An Essay About Helen Keller

From her childhood to her adult life, Helen Keller never lost hope or faith, she has shown us that with enough perseverance and hard work anything can be accomplished. Helen Keller has encountered many important and famous people, wrote 14 books, and won countless awards and honors throughout her life such as being inducted in the Women’s Hall of Fame. Helen Keller was a strong independent woman who taught herself not only to read, write, and speak, but also accomplished the normal actions of an everyday life.

Helen Adams Keller was born in the town of Tuscumbia, Alabama on June 27, 1880. For the first 18 months of her life Helen lived as any normal child would. She learned to crawl and walk, although that is as much as she learned. When she became 19 months Helen Keller became ill with an illness described as “acute congestion of the stomach and brain”, upon recovering she was unable to see or hear. Keller had become blind and deaf.

The next 6 years of Helen’s life were spend in tantrums, darkness and all around loneliness. “I got used to the silence and darkness that surrounded me and forgot it had ever been different, until she came- my teacher” (Keller 1902 Pg. 8). She had many fits, and refused any instruction. Her family was very poor, and could afford very little. The “teacher” as Helen called her; was Anne Sullivan who had contracted trachoma as a child and was as well legally blind. Annie was said to have saved Helen. Within 6 months of teaching from Sullivan Keller quickly advanced. She became well known to reading and writing in Braille, as well as writing in a manual alphabet.

Upon the age of 10 Keller and Sullivan spent part of a year in Boston, it was during this period in which Keller learned to speak her first s...

... middle of paper ...

...racle Worker. Radcliffe College even granted her its Alumnae Achievement Award on the 50th Anniversary of her graduation. She was even inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame. She was a truly exceptional woman. She set the new standard for the possibilities of a blind and deaf individual.

Helen Keller above all was an absolutely wonderful person. She fought past her limitations and soared above others’ expectations. From her learning to write and speak, to traveling the world inspiring others she had the outlook of life that many only wish they could achieve. Although she never thought she was better than anyone. Helen even says in her book The World I Live In, “In large measure we travel the same highways, read the same books, and speak the same language (Keller 1904 Pg.5)”. She was a caring good woman who wanted nothing but the best for herself as well as others.