Helen Keller was born in 1880 in a small town in the U.S. state of Alabama - Tearaway Mbia. Nineteen months after she was born, Helen suddenly developed a high fever. After the fever subsided, her mother gave her a bath and was surprised to find that her little eyes did not blink. The ophthalmologist's examination showed that little Helen was blind in both eyes. Then her mother realized that Helen had lost her hearing, and by the time she was 3, she couldn't even speak.
Helen grew up fast and was very strong. But because she knew nothing about the outside world, she had an odd temper and was always in a rage. She often threw herself on the floor and let out a gurgling scream; refused to wash her face when she got up; and was naughty at meals. About this experience, Helen later wrote: "At that time, I felt as if I were gripped by an invisible hand. So, desperately I tried to break free from this bondage." But Helen was not like most deaf, dumb, and blind children, she seemed to have a great strength in her. This probably accounts for her later success.
In 1887, an educated Irish girl, Anne Sullivan, was introduced to Helen as her governess. For half a century, Annie was Helen's mentor and friend.
Anne was a descendant of Irish immigrants, and her father was an alcoholic who used to punch and kick her whenever he was drunk. 1880, Annie was blinded by trachoma and sent to the Perkins School for the Blind. After two operations, she regained sight in both eyes. But she suffered from eye disease all her life, and in her later years was once again blind in both eyes.
As soon as Annie arrived in Alabama, she was captivated by Helen. No sooner had she gotten out of the car than Helen lunged at her, running her hands over her clothes and face. Annie pulled out a doll given to her by the children at Perkins School for the Blind. Helen immediately played with it lovingly. Taking advantage of this, Annie wrote the letters "d-o-l-l" (doll) on her hand, and Helen's attention was immediately caught by this unfamiliar gesture and she imitated it. This was the first time Helen had learned to write.
To facilitate her education, Anne led Helen away from her parents to a nearby farmhouse. She found that Helen was already able to express her intentions in many ways. Wanting a popsicle, she cranked the handle of an imaginary cooler; wanting bread with butter, she made motions of slicing the bread and spreading the butter. She also pretended to put on her glasses to imitate her father. Annie taught her some more new words in sign language: pin, hat, cup and verbs like sit, stand and walk.
Two weeks later, Anne took Helen to the water closet to draw water, and as the cool water ran over Helen's hand, she spelled "w-a-t-e-r " (water) on Helen's hand. Helen later recalled, "Somehow the mystery of language was suddenly unraveled, and I finally knew that water was a substance that flowed over my hand. This living word awakened my soul and gave me light, hope, and joy."
A week later, Helen already knew more than 400 words and many phrases. Beside the flowers and under the big trees became their classroom; bees, butterflies, birds and flowers became their teaching aids. Anne made Helen a map out of clay, and used string and twigs to make the equator, the meridian, and the north and south poles. She also used strung beads to teach Helen how to count, and sticks that kindergarteners use to teach addition and subtraction. After a month's hard work, Helen made rapid progress and could write letters without missing a word. Helen's writing is square and artistic, and her strokes are very clear.
When Helen was eight years old, Anne Sullivan took her to the Perkins School for the Blind. A new world opened up to her. She could read many books in Braille and talk to other children in sign language. She studied courses in arithmetic, geography, animals, plants, and languages. Learning at school was quite different from the informal learning that took place at home, but Helen took each class very seriously and never stopped until her homework was done. This tireless and diligent style persisted into her later years.
In the spring of 1890, Helen heard that a Norwegian deaf, dumb, and blind girl had learned to speak, and hope was kindled in her breast. She wrote on Annie's hand, "I want to speak."
Anne led her to Miss Sarah Fuller, principal of the Horace Mann School for the Deaf in Boston. Miss Fuller immediately began teaching Helen to speak. She put Helen's fingers in her own mouth so that Helen could feel the position of her tongue, teeth and the movement of her jaw.
Then Miss Fuller pressed her tongue against her lower teeth to prepare for the "I" sound. Then Helen's index finger was placed next to her teeth and the other finger was placed at her throat, and the "I" sound was repeated. As soon as Fuller stopped, Helen used her hand to set her teeth and tongue in the right position, and made the sound almost exactly like Fuller's.
The girls then began practicing the "a" and "o" vowels. Helen made these two sounds very clearly. After learning "a" and "o," they began to learn "Papa" and "Mama," which Fuller pronounced while scratching Helen's hand. Fuller pronounced "Papa" and "Mama" while tracing the relative lengths between the two syllables on Helen's hand. After a few tries, Helen was able to pronounce the words correctly.
Helen followed Miss Fuller for 11 lessons, but that was only the beginning of a long struggle. She practiced hard day after day, month after month, year after year to improve her pronunciation. When Anne spoke, she used her fingers to feel the vibrations of Anne's throat, the movement of her tongue and lips.
She spoke in a voice that sounded a little odd, with a flat tone that didn't distinguish between light and heavy sounds. Whenever she needed to intensify her tone, she used her right hand, which was clenched into a fist, to deliver a blow to the palm of her left hand. Nonetheless, her voice represents an important aspect of the life she has fought for. Her mastery of the language has been called "the greatest achievement in the history of education".
Soon afterward, Helen solved the problem of "hearing" by touching someone's lips with her hand. By placing her index finger on the speaker's lips, her middle finger on her nose, and her thumb on her throat, she could clearly "hear" the other person's voice.
In this way, she "heard" Mark Twain's funny jokes and the famous singers Enrique and Caruso's voices. What's even more interesting is that by placing her hand gently on the violin, she could "hear" the violin playing!
After a few years, Helen's ability to hear and speak improved dramatically, and she went on to attend Gilman Girls' High School. In 1900, Helen was admitted to Radcliffe College at Harvard University, the first deaf-blind person ever to attend an institution of higher learning.
But college life left Helen feeling a little disappointed. She felt there was no time for independent thought. She couldn't take notes in class because her hands were too busy "listening". When she returned to the dormitory, she hurriedly wrote down what she had memorized in her head. They had gotten some Braille books from Germany and elsewhere, and Helen read them voraciously until she got blood blisters on her hands.
Helen graduated in 1904 with honors in English. As soon as she graduated, letters of appointment from major newspapers in Europe and America poured in like snowflakes. In the same year, Helen was invited to the St. Louis Exposition to appeal to the world's concern for the education of the deaf-blind.
In 1914 Helen and Anne embarked on their first lecture tour, accompanied by her secretary and housekeeper, Polly Thomson, a lively and capable Scottish girl.
Helen continued to visit countries in Europe and Asia in the 1930s. She was very concerned about the condition of deaf, dumb and blind people, appealing for them and collecting money for them. For this reason, many countries awarded Helen honorary degrees and medals.
Meanwhile, Anne's health was deteriorating, she was almost blind and could no longer accompany the energetic Helen. She died in 1930. That same year, the U.S. government awarded Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan the Roosevelt Medal.
In 1950, Helen and Miss Thomson were living near Westport, Connecticut. Every day at breakfast, Miss Thomson read the day's highlights "to her". If the weather was nice, she did some work in the garden. The rest of the day was spent almost exclusively at the typewriter in the study.
Helen Keller died in June 1968 at the age of 87 years.
For some strong people, suffering is not exactly a loss, but also an opportunity for God to try them. Suffering is difficult to bear, but it contains the most valuable education, training their character and making them warriors who will challenge their destiny.