Helen Keller

Helen’s parents take her to several doctors, but all of them say that nothing can be done to restore her sight or hearing. She gradually loses the few words she had been able to speak. Helen is curious about her surroundings and explores them with her other senses to obtain information, relying heavily on her sense of touch. By the age of five, she has developed approximately 60 hand signals in order to communicate with her parents. However, she often grows frustrated when she is not understood, and she throws temper tantrums. The arrival of an infant sister only increases the tantrums.

Helen’s father fears that she will have to be hospitalized because of the danger she poses both to herself and to her sister (in one instance, Helen’s dress apron catches fire when it is too close to the fireplace). However, Mr. Keller learns of a school named the Perkins Institute, which has successfully taught a blind and deaf student like Helen to communicate. He writes them a letter and waits for a reply.

One day when she is six years old, Helen senses that something unusual is going on. Her mother leaves in a carriage but does not take her with her. Time passes, and the carriage returns, bringing a stranger with it. The stranger is Anne Sullivan, a teacher from the Perkins Institute. Anne immediately attempts to embrace Helen, but Helen struggles against her.

The next day, Helen eagerly explores Anne’s bedroom, including the items she has brought with her. One of them, a doll, is a gift to Helen from the other girls at the Institute. Helen recognizes what it is immediately and wants to play with it. As she does, Anne forms the letters that spell “doll” using Helen’s fingers and then touches them to the doll. Anne does this repeatedly, explaining that the aim is for Helen to associate the shape of the fingers with the physical object it represents. Next, Anne takes the doll away, planning to return it only when Helen is able to successfully ask for it by signing “D-O-L-L.” Helen, however, does not understand and grows angry; she then hits Anne when she does not give her the doll. Anne tells Helen’s mother that Helen must be taught self-control; instead, the Kellers have appeased her tantrums.

The next time Helen throws a tantrum, Anne holds her while she kicks and screams. Helen continues to fight until she finally goes limp. Anne releases her, only to have Helen run out of the room. She understands what a challenge it will be to break Helen out of her habit of disobedience.

Helen continues to struggle against Anne, even intentionally locking her in a bedroom. Anne, however, never gives in to Helen’s tantrums. Though Helen knows how to use utensils, she eats with her hands and has no qualms about taking food directly from the plates of others at meals. One morning at breakfast, Anne makes an effort to stop this behavior by clamping down on Helen’s hand when she attempts to take a sausage from Anne’s plate. Helen’s parents are alarmed, accustomed to giving Helen what she wants at all times to prevent her tantrums. They leave the room, and Anne locks the door behind them. With each attempt Helen makes to take food from Anne, Anne slaps her hand. Helen then realizes that her parents have left and that there is no one there to defend her. Finally, Helen approaches her own plate in hunger. Anne forces Helen to use utensils, and the battle continues. The breakfast drags on, but Anne never relents.

Anne proposes that she and Helen leave the Keller house. With her parents as an ally, Anne fears that Helen will continue to regard her as the enemy. Though she is reluctant, Helen’s mother agrees to allow Anne and Helen to move into a small garden house on the property.

Over the next two weeks there, Anne gains Helen’s trust. Helen learns 30 words via sign language, but she is unable to assign meaning to them.

It is a warm spring day in early April of 1887 when Helen experiences a breakthrough. She is restless and wants to play outside. Anne concedes, and the two walk around the garden. When Helen begins to play with the garden pump, Anne places Helen’s hand in the water and spells out “W-A-T-E-R” with them. Suddenly, Helen understands that the finger positions correspond to the water itself. She rushes around the garden, eager for Anne to teach her the names of many items. Finally, she points to herself and learns to spell “H-E-L-E-N.” She then points to Anne, whom she learns to refer to as “teacher.”