FREE ESSAY ON HELLEN KELLER

HELLEN KELLER

Helen Keller was an American author who lived to educate and inspire others to become the
most unique author of her time. She was a gifted woman who had exceptional writing
abilities. She utilized simplistic style to correspond with all varieties of people. She
wrote to inspire people and to help disabled people achieve their goals. Her writing
style was full of many types of diction, syntactic devices, and patterns of imagery to
exemplify her life chronicle. Keller used an unadorned tone with superb expressions and
descriptions.
Helen Adams Keller was born in the small town of Tuscumbia, Alabama in 1880. When she was
nineteen months old she was diagnosed with scarlet fever, which left her blind and deaf
for the rest of her life. When she was a child she was put under the care of Anne
Sullivan, and she would become her life long friend and companion. Sullivan began to
teach her by writing with her finger, the name of objects into her hand. Keller began to
learn very rapidly. She started to write very quickly using a ruler to guide her
sentences. She learned how to read Braille and then to speak. In 1900, Keller went to
Radcliffe College and graduated with honors. She lectured around the world about her life
experiences and met many famous people such as Mark Twain. She was an extraordinary woman
and one of the most recognized people in history. 
Helen Keller shows herself as a well educated, persevering, and eager woman. She brought
her success through her education, which she was taught at a young age. Keller learned
her thirty new words the same day she learned her first. Next, she presented a very
strong personality. In her early years Keller states, "…although I find it
difficult, I still persevere." (Keller, pg. 62) Her dialog shows that even though she has
trouble sometimes, she will still overcome her disabilities. Her main advantage in
becoming successful was her eagerness to learn. When she first started to learn she says,
"I began my studies with eagerness. Before me I saw a new world opening in beauty and
light, and I felt within me the capacity to know all things." (Keller, pg. 72) She had a
positive persona that enabled her to learn.
She wrote simple but effectively in order to appeal to ordinary people, like she saw
herself. Keller used simple sentences to convey her thoughts. "I felt approaching
footsteps…" (Keller, pg. 15) she writes simple to easily explain her situations.
Keller's main message in her autobiography is that you can persevere through anything in
life, "Helen Keller has shown the world that one can achieve anything in their lifetime."
( , Pg. 210)
She tells the story of her life to present the examples in her life and to show her own
uniqueness. Keller proved that her deafness and blindness would not stop her from being
an extraordinary person. She also wrote to express her survival of her disabilities and
how she overcame them. Keller's purpose was to inspire people to endure. She communicated
to disabled people especially to help them realize what they are capable of.
Helen Keller uses specific diction techniques in her writing to address her ideas. She
uses vivid sensory language when describing events and objects. When she went to visit
the ocean she says, "I felt the pebbles rattling as the waves threw their ponderous
weight against the shore." (Keller, pg. 35) her descriptions envelop the experiences,
almost bringing it to life. Another diction technique she uses is concrete specific
detail. In her dream she finds, "I could see the dagger and lady Mac Beth's little white
glove- the dreadful stain." (Keller, pg. 86) her acute descriptions illustrate how she
portrays her fantasies. Connotative language is used throughout her autobiography. She
uses connotative language to express her feelings when she says, "…except possibly
the absence of pavements, between walking in city streets and in country roads." (Keller,
pg. 93) Her connotations give a symbolic meaning to her thoughts. By using different
diction techniques, Helen Keller creatively reveals her thoughts.
By using particular syntax such as simple sentences, one level sentences, and short
sentences, Keller appeals to a broad audience. She tells events using simple sentences
for better clarity. After she got her canary she describes, "I went to fetch water for
his bath." (Keller, pg. 30) She is known because "the cause for (her) excellence of her
letters because of her simplistic expression." ( , Pg. 124) Many of her detailed images
are made from single level sentences. At her second year of college she describes it as
"very lively." (Keller, pg. 75) She appeals to the audience by making her autobiography
to the point and clear. Most all of her sentences in her autobiography are brief. In her
English classes, she "wrote my compositions and translations on my typewriter." (Keller,
pg. 63) She gives very comprehendible syntax, which allows her descriptions to be easily
understood.
Keller employs different patterns of imagery to add more detail in her autobiography. She
uses personification many times to add more elements to her writing. At the ocean she
says, "the air throbbed with their pulsation." (Keller, pg. 43) "Helen Keller made
beautiful, almost poetic accounts of events in her memoirs." ( , Pg. 69) Next, she used
similes to give more detail in her descriptions. At Christmas time, she expresses her joy
as "(her) cup of happiness overflowed." (Keller, pg. 30) Her Descriptions of her emotions
add symbolism to her writing. She also effectively uses metaphors to explain her
reasoning. When she was learning about telephones, she describes the inventions "like
Prometheus, to draw fire from the sky." Keller, pg. 57) She connects two ideas by
relating them metaphorically. Her imagery patterns add symbolic characteristics to her
way of thinking.
Helen Keller uses a subjective, first person, and simple tone to tell the story of her
life. Her subjective tone exemplifies her emotions. When she went to the World's Fair,
she "thought they were angel visions which the artist had caught and bound in earthly
forms." (Keller, pg. 56) Her tone is very emotional and poetic in the way she thinks of
encumbrances. Next, by employing a first person point of view she makes the events in her
life seem very personal. One of her first trips to Baltimore she says, "there were so
many things to keep my mind and fingers busy." (Keller, pg. 13) "Her accounts of life
give us a new perception of her way of thinking." ( , Pg. 148) Her simple, elegant
portraits like, "slender, fingerlike leaves on the outside opened slowly, reluctantly."
(Keller, pg. 63) Keller's lucid writing technique gives clarity and pleasantness to the
tone.
She uses educated vocabulary with many descriptive adjectives in her writing. Her
intelligence is shown through her scholarly language. She makes effective thoughts like,
"the keys which unlocked the treasures of the antediluvian world for me." (Keller, pg.
26) Her knowledge of a vast vocabulary makes it easy for her to communicate her ideas
uniquely and precisely. Next, she has many descriptive adjectives that allow for good
narration. One of her first impressions of college was "that it was not quite the
romantic lyceum I had imagined." (Keller, pg. 72) She has a diverse vocabulary that
includes exceptional adjectives that she uses to convey her sentiments. Keller's
vocabulary enables her to give unique thoughts about her life.
Her subject is focused on her accomplishments and her approach is chronologically ordered
in the path of her accomplishments. She focuses on her accomplishment because of her
purpose for writing, which was to inspire people to understand their capabilities. She
uses her life and her own experiences to explain her beliefs. Her approach starts from
her birth and follows on by each of her accomplishments. She wrote her story just how her
life happened, she included all of her inspirations and the people that helped her fulfil
her goals.
Helen Keller wrote her life story as a tool for other people to learn from. She was
plagued by disabilities that she had to overcome. Her story is wonderful and her
achievements are amazing. Keller let nothing stop her from meeting famous people, to
traveling all over the world to talk to people and inspire them. She did many things that
even people with no disadvantages couldn't accomplish.
Bibliography
Keller, Helen Adams
Story of My Life. New York, New York: Bantam Books, June 1990
Herrmann, Dorothy
"Helen Keller." Famous Women 1990. Yahoo.
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Microsoft Encarta 97
Microsoft Corporation, 1993-1996