Helen Keller is an American writer who is also known as a political activist and lecturer. When she was not yet two years old, Helen suffered a serious illness, presumably scarlet fever, due to which she completely lost her sight and hearing. At that time, they still did not know how to work with such children, the first methods were just beginning to be developed. The girl still managed to get an education and lived to death with her companion Ann Sullivan, who had been working with her since she was seven years old.
It is also known that Helen supported socialism, even became a member of the American Socialist Party. She wrote more than ten books about her experience. She became a prominent public activist and philanthropist, supporting funds for the socialization of people with disabilities, opposed racism, discrimination against women, militarism. Since 1980, the United States has been celebrating Helen Keller's day by order of President James Carter. The biography of the heroine of our article formed the basis of the famous play by William Gibson, "Creating a Miracle."
Origin
Ellen Keller was born in 1880. She was born in the small town of Tuscambia in Alabama. In these places, her parents owned a plantation. At the same time, his father was engaged in publishing, he owned one of the local newspapers. The family lived well, but after the defeat in the Civil War, the Confederates suffered heavy losses.
Her father came from a clan of Swiss who moved to America and bought large estates in Alabama. Interestingly, one of the Swiss ancestors of Helen Keller was the first deaf teacher in Zurich, who published a detailed manual.
Arthur Keller was twice married. His first wife died in 1877, from her he left two sons. The mother of the heroine of our article, Kate, was 20 years younger than him. They married in 1878. Helene was their first child, in 1886 their daughter Mildred was born, and in 1891 their son Philip. Helen's father died five years later, and his wife in 1921.
early years
At the beginning of the biography of Helen Keller there are no negative moments, she was born a healthy child and already a year began to walk. In addition, she had excellent hearing and vision, her mother recalled that at the age of 6 months she could already utter a few words.
At 19 months, she suffered a serious illness, which doctors defined as inflammation of the brain. Doctors currently believe it was rubella, scarlet fever, or meningitis. The pediatrician was afraid that the child might die, but the girl recovered, although the illness completely deprived her of her vision and hearing. The black bar has arrived in the biography of Helen Keller.
Before the appearance of her personal teacher, she could not communicate with her family, she only expressed her desires with gestures. Even without sight and hearing, she was very cheerful, loved to play naughty with her neighbor's friend, and she was always angry when she began to realize that she was different from those around her, she could not, like everyone else, use speech. In addition, my parents were jealous of Mildred.
Over the years, the father and mother began to seriously doubt whether the girl could be socialized, inclined to send her to a shelter for the disabled. At that time, such a fate awaited all deaf-mute children. Parents still constantly searched for information about doctors who were able to educate such patients. They read about Laura Bridgman in Charles Dickens's American Notes. But the best doctors of that time could not help.
Ann Sullivan's Appearance
Finally, parents were advised to contact the Perkins school, which could pick up an experienced teacher for the girl. In March 1887, Anne Sullivan came to them. She was only 20 years old, she herself suffered from poor eyesight.
First of all, she asked for a separate room for them to instill in the girl an understanding of the rules of behavior. They were allocated an extension at the house. Sullivan immediately began to speak with Helen in whole offers, without making discounts on the child's age. It happened like this: Sullivan pictured the words on Keller's palm with her fingers. Each letter of the English language had its own equivalent in their communication. As a result, she used the usual alphabet in communication with the pupil. The first word that Keller mastered was the doll.
The girl on the first day managed to establish a connection between the signal from the mentor and the receipt of the item. But abstract concepts were not given to her for a long time. After the first successes, further training began to advance rapidly. Already after 19 days she made up the proposal. Three months later, she wrote a letter to her friend using Braille, then became interested in reading, learned to write with pencil in order to start communicating with people who do not know the language of the blind.
Getting an education
With the advent of Sullivan, their joint work began, which stretched for as long as 49 years. Mentor taught Helen foreign languages, history, mathematics. And in 1888, they arrived at Perkins School for the Blind, where the heroine of our article first met her own kind.
At 10, she found out about a deaf-blind Norwegian who learned to speak. Sullivan took the girl to Deaf School to Sarah Fuller, who promoted the Deaf to teach normal speech. She put her hands to the throat of the student, making a sound at that time. Perceiving articulation, the pupil tried to repeat sounds and words. After 11 lessons from Fuller, the heroine of our article continued her studies with Sullivan. As a result, she began to manage articulate sounds, but until the end of her life, her voice remained incomprehensible to unfamiliar people.
She continued training on her own, this was facilitated by the state of the Kellers, who had the opportunity to spend money on this, to hire tutors. Until 1896, she attended a specialized school for the deaf, and then enrolled in an educational institution for girls at Harvard University. Sullivan accompanied her everywhere.
University education
In 1899, the heroine of our article received the right to enter a university. Helen Keller continued her education at Radcliffs College. By that time, she was already familiar with the writer Mark Twain, as many celebrities were interested in the fate of the unique child. Her training was paid for by Twain's acquaintance, businessman Henry Huttleston.
In college, Keller had a lot of problems. The textbooks were not printed in braille, and there were many students in the classes, so the teachers could not pay enough attention to it. It was at the university that Helen Keller's beliefs began to take shape. There she began to think about the rights of workers, having learned that the poor are most often the poor because of the difficult conditions in the factories. Over time, feminism added to her socialism, and besides, she supported suffragists.
Helen College graduated in 1904, becoming the first deaf-blind person who received higher education.
Literary experience
While still in college, the heroine of our article wrote her first book, it was called "The Story of My Life." Helen Keller published it in a separate edition in 1903. It was an autobiography of a unique girl. Critics praised Helen Keller's novel, The Story of My Life. As a result, it has been translated into more than 50 languages.
The book by Helen Keller, "The Story of My Life," was published in Russia. Until now, it remains one of the most inspiring and motivating works ever published in Russian, because it was written on the basis of personal experience.
"The Story of My Life" by Helen Keller consists of 21 chapters and a preface. In them, the author talks about her loved ones, about how she realized abstract concepts, for example, love, about the sense of touch of history and other objects, the scandalous case with the tale of King Frost, because of which she had to return from school to home schooling, her first exams, arose love of the exact sciences and the most faithful and devoted friends - books.
The full title of this book by Helen Keller is "The Story of My Life or What is Love." In the preface, translators often recall the words of Mark Twain, who considered Napoleon Bonaparte and the heroine of our article to be the most amazing personalities of the 19th century. Traced here and the connection of Helen Keller and Bella. In dedication, the writer thanks the inventor of the telephone for teaching the deaf to speak and making it possible to hear a word spoken by another person for thousands of kilometers.
Bell was of great importance to Helen Keller. After all, he was the founder in America of schools for people with hearing and visual impairments.
Beliefs
In 1904, an important event took place in the life of mentor Helen Ann Sullivan. She is getting married to socialist John Macy. Together they get acquainted with the philosophical treatise of Herbert Wells under the name “New World for the Old,” after which they further affirm their convictions.
In parallel, Keller reads the works of Marx. In 1905, the heroine of our article becomes a member of the Socialist Party of the United States. Interestingly, immediately after this, the attitude towards her changes dramatically. If earlier the girl was admired by the public, now she has become the object of criticism and ridicule.
After graduating from college, Keller, together with Sullivan and her husband, moved to the village, where she wrote several more books. This is the "Song of the stone wall", "The world in which I live", "From the darkness." Issues a large number of articles on socialist topics, supports fighters against racism.
Meanwhile, relations between Ann and her husband become tense over time, in 1914 they break up. Helen herself was never married, but in 1916, secretly from her mother and her mentor, she became engaged to the journalist and socialist Peter Fagan, who worked for some time as her secretary. Their relationship ended as soon as the newspapers found out about them, the society at that time was not ready to approve the marriage with such a woman.
During the First World War, Keller participated in anti-war campaigns. In 1917, supported the October Revolution in Russia and Lenin.
Death Sullivan
In the 20s, Keller began to travel around the country and give lectures. She is accompanied by her mother and Sullivan. She was forced to go on such a tour by the need, since none of the women received pleasure from moving. Keller’s books sold poorly, but her public appearances were very successful. With a 20-minute performance, she toured from 1920 to 1924.
In 1924, she supported Senator Lafollet in the elections, and after she finally withdrew from politics, concentrating on working with blind people. An important part of her work was providing the blind with work.
In 1927, a new book by Helen Keller was published. In My Religion, she talks about her relationship to God. The heroine of our article considers herself a Christian.
In 1936, Sullivan fell into a coma, and soon dies. Helen holds her hand until the very last minute. After that, she moved to Connecticut, where she remained until her death. The loss of a mentor was a serious loss for her. Keller Thompson, the new assistant, tried to replace her, but she did not have the same dexterity when communicating with the help of a manual alphabet.
In 1937, Keller traveled to Japan, where she was struck by the history of the dog Hachiko. She wanted her own dog, she was presented with a dog of the Akita Inu breed, but he died of the plague a year later. Then the Japanese government sent her another dog of the same breed as a gift.
In 1938, in her journalistic works, the writer criticized Hitler, as well as Mitchell’s popular novel “Gone with the Wind” at that time, because the author kept silent about the cruel treatment of slaves.
During World War II, Keller visited hospitals for deaf and blind soldiers. From 1946 to 1957, she visited 35 countries, meeting with prominent political figures of the time Nehru and Churchill. And in 1948, as part of her anti-war program, Helen arrived in Hiroshima, where she was delighted with the warm welcome. About two million Japanese came to see her.
She really inspired people, Helen Keller's quotes were known to all the world, here are just some of them.
Life is an exciting adventure, and the most beautiful life is life lived for other people.
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen; they cannot even be touched. They must be felt with the heart.
Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of examples of overcoming suffering.
When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but we often do not notice her, staring at the closed door.
In 1954, she participated in the filming of a documentary film dedicated to her fate. A picture of Nancy Hamilton came out under the name "Undefeated". The tape received the Academy Award in the nomination "Best Documentary Feature Film".
At the same time, America still had a double attitude towards her because of her beliefs and political position. For example, during the Cold War, she wrote an open letter in which she supported Elizabeth Gerley Flynn, who was imprisoned for her views.
In 1960, her secretary Thompson dies, replaced by her new assistant, Winfred Corbelli. At the same time, Helene has a first stroke. He greatly crippled her health, she ceases to appear in public. In 1961, the heroine of our article for the last time appears publicly at a humanitarian award.
In the summer of 1968, Keller dies in his home in Connecticut on the eve of his 88th birthday. She was cremated, and the ashes buried in the Cathedral in Washington. The years of life of Helen Keller - 1880 - 1968.
The meaning of the Keller phenomenon
The experience gained by the heroine of our article played a large role in special pedagogy. Her successful training was a real breakthrough, as Helen became the first deaf-blind person in history who was able to receive a full-fledged education, and not just socialize. There were several other examples before, but only Keller's experience was officially documented.
Teaching people with such disabilities in many countries, including in the Soviet Union, was based on the methods of her training.
Keller has become a true symbol of the struggle for a normal life for many people with disabilities. In America, it was perceived as a national icon. Nick Vuychich, born without arms and legs, wrote in his autobiography that Keller had a significant influence on his development.
A writer
The literary heritage of Helen Keller is very rich and diverse. True, it all started with a misunderstanding when she was still in high school. In 1891, she wrote a story called King Frost, which she sent to Perkins School Principal Michael Anagnos. The work impressed him so much that he published it in a school magazine.
Soon after, it turned out that it was actually written by Margaret Canby. Keller was accused of plagiarism, she herself was justified by the fact that in her mind the line between ideas from the outside and her own thoughts was erased. Such a phenomenon is really known in psychology and is called cryptomnesia. Anagnos agreed that the girl was not to blame for anything, but the relationship between them was already completely ruined.
According to the heroine of our article, Sullivan even managed to find out where she read the original story. A copy of Canby’s book was at home with her friend Sophia Hopkins, whom she visited in 1888.
The writer Mark Twain, with whom Keller later talked a lot, called such accusations of plagiarism grotesque and idiotic.
After this story, she remained fearful of involuntarily repeating other people's ideas in her own sayings or works. Helen Keller published her first book in 1903. It was her autobiography, which we already talked about in detail. The work received high marks from readers and critics. Today, this work is included in the compulsory program in American schools.
After this success, the heroine of our article fulfilled her dream of becoming a writer. But when publishing her next works, she faced a serious problem. Readers were interested only in her stories about overcoming her ailment and disability, and no one was interested in her reflections on workers' rights and socialism. Her collection of essays “From Darkness”, books “The Song of the Stone Wall” and “The World I Live in” were almost unnoticed. They sold poorly and received negative reviews from critics. For example, one of them noted that Keller expressed ideas that she herself had learned from other books. It has also been suggested that these works were written solely under the influence of Sullivan, who adhered to socialist views.
Some critics in support of this led the writer to use the words “heard” and “saw,” Keller claimed that she used them only in order not to complicate the construction of the text. For example, when she "writes" she heard, she really means that she felt a vibration. The famous blind psychologist Thomas Kusbort criticized her work, appreciating it with the biting and offensive word "verbiage."
As a result, literature did not bring her the fame and recognition she dreamed about so much. In addition to books, Keller wrote 475 essays and articles on religion, socialism, workers' rights, the prevention of blindness, atomic weapons, birth control, many of her works were devoted to anti-war topics. Moreover, the heroine of our article always emphasized that she considers herself primarily a writer, and only then a social activist. During the terrorist attack in Manhattan in New York on September 11, 2001, part of the Keller archive was irretrievably lost.