English book
The Story of My Life
by Helen Keller
Publisher - Bantam Books
The first twenty-four years of the journey of blind and deaf Helen Keller,
"We went to Niagara in March, 1893. It is difficult to describe my emotions when I stood on the point which overhangs the American Falls and felt the air vibrate and the earth tremble...Every day in imagination I made a trip round the world...all the activities of human life actually passed under my finger tips.(p.55)
a household personality.
Simply incredible! Was she completely blind? Although Hellen Keller was introduced to us as a role model since we were kids, it was not until I read this book that I came to realise she was truly a heroine. No complaint but only enjoyment of her life. Her passion for books was inspiring. She probably read much more than most of those who can see. I just wonder how she could manage to read so much. Her enthusiam for understanding the world and helping those who were like her was touching. She acted like someone with a normal life.
The pleasant surprise that this book gave me was that it is more than an autobiography. It is literature!
"Winter was on hill and field. The earth seemed benumbed by his icy touch, and the very spirits of the trees had withdrawn to their roots, a d there, curled up in the dark, lay fast asleep. all life seemed to have ebbed away..." (p.40)
"So dazzling was the light, it penetrated even the darkness that veils my eyes."(p.41)
"It was in the spring of 1890 that I learned to speak. The impulse to utter audible sounds had always been strong within me."(p.42)
"Miss Fuller.... passed my hand lightly over her face, and let me feel the position of her tongue and lips when she made a sound. I was eager to imitate every motion and in an hour had learned six elements of speech: M, P, A,, S, T, I....to come out of the prison of silence...the joy of discovery which came over him when he uttered his first word...But for Miss Sullivan's genius, untiring perseverance and devotion, I could not have progressed as far as I have toward natural speech."(p.44)
"My work was practice, practice, practice. Discouragement and weariness cast me down frequently; but the next moment the thought that I should soon be at home and show my loved ones what I had accomplished spurred me on."(p.45)
Stories of struggling out of the grip of adversity are so familiar that we sometimes take them for granted. We must bear in mind that even a small step forward resulted from "untiring perseverance" of both the one to help and the one to be helped. Every story of this kind reminds me of how blessed and privileged I am and that my trouble is actually nothing. Those stories are the source of my emotional support. Follow their examples-a cliche that can still spur me on.
One may argue that not every unfortunate person is cheered on by loving care and support from family and friends even if his desire to break shackles is strong. Well, that is true. But that doesn't mean those stories are just dead textbook cases that are not worth the attention of most of us. Considering the fact that most depressed people's cases are actually solvable and comparatively minor, one tenth of the courage and perseverance of people like Keller will enable most of us to get rid of the trouble on our own. I think, in a large number of cases, it is the person who asks for the trouble himself from the very beginning.
"Dr Bell went everywhere with us and in his own delightful way described to me the objects of greatest interest...All these experiences added a great many new terms to my vocabulary...I took a long leap from the little child's interest in fairy tales and toys to the appreciation of the real and the earnest in the workaday world."(p.57)
The strong desire to reach as many parts of the world map as possible probably fueled her determination to pull down her prison. She was not to be confined. Her eagerness to embrace the world is another major reason why I am drawn to her. It is really unimaginable how a deaf and blind girl can have the concept of the big world! So many people have no concern for other people and things outside their neighbourhoold and social circle. With her intense interest in the world, no wonder she was devoted to helping other unprivileged souls like her.
The subjects that she learned included "the histories of Greece, Rome and the United States." (p.57-58)
"I took my preliminary exainations for Radcliffe (probaly like our AL exams)... in 1897. The subjects I offered were Elementary and Advanced German, French, Latin, English and Greek and Roman history...I passed in everything, and received "honours" in German and English." (p.65) "When I began my second year at the Gilman school...I ahd physics, algebra, geometry, astronomy, Greek and Latin." (p.67)It is unbelievable! Those were daunting tasks even for normal people!
"I tried, without aid, to master the French pronunciation... it gave me something to do on a rainy day."(p.57-58) How amusing!
"There is nothing mor beautiful, I think, than the evanescent fleeting images and sentiments prsented by a language one is just becoming famiiar with - by capricious fancy."(p.59)
How true! That reminds me of my excitement after learning a foreign language (other than English). Give me an elementary self-learning language book, on Japanese, French, German, Russian or any foreign language and I can stay alone contented at a corner anywhere in the world for days. Success in recognising and pronouncing a character is thrilling enough to motivate me to move on to another. I have never been tired of learning languages. To compare and contrast languages based on my limited knowledge is fascinating!
"The thought of going to college took root in my heart and became an earnest desire, which implelled me to enter into competition for a degree iwth seeing and hearing girls, in the face fo the strong opposition of many true and wise friends." (p.63)
"A potent force within me, stronger than the persuasion of my friends, stronger even than the pleadings of my heart, had impelled me to try my strength by the standards of those who see and hear...Debarred from the great highways of knowledge, I was compelled to make the journey across country by unfrequented roads-that was all." (p.72) The last three words sound so lightly, yet like thunder that awakens us! Yes, just take "unfrequented roads." No big deal! Stop complaining or accusing God of injustice!
The only complaint Keller had was "the lack of time. I used to have time to think, to reflect, my mind and I...One goes to college to learn, it seems, not to think." (p.73) This sounds so much like my complaint. In the first term of this school year, I was so overwhelmed by school work that I could barely sqeeze time reading books or thinking. Very little input resulted in very little output! I think and so I exist, as the famous line of a philosopher. It is my own independent thinking that defines my existence and that identify me from others . When there is little time for reading and thinking, you can't possibly have any ideas of your own. You can't judge by your own head whether something is right or wrong, good or bad. It is only those who enjoy and treasure independent thinking that understands the importance of the opportunities of thinking. Considering the importance of reading and thinking, I am not determined to improve the efficiency of my teaching (including marking and preparing for lessons) methods and strike a balance between work and self-development. I just can't stand vanishing in the crowd.
"Everyone who wishes to gain true knowledge must clim teh Hill Difficulty alone...I slip back many time, I fall, I stand still, I run against teh edge of hidden obstacles, I lsoe my temper and find it again and keep it beter. I trudge on, I gain a little, I feel encouraaged, I get more eager and climb higher and begin to see the widening horizen. Every struggle is a victory. One more effort and I reach teh luminous cloud, the blue depths of the sky, the uplands of my desire." (p.74)
Yes, it is also true knowledge that I crave for rather than some grand-looking superficial tricks. I don't even want to deceive myself. I wish to be a true scholar,a learned person with abundant experiences
"'Knowledge is power.' Rather,knowledge is happiness, because to have knowledge - broad, deep knowledge - is to know true ends from false, and lofty things from low. To know the thoughts and deeds that have marked man's progress is to feel the great heart-throbs of humanity through the centuries." (p.78)
From ignorance to some knowledge is sheer joy to me, and other accompanying things such as higher job security and better prospect are just fringe benefits. It was an unpleasant surprise to find that the equation between knowledge and power already prevailed in early 20th Century!
"Books have meant so much more in my education than in that of others...When I was seven years old, and from that day to this I have devoured everything in the shape of a printed page that has come within the reach fo my hungry finger tips...I read them over and over, until the words were so worn and pressed I could scarcely make them out."(p.78-p.79)
The importance of books to me is growing with my age. I guess that's partly because more and more books appealing to me have turned up in recent decades. Another reason is that books are much more interesting and inspiring than people around me. Thirdly, my ignorance is more and more obvious to me and my advancing age is leaving less and less time to waste. I hate it when I am older but not wiser. I must run against time to learn more and reading is the best way to increase my depth. I am just as hungry as Keller in this respect.
"You revel in their fine thoughts. You enjoy with all your soul the sweet thunder of the Old Testament..."(p.75) Indeed, nothing beats the joy of listening to fine thoughts and true feelings.
"'Give a brief account of Huss and his work.' Huss? Who was he and what did he do? The name looks strangely familiar. You ransack your budget of historic facts much as you would hunt for a bit of silk in a ragbag. You are sure it is somewhere in your mind near the top - you saw it there the other day when... But Huss-where is he? You are amazed at all the things you know which are not on the examination paper...Just then the proctor informs you that the time is up. With a feelings of intense disgust you kick the mass of rubbish into a corner and go home, your head full of revolutionary schemes to abolish teh divine right of professors to ask questions without the consent of the questioned."(p.77)
Please remember when you burst into laughter that such vivid desription did not come from a nomal person in 2005, but a blind and deaf girl over 100 years ago! Can you believe that! That's why I say this book is literature!
It is just a natural thing that you adore a writer who wrote about what is in your head and heart. How I wish I lived in her times and that I could write to her to tell her how much I share her interests. Meeting like-minded souls is a major reason for my passion for reading!