Hellen Kellers Story of My Life was the latters own account of her life as a differently-abled individual

emerging as an empowered human being in an effort to face the world despite of an in spite of a
challenging impairment.

Her earliest accounts of her childhood appeared vague. The author herself acknowledged this stating
that the task of writing an autobiography is a difficult one citing how her then 22-year old self is
painting her childhood experiences based on her own fantasy. Kellers autobiography commanded a
certain sense of power that goes beyond being inspirational. She spoke of truths that people in her
condition would experience. She made great emphasis on the power of language and with her linguistic
creativity, she was able to tell the story of how her illness left her without the sense of hearing and sight
but has all the more strengthen her resolve to overcome all the difficulties that came with her incredible
journey. I am immensely impressed on how she placed emphasis on the mere importance of language. It
was clear how she enjoyed learning every new word, every new concept that she came across with
whether by means of speech or sign.

The author then continued with her accounts of her relationships with family and friends. She made
mentioned of her little sister, Mildred whom at first she considered as her rival to her parents love and
attention. It was rather realistic in the sense that given her special needs, she felt intruded when her
younger sister came along occupying spaces she thought she solely possess. She vividly described how
she envied her sister for taking up their mothers time and affection. She started to come back to her
senses however when Mildred almost died after a falling incident where their mother luckily was able to
take a grip of her as she falls. From then on, they became constant companions despite the fact that
Mildred barely understood Helens finger language. Helen also talked about her fondness towards her
father and how his death left her scarred and broken with it being her very first encounter of how a
death of a loved one really was. These accounts were personal and really would make readers aware of
how she felt as someone who is going through life with a disability. It showed how she adjusted to her
limitations, same as to how the people around her came into terms with her situation. I particularly liked
how she was straightforwardly honest and how she never begged for anyones sympathy. Her
autobiography featured a strong focus on her strengths and abilities rather than her limitations. Her
words were strong and commanding. It made strong use of imagery that the author herself is deprived
of experiencing. It amazed me how she was able to construct words such as sunlit woods to the house
or gracious shade of a wild tulip tree as though she was seeing these things first-hand. This way, she
was able to effectively tell her story in a very positive manner.

The desire to genuinely express herself was strong. The reader can at once feel the authors passion
towards reaching out to the bigger world that she was confronted with. Through the fierce
encouragement of her mother who used Laura Bridgmans example, she developed a great sense of
wanting to be educated despite being deaf and blind. Meeting her teacher Anne Sullivan was one she
considered to be one of the most important days of her life. It had been one long process so to speak to
be able to learn new words but little by little, young Helen was able to pull through. Sullivans
unorthodox teaching methods proved efficient in the end as Helen was able to learn the manual
alphabet and even braille. Their mentor-student relationship was very touching given that Sullivan
herself was also visually-impaired. Sullivan became widely instrumental in opening Helen up to the
world. The moment that Helen found her voice; she indeed used it to the fullest. Her passion for
language and expression was immensely evident in her autobiography. Her interactions with famous
personalities such as Alexander Graham Bell, who suggested that they contact the Perkins Institute of
the Blind proved to be very uplifting.

In form, her autobiography was chronological; It is widely episodic at times. She went on and also
shared stories of her travels like her visit to Boston where Helen was able to make friends with fellow
little blind children that ultimately made her realized her gifts.

Her struggles were all realistically taken into account as well. While reading, one can sense how she was
able to channel her difficulties into something that would benefit in her favor. Helens love for words
sprawled to her passion to read Shakespeares classical works and when she went to College, she
brought the same amount of determination with her. Going to Radcliffe College had been a tough choice
for her since the school itself was not founded to accommodate visually-impaired students. This
experience for her, abolished whatever romances that was formed in her mind about college.

From my perspective, there was no way that I can argue with the author as her own personal accounts
were something that was unique to her meaning, she was the one who experienced them hence, she is
also the one warranted enough to tell them. Kellers approach was formal, she appeared meticulous and
precise with the details. The autobiography was not meant to play around. It was honest. For most part,
it felt like Keller was talking to her readers merely narrating her story in her own tone and
understanding. Her accounts of how Sullivan taught her were every bit of inspirational. The most
powerful part is how powerful and effective Keller was in communicating her thoughts and experiences.
She was able to articulate words and phrases that were easy to understand. That being said, Keller is
one whose voice was able to carry a torch for people with disabilities.