Veerendra

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The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 11

Helen describes several experiences in this chapter like her outing to the summer cottage in the mountains, campfire evening, hunting expeditions. She talks about her pony, Black Beauty.

In this chapter, Helen describes the rich experience she had and how her mind blossomed upon reaching home. She describes the outing to Fem Quarry, the family cottage in the mountains. She elaborately describes the ferns, the great oaks and the splendid Evergreens that surrounded Fem Quarry. She also describes their pretty cottage situated on top of the mountain among the oaks and pines.

She mentions the visitors at the campfire every evening, and the hunting expeditions the men went on. She talks of the barbecues and describes her pony, Black Beauty. Her happiest hours were spent on his back. She enjoyed gathering Persimmons and nuts, and hearing the rail go by. She also recounts the adventure she had when she, Miss Sullivan and her little sister, Mildred got lost.

The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 11 Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Where did the family spend their autumn months?
Answer:
The family spent the autumn at their summer cottage on a mountain, 14 miles from Tuscumbia, called Fern Quarry.

Question 2.
How did the family spend the evenings?
Answer:
In the evenings, the family along with visitors sat by a campfire where the men played cards and spent time talking about their success at hunting.

Question 3.
Why was there such excitement and movement in the mornings?
Answer:
In the mornings, all the visitors who had arrived the night before got ready to go off on a hunting spree amid great excitement and much preparation.

Question 4.
What was ironic about these hunting expeditions?
Answer:
The irony was that though the men boasted about all the animals they had killed and made all kinds of preparation for the hunting expedition, they usually returned without any success.

Question 5.
Who was Black Beauty? Why was it so named?
Answer:
Black Beauty was a pony that Helen rode sometimes. Helen had named it after the horse in the book Black ’ Beauty, as it had the same glossy black coat with a white star on its forehead as described in the book.

Question 6.
What made Helen gather the persimmons?
Answer:
Though Helen did not eat the persimmons, she loved the fragrance and enjoyed looking for them in the leaves and grass.

Question 7.
What does Helen mean by the word “nutting”?
Answer:
By “nutting”, Helen refers to looking for nuts like chestnuts, hickory nuts and walnuts.

Question 8.
Why were Miss Sullivan and the girls forced to walk over the trestle?
Answer:
Since Miss Sullivan, Helen and her sister lost their way in the woods and had been wandering for hours, it was too late for them to take any other way and they had to cross over the trestle, as it was a short way home.

Question 9.
Why did they find the cottage empty on their return?
Answer:
Miss Sullivan, along with the two girls found the cottage empty on return because everyone was out looking for them.

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The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 10

Helen talks about her vacation at Brewster and her first experiences of the sea. She also learnt a lesson that it was not kind to force creatures of nature to live away from their habitat.

This chapter describes Helen’s vacation at Brewster and her first experience of the sea. It talks about her excitement and terror of the sea. Her encounter with sea filled her with an exquisite and quivering joy. But when her foot struck against a rock, she was overcome by fright and frantically searched for something to support her till she was clasped in her teacher’s loving arms.

The chapter also mentions her first encounter with the Horse-shoe Crab, which she wanted to take home. However, the crab escaped, teaching her that it is not kind to force dumb creatures to live away from their habitat.

The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 10 Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Why was Helen so excited about her vacation?
Answer:
Helen’s vacation at Brewster was her first encounter with the sea. She had read about it and had developed a deep desire to touch the sea and feel its roar. She was very excited when she learnt that they were going to the seaside.

Question 2.
What terrified Helen about the sea?
Answer:
The rush of waves which tossed her from one place to another as they carried her away from the shore terrified Helen. For a moment she could not feel the earth undej her feet and she became panic-stricken.

Question 3.
What surprised Helen about the horseshoe crab?
Answer:
Helen had never seen or felt a creature like the crab and was surprised to learn that it carried its house on its back.

Question 4.
What lesson did Helen learn after the crab disappeared?
Answer:
Helen learnt that it was unkind to force dumb creatures to live away from their habitat; it was best to let creatures be in their own element.

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The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 9

Helen talks about her visit to Boston with her teacher and mother and how her doll Nancy got ruined. She talks about her visit to Perkins institute for the Blind and how she was inspired by the positive attitude of the institution. She met Mr William Endicott and his daughter.

This chapter talks of Helen’s trip to Boston with her mother and teacher. It reveals the change in her behaviour from her previous journey by train. Better behaved as compared to her previous train ride, she preferred to sit quietly beside her teacher. Miss Sullivan described the world outside the train by writing on Helen’s hand.

At Boston, Helen once again visited the Perkins Institution for the blind, and met other blind children. Unfortunately, her doll Nancy was ruined over there as the laundress at the Perkins Institution had secretly given it a bath, hoping to clean her, but the doll lost its shape and became a ‘formless heap of cotton’.

Helen was deeply influenced by the positive attitude at the Institution. She also went to Bunker Hall where she received her first lessons in history. Helen also talks of Mr William Endicott and his daughter, who took great care of her.

The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 9 Questions and Answers

Question 1.
How was Helen’s train journey with her teacher different from her earlier one?
Answer:
Helen was extremely well behaved and sat quietly by the side of her teacher, eagerly listening to her description of the world outside the train window. This was in contrast to her earlier journey when she had been undisciplined, restless and required constant attention.

Question 2.
How did Nancy the doll change into a “formless heap of cotton”?
Answer:
The laundress at the Perkins Institution tried to give Nancy, Helen’s doll, a bath. It was reduced to a “formless heap of cotton” after being laundered.

Question 3.
What delighted Helen at the Institution?
Answer:
Helen was delighted to meet other children who could not see and was deeply impressed by their positive spirit.

Question 4.
Why was Helen taken to Bunker Hall?
Answer:
Helen received her first lessons in history at Bunker Hall. She was extremely excited to climb the monument, built in memory of the soldiers from the past, who had fought here.

Question 5.
Why did Helen cry during the steamboat ride?
Answer:
Helen mistook the sound of the rumble of the steamboat to be thunder. She began to cry, worried that they would not be able to have their picnic outdoors if it rained.

Question 6.
Who does Helen think of when she calls Boston the “city of kind hearts”?
Answer:
Helen refers to Mr William Endicott, who along with his daughter, took great care of Helen when she stayed at their farm in Boston.

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The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 8

Helen talks about the Christmas day full of surprises and the highlight of the day was the time she spent with the school children. She describes how she took care of Little Tim, the canary and her sorrow after its death.

This chapter describes how Helen enjoyed celebrating Christmas with her teacher. Helen had fun preparing surprises for everybody along with Miss Sullivan. The game of guessing which they played taught Helen more about the use of language.
It was a day foil of surprises, the highlight being the time spent with school children on Christmas Eve.

Helen had been invited to the school by the Tuscumbia schoolchildren to celebrate Christmas with them. There was a gift for each child by the tree and Helen was allowed to distribute them. Helen was delighted to hand the presents to the children. On Christmas day, she found surprises not just in the stockings but all around the house.

The chapter also talks of Helen’s joy at receiving a canary as a gift from her teacher, and how she took care of ‘Little Tim’, the canary bird. The chapter ends by describing her sorrow at its death.

The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 8 Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What was the most’exciting aspect of Christmas for Helen?
Answer:
With the help of her teacher, Helen had prepared surprises for her family members. This proved to be the most exciting part of celebrating Christmas. Also, she was excited about trying to guess what gifts the others were going to give her. Spending Christmas Eve with the Tuscumbia school children was another thrilling episode for her, especially as she was allowed to hand the gifts to all the children.

Question 2.
Who or what was Little Tim?
Answer:
Little Tim was a pet canary gifted to Helen by her teacher Miss Sullivan.

Question 3.
How did Helen take care of her pet?
Answer:
Helen would prepare its bath, clean its cage, fill its cups with fresh seed and water and hang a spray of chickweed in its swing.

Question 4.
Why did the bird not respond to Helen when she opened its cage one morning?
Answer:
The canary was eaten by a cat when Helen had gone to fetch water for its bath and had left the cage open.

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The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 7

Helen began to learn things by the play method and Miss Sullivan conducted all the lessons amidst nature where she could pick up concepts of geography, botany and zoology by touching real objects.

In this chapter, Helen describes how she learnt to read with the help of real objects through play. Miss Sullivan proved to be an exceptionally gifted teacher, holding most classes out of doors and making use of games to teach her. For Helen, learning was more like play than work. Helen enjoyed learning about the things around her and spent several happy hours in the orchard.

Miss Sullivan used all her ingenuity and resourcefulness to teach her during their walks to Keller’s Landing, making geography lessons come alive through three-dimensional models which she made on the river bed. She made use of stories and poems to teach Helen.

Helen learnt science through fossils, the lily plant and tadpoles. Helen also talks of her difficulties in learning arithmetic. Different aspects of nature became a part of Helen’s learning. Education thus became Helen’s one of most precious memories. Miss Sullivan became an inseparable part of Helen’s life.

The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 7 Questions and Answers

Question 1.
How did Helen learn to read?
Answer:
Helen learnt to read with the help of slips of cardboard with words printed in raised letters. She learnt that each word represented an object, an act or a quality and she arranged these words to form sentences in a frame. She moved on to the printed book in which she felt for the words she knew, learning to read in the process.

Question 2.
Why did Helen stand in the wardrobe?
Answer:
When Helen realised that each word represented an object or an act, she started placing words on all objects and then arranging them to form sentences. One day, she pinned the word girl on her dress and stood in the wardrobe, while on the shelf she arranged the words ‘is’, ‘in’ and ‘wardrobe’, thus making the sentence, ‘the girl is in the wardrobe’.

Question 3.
How do we know that Miss Sullivan was an exceptionally gifted teacher?
Answer:
Miss Sullivan proved to be a gifted teacher and found innovative methods of teaching Helen. Everything she taught was illustrated by a story or a poem. She would take an interest in whatever interested Helen.

Her method made grammar, mathematics and definitions interesting. She never nagged Helen and tried to make every subject as real as possible. She took Helen out of doors and taught her about the things around her by making her touch and feel them. Helen writes to support this view, “any teacher can take a child to a classroom, but not every teacher can make him learn.”

Question 4.
How did Helen learn geographical facts?
Answer:
Miss Sullivan taught Helen geography by building islands, lakes and dams made of pebbles. She talked to Helen about volcanoes, the shape of the world, glaciers and so on. She made raised maps in clay so that Helen could feel the mountain ridges, valleys and the course of rivers. She used innovative techniques to teach her about the time and temperature zones.

Question 5.
How did the collection of fossils become meaningful to Helen?
Answer:
Miss Sullivan used the fossils to teach Helen about pre-historic animals and plants that had existed on the planet in the past.

Question 6.
What did Helen learn from the lily plant?
Answer:
Helen learnt her first lessons in Botany from the lily plant. She realised the process of budding and that the whole process followed an order and a system.

Question 7.
“He had made his leap, he had seen the great world and was content to stay in his pretty glass house.” Who and what is Helen talking about?
Answer:
Helen observed that one of the 11 tadpoles kept in a glass globe, leap out and land on the floor, where Helen found him more dead than alive. The moment she put him back he revived and started swimming as vigorously as the rest of the tadpoles.

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The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 6

Helen describes her joy at her increasing vocabulary and how she learnt to perceive abstract concepts like ‘love She also appreciates Miss Sullivan’s patience at dealing with her.

Helen describes her joy at expanding her vocabulary in this chapter. She learnt to name abstract feelings like love. Miss Sullivan explained things to her with great patience, connecting feelings like love to aspects in nature. Helen understood that abstract ideas could also be named.

The chapter also tells us about Miss Sullivan’s determination to find a way of conversing with Helen, and helping her to enter into a dialogue with those around her. She spelt out sentences into Helen’s hand instead of speaking them.

It took several years for Miss Sullivan to teach her this but she persevered, determined to supply the stimulus that Helen lacked. This reveals the infinite patience and wisdom of the teacher.

The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 6 Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Why did Helen not question her teacher when introduced to a new thing?
Answer:
Helen never questioned her teacher as her ideas were vague and her vocabulary was inadequate.

Question 2.
Why did Helen find it difficult to understand the meaning of the word ‘love’?
Answer:
Helen found it difficult to comprehend the meaning of the word ‘love’ because she understood the things that she could either smell or touch. She had no understanding of abstract ideas.

Question 3.
How did Helen realise the meaning of the word ‘think’?
Answer:
As Helen tried to string beads of different sizes in symmetrical groups of two large beads followed by three smaller ones, she kept on making mistakes, but was patiently guided by her teacher. As she concentrated, trying to make sense of her mistake, her teacher spelled the word ‘think’ on her forehead. That is when she realised what it meant.

Question 4.
What, according to Helen, was love?
Answer:
Helen understood love to be a feeling that, like invisible lines, bound her spirit to those of others.

Question 5.
How did Miss Sullivan converse with Helen?
Answer:
Miss Sullivan would spell sentences onto Helen’s hand instead of speaking them. Helen would repeat verbatim what she spelt on her hands. Whenever Helen would be at a loss of words to express herself, Miss Sullivan would prompt her, supplying her with the necessary words and idioms. She taught Helen how she . could take part in a conversation like a person with normal hearing.

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The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 5

Helen talks about her growing awareness of the world around her and how she started to bond with nature. She also became familiar with the dark side of nature.

This chapter continues with the description of Miss Sullivan’s effect on Helen. She helped Helen become aware of the world around her. Miss Sullivan helped her connect with nature and develop a strong bond with it by taking her out to the fields and the river banks. Miss Sullivan slowly taught her to find beauty in every little thing in nature.

Helen also learnt about the darker aspects of nature, when she was caught in a fierce storm while sitting on the branches of a tree. Miss Sullivan had gone to the house to fetch lunch for them and Helen was left alone. When she was caught in a storm and about to fall from the tree, her teacher came to her rescue.

This incident shook her up and it took a long time for her to overcome her fear of climbing trees. But nature again lured her and she managed to climb back onto a tree following the odour of a flower.

The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 5 Questions and Answers

Question 1.
How did Helen’s awareness of the world deepen? What effect did it have on her personality?
Answer:
Helen’s teacher encouraged her to explore the world around her with her hands and taught her the names of every object that she touched. She explained their use. With a greater awareness of her surroundings, Helen became a happier and more confident individual.

Question 2.
Why did Miss Sullivan take Helen out of doors as much as she could?
Answer:
Miss Sullivan wanted Helen to feel the positive aspects of nature and learn how plants grow. She wanted her to learn about the interdependence between plants and animals, develop an appreciation for the beauty of nature and realise the deep bond that she shared with it.

Question 3.
How did Helen learn about the dark side of nature?
Answer:
Helen climbed onto a cherry tree with the help of her teacher and they decided to have their lunch on the tree. The teacher left her there while she went to get the luncheon basket. In the meantime, the weather suddenly changed and there, was a fierce storm which almost threw Helen out of the tree. For the first time Helen experienced the dark side of nature and it took a long time for her to gain the confidence to climb up a tree again.

Question 4.
How did Helen finally overcome her fear of climbing?
Answer:
The sweet smell of the mimosa flowers drew Helen near the tree and tempted her to climb it, where she sat for a long time dreaming of the future. She overcame her fear by being overwhelmed by the lure of nature.

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The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 4

Helen describes the coming of Miss Sullivan and how she taught her to speak with the help of fingers and her sense of wonderment at learning the names of things. She began to look forward to a new day for the first time in her life.

This chapter describes the arrival of Miss Sullivan, the teacher, and how Helen learnt to speak through her fingers. Helen Keller describes the day she met her teacher as the most important day in her life. On that day, Helen and Anne Sullivan begin a long, difficult journey. Together, they achieve what many believed to be impossible.

Helen understood when her teacher spelt out the word ‘doll’ on her hands with her fingers. This feat gave her immense pleasure and pride. She writes about her wonder at being able to name things around her and also mentions the dawning of a new perception.

For the first time, Helen experienced the feeling of repentance and sorrow, and she felt happy and looked forward to a new day. Helen recounts her experience of learning to spell the word ‘water’ which she had taken a long time to learn. She describes the first day when Miss Sullivan came, as an eventful day where she learnt many new words which would ultimately make the world blossom for her.

The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 4 Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Why does Helen say that 3 March 1887 was an important day for her?
Answer:
Helen calls it an important day because her teacher, Miss Sullivan, came to live with her on that day.

Question 2.
How did Helen learn the name of things around her?
Answer:
Helen’s teacher spelt out the names of the articles around her onto her hand and Helen would imitate her movements. Helen leamt several words, in the same process, even though she did not fully understand them.

Question 3.
What made Helen break her new doll?
Answer:
Helen broke her doll out of frustration as she was unable to understand the difference between the words ‘mug’ and ‘water’ even though her teacher tried her best to explain it to her.

Question 4.
What was significant about Helen trying to pick up the broken pieces of her new doll?
Answer:
Helen showed signs of regret and sorrow, which she had never felt before. It signified her transformation and her ability to recognise her feelings. The episode was significant as Helen showed the first signs of registering emotions.

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The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 3

Helen talks about her struggles to express herself which often led to frustration and emotional breakdown. She also reveals her parent’s struggle to find a suitable tutor. She describes a journey by train to an oculist in Baltimore and how a friendship developed with the conductor. She had a good time on the train where she met Dr Alexander Graham Bell. She also met with Mr Anagnos of Perkins Institution, who helped the family by sending Miss Sullivan, a competent teacher, to them.

This chapter discusses the challenges faced by Helen’s parents before the arrival of Miss Sullivan. They found it difficult to accept Helen’s frustration and emotional breakdowns in her attempts to express herself. Since the school for the blind was far from where they lived and that nobody would come to a place like Tuscumbia to teach a deaf and blind child, the people around her expressed doubts whether she could be taught. It was when Helen was six years old that her father heard of a renowned oculist in Baltimore.

Her parents decided to take her to Baltimore to consult the oculist to see whether anything could be done to relieve her of her blindness. However, the oculist could not help them. Helen enjoyed the journey, making friends with the conductor, who taught her how to punch holes in a piece of cardboard and a lady who gave her a box of shells. There is also a description of a doll gifted to Helen by her aunt.

Helen was distressed by the doll, as it had no eyes. She did not rest until a pair of beads was fixed on it instead. The chapter then describes a meeting with Dr Alexander Graham Bell whom she loved at once taking to the tenderness and sympathy with which he held her, and later a meeting with Mr Anagnos of Perkins Institution, Boston, who helped the family by sending Miss Sullivan to them.

The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 3 Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What was the reason for Helen’s emotional outbursts? How did it affect her parents?
Answer:
Helen’s inability to express herself to those around her frustrated Helen so much so that she would break down in tears and find consolation in her mother’s arms. Her parents were anxious to find someone who would be able to help their daughter communicate and express herself.

Question 2.
Why did the family decide to travel to Baltimore?
Answer:
Helen, along with her family, travelled to Baltimore to meet an oculist called Dr Chisholm in the hope of finding out whether he could help Helen regain her eyesight.

Question 3.
Why was Helen disturbed with the doll that her aunt gifted her?
Answer:
The doll that Helen’s aunt gave her did not have eyes. This disturbed Helen as she was anxious for it to have eyes.

Question 4.
Why does Helen describe her meeting with Dr Bell as a “light at the end of a tunnel”?
Answer:
For Helen, the meeting with Dr Bell was full of hope because he sympathised with her condition and informed her parents about the institute from where a suitable tutor for Helen could be found.

Question 5.
Why did Mr Anangos prove to be godsend for Helen?
Answer:
Mr Anangos was the director of the Perkins Institution, which had done a lot of work for the benefit of blind people. He helped Helen by recommending Miss Sullivan as a teacher for her.

Question 6.
Why does Helen make references to Egypt and Mount Sinai?
Answer:
By making this reference, the author alludes to the story from the Bible about Moses who led the Hebrews from Egypt and had a vision of the divine at Mount Sinai. Similarly, for Helen and her family, their meeting with Dr Bell at Washington followed by their communication with Mr Anangos seemed to be touched by the divine. They were finally able to find a suitable teacher for Helen who helped her come out of the dark world that she had been confined to since her illness.

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The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 2

Helen talks about the days after the illness when she was coping with darkness and silence. She began to use sign language to communicate with people around her. She developed a strong bond with her mother. Frustration often led to bouts of aggression.

Helen describes the Christmas celebrations at home and reveals anecdotes of time spent with Martha Washington and her dog Belle. She talks about the accident with fire and how she had locked her mother in the pantry by mistake. She describes the arrival of Miss Sullivan and how she too was locked up by Helen in her room and was subsequently rescued by Helen’s father. She also talks about how she coped with her father’s death. She talks about her attitude towards her sister.

This chapter describes how Helen coped with the darkness that she had to face after her illness. She had to use sign language to communicate with the people around her. Her frustration at not being able to communicate with those around her, led to bouts of aggression. The only person who could reach out to her was her mother, which led to the strengthening of the bond between them.

Helen also recollects the happy times she spent in the kitchen and playing in and around the house with Martha Washington, the daughter of their cook, and Belle, her dog. Both Martha and Helen were always up to some mischief or the other and one day they almost cut off each other’s hair before they were stopped by Helen’s mother. The chapter also describes how Helen learnt to survive and communicate with the people around her in spite of her blindness and deafness.

An incident is related where Helen learnt to use a lock, and locked her mother in the pantry by mistake. This incident caused her mother to decide to find a teacher for her, to help control Helen’s growing indiscipline. Soon after, Miss Sullivan was engaged as Helen’s teacher, but was locked into her room by Helen on the very first day. In the chapter, Helen describes her father as being loving and indulgent who loved his family, especially Helen.

She remembers his caressing touch and his eager delight in doing whatever pleased her. But her first personal experience with death came when she heard the news about her father’s death due to some illness. Helen also acknowledges her jealousy towards her little sister who seemed to take up all the care and time of their mother. The chapter also mentions how Helen almost killed her infant sister by overturning the cradle.

The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 2 Questions and Answers

Question 1.
How did Helen learn about her surroundings after she became blind and how did she connect with the people around her?
Answer:
Helen used her hands to feel every object and observe every movement that took place around her.
She communicated with others by making code signs like shaking her head to say ‘no’, nodding her head to say ‘yes’, a pull meaning ‘come’ and a push for ‘go’.

Question 2.
Why did Helen rush to her room when she felt the front door shutting?
Answer:
Helen understood that the shutting of the front door indicated the arrival of some guests so she ran up to her room to dress up in clothes she felt were appropriate to receive guests.

Question 3.
What does the above incident reveal about the little girl?
Answer:
It reveals that in spite of Helen’s handicaps, she was extremely bright and observant and tried hard to behave like those around her.

Question 4.
How did Helen realise that she was different from those around her and how did this affect her?
Answer:
Helen realised that her mother used her mouth to communicate instead of using sign language like she did. So she would touch the lips of the people while they were talking and imitate the movements of the lips. But when she was not able to talk like them, she would get frustrated and angry and start kicking and screaming till she was exhausted.

Question 5.
Did Helen realise when she was being naughty? How did this make her feel?
Answer:
Helen did realise when she was being naughty, but she did not feel any deep regret at her behaviour.

Question 6.
Who were Helen’s companions as a young child? How did she behave with them?
Answer:
Martha Washington, the daughter of Helen’s cook, and her dog Belle were her constant companions as a child. Helen was very domineering by nature. She would force Martha to do what she pleased and tried to do the same with the dog without success.

Question 7.
Why did Martha allow Helen to dominate her?
Answer:
Helen was a very strong and adventurous child who loved taking risks. She would also use physical force to get her way; Martha let her do as she pleased to avoid getting beaten by her.

Question 8.
How did the two girls spend their time together?
Answer:
The girls spent a lot of time in the kitchen kneading dough balls, helping to make ice cream, grinding coffee, fighting over the cake-bowls, feeding hens and turkeys, stealing food and eating it in hiding. They also hunted for guinea-fowl eggs, visited the horses in the stables and touched the cows as they were milked.

Question 9.
How did Helen enjoy Christmas?
Answer:
Helen loved the smell of Christmas cooking and helped in the grinding of the spices and picking of the raisins. She licked off the stirring spoons.

Question 10.
Pick out an example to show that Martha was as mischievous as Helen.
Answer:
One day, when both the girls were sitting on the veranda, cutting out paper dolls, they got bored and started cutting shoe strings and leaves of plants. Suddenly, Helen cut off one of Martha’s curls and Martha retaliated by cutting off one of Helen’s curls. They were stopped short of cutting each other’s hair by Helen’s mother.

Question 11.
“This vexed me and the lesson always ended in a one-sided boxing match.” What vexed Helen and who did she have the boxing match with?
Answer:
Helen wanted her dog Belle to bark at birds and chase them as dogs normally do. But Belle would become rigid on seeing a bird and not obey her commands. This always angered Helen and she would then box her dog.

Question 12.
How did the dog react on being hit by Helen?
Answer:
Helen’s dog, Belle, on being hit, would get up, stretch herself and move away from Helen.

Question 13.
How did Helen almost burn herself up on day?
Answer:
Helen had wet her apron, so she spread it over the fireplace in the sitting room to dry it. As the apron took time to dry, she went closer to the fire and threw it over the ashes. The apron caught fire and she almost burnt herself in the process.

Question 14.
Who saved Helen from burning?
Answer:
Helen was saved by her old nurse, Viny who threw a blanket over her and put out the fire.

Question 15.
Why did Helen lock up her mother?
Answer:
Helen locked up her mother, by mistake, when she learned how to turn a key and lock a door.

Question 16.
What made her parents decide that Helen needed some form of disciplining and education?
Answer:
After Helen locked her mother in the pantry and sat outside laughing at her mother’s plight, her parents felt the need for a teacher to discipline Helen and teach her right from wrong.

Question 17.
Why did Miss Sullivan have to be rescued from her room? Who rescued her?
Answer:
Helen locked Miss Sullivan in her room and refused to reveal where she had hidden the key. Her father had to rescue Miss Sullivan with the help of a ladder.

Question 18.
Who were the other members in Helen’s family?
Answer:
Along with her parents, Helen lived with her two half-brothers and younger sister, Mildred.

Question 19.
Cite examples from the lesson that show Helen’s father to be a very patient man.
Answer:
Helen’s father would spend hours with Helen in the garden, taking her from tree to tree and vine to vine. He would tell her stories by spelling the entire story on her hand and wait for her to repeat his anecdotes to him.

Question 20.
“This was my first great sorrow.” What is Helen talking about in this line?
Answer:
Helen is talking about her father’s death. He died suddenly after a brief illness.

Question 21.
Why did Helen throw her sister out of the cradle?
Answer:
Helen found her sister sleeping in a cradle, where she usually put her doll Nancy to sleep. In a fit of rage, she overturned the cradle and almost killed her sister.

Question 22.
What does Helen mean by the phrase—“valley of twofold solitude”?
Answer:
Solitude means loneliness. For Helen, it was twofold because she could not hear. She was also lonely, unaware of feelings of care and sensitivity towards others. She was, thus, overcome by loneliness of the soul.

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The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 1

Helen traces the origins of her family and talks about her early childhood. Her initial days were full of colour and laughter and she was the darling of the family. A mysterious illness left Helen blind, deaf and dumb. Those were the days of rebellion and indiscipline which Helen spent trying to make sense of a dark and silent world.

Helen starts her autobiography by tracing the origins of the family on both her father’s and mother’s side. She recollects certain incidents.from her early childhood which were full of colour and laughter. Being the first-born, she was the darling of the family. She was a normal child who could see and hear like other children. Even as a child, she had an eager and self- asserting disposition.

She vividly recounts the house where she lived till the time she was struck by the illness. The house was covered with vines, climbing roses and honeysuckles and its old-fashioned garden was the paradise of her childhood. However, when the mysterious illness struck her, it left her deaf and blind. Her parents were greatly distressed when they found out that their baby girl could no longer see.

Helen used to find solace in the garden, losing herself amongst the flowers and the vines. The only source of sustenance; was her mother’s love and the tenderness which soothed her pain. These were days of rebellion and indiscipline when she struggled to make sense of the dark and silent world that she was suddenly enveloped in.

The Story of My Life Summary Chapter 1 Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What does Helen mean by saying that “the shadows of the prison house are on the rest.. “?
Answer:
The expression means that Helen is not able to remember a large part of her childhood.

Question 2.
When and where was Helen born?
Answer:
Helen was born on 27 June 1880 in Tuscumbia, a town in northern Alabama.

Question 3.
What does Helen mean when she makes the statement, “it is true there is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors and no slave who has not had a king among his”?
Answer:
The author means that if one researches one’s lineage, the person will find all kinds of people who were their ancestors. That is, no family can have only powerful and rich people as their ancestors.

Question 4.
Who were Caspar Keller, Arthur H Keller and Kate Adams?
Answer:
Caspar was Helen’s grandfather, Arthur was her father and Kate her mother.

Question 5.
How do we know that the house in which Helen lived was very beautiful?
Answer:
Though the house was not very big, it was completely covered with vines, climbing roses and honeysuckle.
From the garden, it looked like an arbour. The porch of the house was covered by a screen of yellow roses and southern smilax and it was always buzzing with hummingbirds and bees.

Question 6.
How did Helen enjoy the beauties of her garden in spite of her blindness?
Answer:
Helen would feel the hedges and find different flowers by her sense of smell. She would find comfort in hiding her face in the cool leaves and grass. She wandered in the garden touching, feeling and smelling the various flowers, bushes and trees and could identify them accurately.

Question 7.
What does Helen, want to express through the statement “I came, I saw, I conquered”?
Answer:
Helen wants to express the fact that she was a much loved child especially as she was the first born in the family.

Question 8.
How did Helen get her name?
Answer:
Helen’s father had wanted to name her Mildred Campbell after an ancestor whom he had a high regard for, while her mother wanted to name her after her mother, whose maiden name was Helen Everett. However, by the time they reached the church for the ceremony, her father lost the name and when the minister asked him, he gave the name Helen Adams.

Question 9.
Give two examples to show that Helen was an intelligent baby.
Answer:
When she was six months old, Helen could say “How d’ye?” and one day she started saying “Tea” very clearly.
Even after her illness, she could recollect many of the words that she had learnt as a baby, like “water”.

Question 10.
What motivated Helen to take her first steps as a baby?
Answer:
One day, when Helen’s mother was giving her a bath, she was attracted by the flickering shadows of the leaves that were reflected on the bathroom floor. She got up from her mother’s lap and walked towards the reflection to try and catch it.

Question 11.
Why does Helen call February a dreary month?
Answer:
It was the month in which Helen was struck by an illness that left her deaf and blind. For her, it was a nightmarish experience.

Question 12.
For how long had Helen been able to see and hear?
Answer:
Helen was able to see and hear for the first 19 months of her life.