Helen Keller
The dawn of this century saw the working of determination
and faith in the story of Helen Keller. Hers was the heart-rending tale of a
little girl who, being afflicted with fever at 19 months, lost not only her
eyesight but her hearing and speech as well. To conquer this triple handicap
and to rise above such basic limitations was not only an arduous task but must
have seemed an impossible one too. Today too, with the hi-tech gadgetry that
the modern-day world can boast of, it still seems quite a fantastic feat. But
Helen Keller’s diligence and fiercely-invincible spirit has etched a story of
success on the pages of history that inspires all humanity.
Born in the little Alabama town of Tuscumbia on June 27,
1880, Helen was a beautiful healthy baby of her parents, Captain Arthur Keller
and his wife Katherine. Tragedy struck when Helen, a little over one and a half
years, lost her eyesight and hearing after she was struck suddenly by a “fever
of brain and stomach.” This rendered her to a life of total dependence. By the
age of three, Helen became mute as well. The happy gurgle of a child which are
a mother’s delight were never to be. Helen was sentenced to a life of silent,
dark loneliness the screams of which must go unheard.
Incarcerated in her prison of speechless sounds and blank
darkness, Helen’s early childhood was characterized by temper tantrums. Unable
to communicate her needs, desires, wishes and thoughts, Helen was confined to a
confused, frustrated state of mind. Rebellion was the only successful way of
effecting a response from the outside world. Shuttered in a tomb of silence and
failing to make herself understood, she gave in to wild gusts of rage that
alienated her further from anyone who would otherwise have forwarded a hand of
friendship. It seemed at that time that a life of seclusion, bereft of a single
ray of light or a single note of music, was to be her lot. But hope came in the form of
Anne Sullivan, a graduate of the Perkins Institute for the Blind. Together,
Helen and she were to make history.
Hope has a way of entering the penumbra of darkness and
enlightening it. Helen’s parents accepting their destiny, still waited for a
miracle to happen. On reading Charles Dickens’ ‘American Notes’, one day, Mrs.
Keller learnt about the much acclaimed Dr. Samuel Howe of the Perkins Institute
for the Blind, in Boston. He had successfully instructed a deaf, dumb and blind
girl, Laura Bridgman to read and write. Great expectations arose, only to be
quelled as the troubled parents contacted the Perkins Institute for the Blind
in desperation. Dr. Howe was dead. Thoroughly disappointed, they saw the
curtain falling on their hopes and plunging in darkness what started as a ray
of light. It was then that the Greek, Dr. Michael Anagnos, Dr. Howe’s capable
successor, suggested the name of Anne Sullivan to try and teach the girl
something.
Anne Sullivan’s own life also had been far from happy. Born
of Irish immigrant parents, her mother’s death when Anne was eight and her
father’s abandonment of his three children thereof, exposed Anne to a life of
harsh depravity. Anne was nearly blind from trachoma at the and was sent to the
Massachusetts State Infirmary. In 1880, she entered the Perkins Institute for
the Blind and after two operations, she regained her eyesight to a workable
level. But her eyes always were a source of trouble to her all her life. It was
on graduating from the Institute at the age of 21 that Anne was offered the
assignment of Helen Keller.
Anne arrived at Alabama in 1886 with steadfast determination
seething under a patient demeanor. On arrival, she encountered the trapped
misery of her six-year old ward. Unable to perform the everyday sundry actions
like washing her face and buttoning her shoes, Helen’s pathetic condition faced
her with a formidable challenge. Anne’s own experience with a handicap equipped
her well to understand the anguish of this tortured soul. To build a bond of
trust was the first daunting task that Anne tackled. Anne handed a doll to the
rampant child, made by the Perkins children. She made her first significant
move by spelling the word d-o-l-l into Helen’s hand. Helen was captivated by
this novel move and soon she began to imitate Anne. The rapport between the
student-teacher was established. Anne noted pf Helen, “Her restless spirit
gropes in the dark . . . . Her unsatisfied hands destroyed whatever they
touch-they do not know what else to do with things.”
Helen’s education began with her teacher getting to know the
dark recesses of her troubled soul. Anne tried to understand the agony and
ecstasy of Helen’s life. She also began to understand Helen’s attempt at
communication. Anne started to teach Helen to spell words manually. Taking
Helen to the pump house one day, Anne drew water. Pouring a mug of water on
Helen’s hand she spelled the word w-a-t-e-r into her hand. It was a startling
revelation for Helen that everything had meaning. Excited with this new method
of correlation, Helen pointed out to Anne in a questioning way. Anne then spelt
the word t-e-a-c-h-e-r into her hand.
Thus at the age six. Helen Keller started to discover the
vistas of the new world that opened before her. Years later Helen recollecting
her first experience with the new world said, “Somehow the mystery of language
was revealed to me. I knew then that water meant the wonderful cool something
that flowed over my hand. That living word awakened my soul; gave it light,
hope, joy; set it free.”
Helen learnt to read little sentences that Anne made
possible by writing raised words next to their objects that Helen could
identify. Within a few months, Helen knew 625 words. Anne said, “The eagerness
with which she absorbs ideas is delightful.” Health also learnt to write
beautifully and within a month of her training, she wrote a letter to her
cousin, correctly and in legible hand.
At the age of eight Helen was taken to Perkins Institute by
Anne. A new world of knowledge opened for Helen. Helen learnt of other people
like her and nurtured new associations. She widened her social circle and
formed new associations. She learnt Braille and voraciously poured over books
from all walks of life. She communicated with other children who knew the
manual alphabet. Both physically and mentally, this was a very productive
period for her. Helen travelled with Anne who painted an exact word picture for
her of the gliding landscape, the booming cities, the different types of people
and their different ways of lifestyle. Helen’s education widened and she
understood the world around her in totality. Holidaying at Cape Cod, Helen
discovered the world of sports. She learnt to swim, ride, row and sail.
In 1890, when Helen was 10 years old, she learnt of a deaf,
dumb and blind Norwegian girl who had been taught to talk. Anne took Helen
there who met Sarah Fuller, the principal of the Horace Mann School for the
Deaf in Boston. Miss Fuller taking Helen’s hand made her feel the movements of
the jaw and teeth and tongue as she (Miss Fuller) spoke. She made sounds of “I”
as in “it” several times. Helen picked up this techniques and thus began her
first tryst with speech. She learnt the vowels and soon she distinctly speak
the words ‘Mama’ and ‘Papa’. Going home after her seventh lesson, Helen said in
hollow, breathy tones- ‘I am not dumb now.”
Helen entered the Gilman School for Young Ladies in
Cambridge and was intensively tutored. She entered Radcliffe in 1900 and was
the first individual with a triple handicap to enter the portals of this
prestigious institution. Helen was 24 when she graduated with special honours
in English. By this time, she was a national celebrity. She was corresponding
with well known figures like Graham Bell who not only was a keen admirer of her
spirit but became a good friend to her. After training her voice, she began
giving public appearances to inspire people more fortunate than her. Her tall,
graceful personality, full of charm and humour and her invincible spirit
captivated the audience nationwide. Oliver Wendell Holmes wept when she read
Tennyson’s “Break, break, break”. In 1913, she made her first public
appearance. “My mind froze,” Helen recollected later. Though words rose to her
lips, she was unable to utter even a single syllable at first. Then she uttered
a single sound that sounded like a cannon ball going off, but it actually was
only a whisper!
By 1914, Helen was an international speaker. She worked
tirelessly for the blind, raising money for them and inspiring them through her
own example. At this time, a young Scottish girl, Polly Thompson, joined them
as their secretary and manager. Signing a contract with Hollywood, they made
the film ‘Deliverence’. Helen participated in vaudeville acts that she loved
very much. She felt alive and refreshed at the close interaction that such a
performance entailed. Helen wrote many books. Her books were published in many
languages, as well as in Braille. She wrote, ‘The Story of My Life’ (1902),
‘The World I Live In’ (1908), ‘Out Of The Dark’ (1913), ‘Midstream-My Later
Life’ (1930). ‘Let Us Have Faith’ (1940), ‘Teacher: Anne Sullivan Macy’ (1955),
and ‘The Open Door’ (1957). The motion picture, ’The Unconquered’ (1954) and
the play, ‘The Miracle Worker’ are based on her life. She visited many foreign
lands and received rare honours in many countries. Helen’s contribution to the
handicapped after World War II, adds a generous dimension to her social work.
She visited American hospitals and lectured in Europe on behalf of the
physically handicapped.
In 1936, Anne died after a steady deterioration of her
eyesight. It was a great loss to Helen who not only lost a teacher but a friend
and a companion of a life time. Before her death someone said, “Teacher . . . .
get well. Without you Helen would be nothing.”
“Then-then I have failed,” Anne said. After Anne’s death
Helen, picking up the reigns of life, continued to make the world a better
place for the blind all over the world. She became a pillar of strength for the
American Foundation for the Blind. She lived with Miss Thompson in a
picturesque house set in the Connecticut woods near Westport, with a stone
Japanese lantern eight feet high constantly burning in a symbolic veneration of
Helen’s struggle. Helen died in June 1968, just before her 88th
birthday.
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