7

Helen began to learn things by the play method and Miss Sullivan conducted all the lessons amidst nature where she could pick up concepts of geography, botany and zoology by touching real objects.

In this chapter, Helen describes how she learnt to read with the help of real objects through play. Miss Sullivan proved to be an exceptionally gifted teacher, holding most classes out of doors and making use of games to teach her. For Helen, learning was more like play than work. Helen enjoyed learning about the things around her and spent several happy hours in the orchard.

Miss Sullivan used all her ingenuity and resourcefulness to teach her during their walks to Keller’s Landing, making geography lessons come alive through three-dimensional models which she made on the river bed. She made use of stories and poems to teach Helen.

Helen learnt science through fossils, the lily plant and tadpoles. Helen also talks of her difficulties in learning arithmetic. Different aspects of nature became a part of Helen’s learning. Education thus became Helen’s one of most precious memories. Miss Sullivan became an inseparable part of Helen’s life.

The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 7 Questions and Answers

Question 1.
How did Helen learn to read?
Answer:
Helen learnt to read with the help of slips of cardboard with words printed in raised letters. She learnt that each word represented an object, an act or a quality and she arranged these words to form sentences in a frame. She moved on to the printed book in which she felt for the words she knew, learning to read in the process.

Question 2.
Why did Helen stand in the wardrobe?
Answer:
When Helen realised that each word represented an object or an act, she started placing words on all objects and then arranging them to form sentences. One day, she pinned the word girl on her dress and stood in the wardrobe, while on the shelf she arranged the words ‘is’, ‘in’ and ‘wardrobe’, thus making the sentence, ‘the girl is in the wardrobe’.

Question 3.
How do we know that Miss Sullivan was an exceptionally gifted teacher?
Answer:
Miss Sullivan proved to be a gifted teacher and found innovative methods of teaching Helen. Everything she taught was illustrated by a story or a poem. She would take an interest in whatever interested Helen.

Her method made grammar, mathematics and definitions interesting. She never nagged Helen and tried to make every subject as real as possible. She took Helen out of doors and taught her about the things around her by making her touch and feel them. Helen writes to support this view, “any teacher can take a child to a classroom, but not every teacher can make him learn.”

Question 4.
How did Helen learn geographical facts?
Answer:
Miss Sullivan taught Helen geography by building islands, lakes and dams made of pebbles. She talked to Helen about volcanoes, the shape of the world, glaciers and so on. She made raised maps in clay so that Helen could feel the mountain ridges, valleys and the course of rivers. She used innovative techniques to teach her about the time and temperature zones.

Question 5.
How did the collection of fossils become meaningful to Helen?
Answer:
Miss Sullivan used the fossils to teach Helen about pre-historic animals and plants that had existed on the planet in the past.

Question 6.
What did Helen learn from the lily plant?
Answer:
Helen learnt her first lessons in Botany from the lily plant. She realised the process of budding and that the whole process followed an order and a system.

Question 7.
“He had made his leap, he had seen the great world and was content to stay in his pretty glass house.” Who and what is Helen talking about?
Answer:
Helen observed that one of the 11 tadpoles kept in a glass globe, leap out and land on the floor, where Helen found him more dead than alive. The moment she put him back he revived and started swimming as vigorously as the rest of the tadpoles.

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding.

The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 6

Helen describes her joy at her increasing vocabulary and how she learnt to perceive abstract concepts like ‘love She also appreciates Miss Sullivan’s patience at dealing with her.

Helen describes her joy at expanding her vocabulary in this chapter. She learnt to name abstract feelings like love. Miss Sullivan explained things to her with great patience, connecting feelings like love to aspects in nature. Helen understood that abstract ideas could also be named.

The chapter also tells us about Miss Sullivan’s determination to find a way of conversing with Helen, and helping her to enter into a dialogue with those around her. She spelt out sentences into Helen’s hand instead of speaking them.

It took several years for Miss Sullivan to teach her this but she persevered, determined to supply the stimulus that Helen lacked. This reveals the infinite patience and wisdom of the teacher.

The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 6 Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Why did Helen not question her teacher when introduced to a new thing?
Answer:
Helen never questioned her teacher as her ideas were vague and her vocabulary was inadequate.

Question 2.
Why did Helen find it difficult to understand the meaning of the word ‘love’?
Answer:
Helen found it difficult to comprehend the meaning of the word ‘love’ because she understood the things that she could either smell or touch. She had no understanding of abstract ideas.

Question 3.
How did Helen realise the meaning of the word ‘think’?
Answer:
As Helen tried to string beads of different sizes in symmetrical groups of two large beads followed by three smaller ones, she kept on making mistakes, but was patiently guided by her teacher. As she concentrated, trying to make sense of her mistake, her teacher spelled the word ‘think’ on her forehead. That is when she realised what it meant.

Question 4.
What, according to Helen, was love?
Answer:
Helen understood love to be a feeling that, like invisible lines, bound her spirit to those of others.

Question 5.
How did Miss Sullivan converse with Helen?
Answer:
Miss Sullivan would spell sentences onto Helen’s hand instead of speaking them. Helen would repeat verbatim what she spelt on her hands. Whenever Helen would be at a loss of words to express herself, Miss Sullivan would prompt her, supplying her with the necessary words and idioms. She taught Helen how she . could take part in a conversation like a person with normal hearing.

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding.

The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 5

Helen talks about her growing awareness of the world around her and how she started to bond with nature. She also became familiar with the dark side of nature.

This chapter continues with the description of Miss Sullivan’s effect on Helen. She helped Helen become aware of the world around her. Miss Sullivan helped her connect with nature and develop a strong bond with it by taking her out to the fields and the river banks. Miss Sullivan slowly taught her to find beauty in every little thing in nature.

Helen also learnt about the darker aspects of nature, when she was caught in a fierce storm while sitting on the branches of a tree. Miss Sullivan had gone to the house to fetch lunch for them and Helen was left alone. When she was caught in a storm and about to fall from the tree, her teacher came to her rescue.

This incident shook her up and it took a long time for her to overcome her fear of climbing trees. But nature again lured her and she managed to climb back onto a tree following the odour of a flower.

The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 5 Questions and Answers

Question 1.
How did Helen’s awareness of the world deepen? What effect did it have on her personality?
Answer:
Helen’s teacher encouraged her to explore the world around her with her hands and taught her the names of every object that she touched. She explained their use. With a greater awareness of her surroundings, Helen became a happier and more confident individual.

Question 2.
Why did Miss Sullivan take Helen out of doors as much as she could?
Answer:
Miss Sullivan wanted Helen to feel the positive aspects of nature and learn how plants grow. She wanted her to learn about the interdependence between plants and animals, develop an appreciation for the beauty of nature and realise the deep bond that she shared with it.

Question 3.
How did Helen learn about the dark side of nature?
Answer:
Helen climbed onto a cherry tree with the help of her teacher and they decided to have their lunch on the tree. The teacher left her there while she went to get the luncheon basket. In the meantime, the weather suddenly changed and there, was a fierce storm which almost threw Helen out of the tree. For the first time Helen experienced the dark side of nature and it took a long time for her to gain the confidence to climb up a tree again.

Question 4.
How did Helen finally overcome her fear of climbing?
Answer:
The sweet smell of the mimosa flowers drew Helen near the tree and tempted her to climb it, where she sat for a long time dreaming of the future. She overcame her fear by being overwhelmed by the lure of nature.

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding.

The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 4

Helen describes the coming of Miss Sullivan and how she taught her to speak with the help of fingers and her sense of wonderment at learning the names of things. She began to look forward to a new day for the first time in her life.

This chapter describes the arrival of Miss Sullivan, the teacher, and how Helen learnt to speak through her fingers. Helen Keller describes the day she met her teacher as the most important day in her life. On that day, Helen and Anne Sullivan begin a long, difficult journey. Together, they achieve what many believed to be impossible.

Helen understood when her teacher spelt out the word ‘doll’ on her hands with her fingers. This feat gave her immense pleasure and pride. She writes about her wonder at being able to name things around her and also mentions the dawning of a new perception.

For the first time, Helen experienced the feeling of repentance and sorrow, and she felt happy and looked forward to a new day. Helen recounts her experience of learning to spell the word ‘water’ which she had taken a long time to learn. She describes the first day when Miss Sullivan came, as an eventful day where she learnt many new words which would ultimately make the world blossom for her.

The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 4 Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Why does Helen say that 3 March 1887 was an important day for her?
Answer:
Helen calls it an important day because her teacher, Miss Sullivan, came to live with her on that day.

Question 2.
How did Helen learn the name of things around her?
Answer:
Helen’s teacher spelt out the names of the articles around her onto her hand and Helen would imitate her movements. Helen leamt several words, in the same process, even though she did not fully understand them.

Question 3.
What made Helen break her new doll?
Answer:
Helen broke her doll out of frustration as she was unable to understand the difference between the words ‘mug’ and ‘water’ even though her teacher tried her best to explain it to her.

Question 4.
What was significant about Helen trying to pick up the broken pieces of her new doll?
Answer:
Helen showed signs of regret and sorrow, which she had never felt before. It signified her transformation and her ability to recognise her feelings. The episode was significant as Helen showed the first signs of registering emotions.

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding.

The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 3

Helen talks about her struggles to express herself which often led to frustration and emotional breakdown. She also reveals her parent’s struggle to find a suitable tutor. She describes a journey by train to an oculist in Baltimore and how a friendship developed with the conductor. She had a good time on the train where she met Dr Alexander Graham Bell. She also met with Mr Anagnos of Perkins Institution, who helped the family by sending Miss Sullivan, a competent teacher, to them.

This chapter discusses the challenges faced by Helen’s parents before the arrival of Miss Sullivan. They found it difficult to accept Helen’s frustration and emotional breakdowns in her attempts to express herself. Since the school for the blind was far from where they lived and that nobody would come to a place like Tuscumbia to teach a deaf and blind child, the people around her expressed doubts whether she could be taught. It was when Helen was six years old that her father heard of a renowned oculist in Baltimore.

Her parents decided to take her to Baltimore to consult the oculist to see whether anything could be done to relieve her of her blindness. However, the oculist could not help them. Helen enjoyed the journey, making friends with the conductor, who taught her how to punch holes in a piece of cardboard and a lady who gave her a box of shells. There is also a description of a doll gifted to Helen by her aunt.

Helen was distressed by the doll, as it had no eyes. She did not rest until a pair of beads was fixed on it instead. The chapter then describes a meeting with Dr Alexander Graham Bell whom she loved at once taking to the tenderness and sympathy with which he held her, and later a meeting with Mr Anagnos of Perkins Institution, Boston, who helped the family by sending Miss Sullivan to them.

The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 3 Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What was the reason for Helen’s emotional outbursts? How did it affect her parents?
Answer:
Helen’s inability to express herself to those around her frustrated Helen so much so that she would break down in tears and find consolation in her mother’s arms. Her parents were anxious to find someone who would be able to help their daughter communicate and express herself.

Question 2.
Why did the family decide to travel to Baltimore?
Answer:
Helen, along with her family, travelled to Baltimore to meet an oculist called Dr Chisholm in the hope of finding out whether he could help Helen regain her eyesight.

Question 3.
Why was Helen disturbed with the doll that her aunt gifted her?
Answer:
The doll that Helen’s aunt gave her did not have eyes. This disturbed Helen as she was anxious for it to have eyes.

Question 4.
Why does Helen describe her meeting with Dr Bell as a “light at the end of a tunnel”?
Answer:
For Helen, the meeting with Dr Bell was full of hope because he sympathised with her condition and informed her parents about the institute from where a suitable tutor for Helen could be found.

Question 5.
Why did Mr Anangos prove to be godsend for Helen?
Answer:
Mr Anangos was the director of the Perkins Institution, which had done a lot of work for the benefit of blind people. He helped Helen by recommending Miss Sullivan as a teacher for her.

Question 6.
Why does Helen make references to Egypt and Mount Sinai?
Answer:
By making this reference, the author alludes to the story from the Bible about Moses who led the Hebrews from Egypt and had a vision of the divine at Mount Sinai. Similarly, for Helen and her family, their meeting with Dr Bell at Washington followed by their communication with Mr Anangos seemed to be touched by the divine. They were finally able to find a suitable teacher for Helen who helped her come out of the dark world that she had been confined to since her illness.