The Most Important Day by Helen Keller

The chapter 4 begins with Helen Keller’s assertion that the most important day of her life was the day when her teacher Miss Sullivan came to teach her. She was filled with wonder to think about the broad and immeasurable gap that existed between Miss Sullivan and her and in a way it connected them both. The day her teacher arrived was March 03, 1887, when she was going to reach the age of 7 years after three months.

In the next passage, Helen Keller writes as to how she was hopeful of somebody’s arrival in the house. She had felt some special kind of movements in the house. She had also felt as to how her mother was moving to and fro in the house. So she went to the door and waited on the steps. On that eventful (important) day, she stood on the porch, quiet and expectant (eager, hopeful).

Now she describes how the sunrays were penetrating (entering) through the branches of the honeysuckle that covered the whole porch and also falling on her upturned face. She was also touching unconsciously (without any intention) the leaves and flowers of the vine with continuous soft touch and it seemed to her that those flowers had blossomed to welcome the sweet southern spring. The leaves and flowers were familiar to her because she used to come there and touched them softly.

She was not clear or certain about her future at that time, whether it would be surprising for her or not.

She was, perhaps, uncertain about her future because she had been a prey to anger and bitterness so far continually for weeks. As a result of that, a languor (a pleasant state of being lazy and without energy) followed that intense struggle.

In the next passage, Helen uses a simile to prove as to how she felt miserable in the world of darkness, where there was no hope of coming into the world of knowledge and brightness.

 She compares herself to a ship that is surrounded by dense white fog and has lost its way to reach the shore. It follows a sound line that comes from a distance (It may be the sound of a foghorn set up at some lighthouse at the sea-shore), moves plummeting (falling suddenly from high position) without having knowledge of the hidden dangers on the way and waiting for something unfortunate to happen. The same situation was faced by Helen in her life. Her condition was like that of the ship described above before her education began. The difference was that she was without any compass and sounding-line and she had no means to know how near she was from her harbor (Here it means destination). Her soul’s cry was to provide her with light of love and knowledge and the light of love was shown on her that very hour.

After sometime, she felt someone’s approaching footsteps. She stretched her arm as she had thought it to be her mother. Her arm was taken by someone who made her stand and then held in her arms. It was Miss Sullivan, who had come to reveal all the things and above them all to love her.

That very morning her teacher led her to her room and gave a doll. It was a gift sent to her by the little blind children who studied at Perkins and Laura Bridgman had dressed it. But it was later on when she came to much about the doll. She played for some time with the doll and the teacher spelled the letters ‘d-o-l-l” on her palm of her hand. She thought it a finger play and took interest at once in it. She imitated the activity and when she was successful in imitating the letters, she was full of excitement and felt childish pleasure and pride in it. After that, she ran down quickly to her mother and spelled the letters for the doll on her own hand.

At that time, she did not know that the word ‘doll’ existed. She was just imitating the word in playful way. In the following days, she learned to spell in this way that she could not understand at that time several words. These were: pin, hat, cup and some verbs like sit stand and walk. She had understood before the arrival of her teacher that everything had a name.

 One day when she was busy playing with her new doll, her teacher Miss Sullivan put in her lap the old big rag doll. She also spelled “d-o-l-l” and tried to make her understand that the word ‘doll’ applied to both of them. Earlier, in the, they had a tussle over the words ‘water’ and ‘mug’. Miss Sullivan was trying hard to make her understand that those were two separate words, but Helen was bent on confusing both the words standing for the same meaning. Her teacher had dropped the topic at that time for the time-being. Now, when she picked up the same topic of making her understand the difference between the two words, Helen became impatient. She seized the new doll and dashed it on the floor. She enjoyed a strange type of delight when she felt at her feet the broken pieces of the doll lying scattered on the floor.

 She felt neither sorrow nor regret at the violent action done by her. She did not love the doll.

She says that she lived in a dark world that was disappointing and hopeless for her and there was no place for soft feelings like tenderness in that world. She felt that her teacher was sweeping the fragments of the doll to one side of the hearth. In way she had some satisfaction at that act as the cause of her discomfort had been removed. After that, her teacher brought a hat for her and she at once understood that was being taken outside in the warm sunshine. It made her hop and skip with pleasure.

They walked towards the well-house that was covered with the honeysuckle spreading the sweet and attractive fragrance. Someone was drawing water and her teacher placed her hand under the pipe from which the cold water was coming out. As the cool water fell over her hand, Miss Sullivan spelled the word ‘water’, first in a slow manner and then fast. She stood motionless and her whole attention was on the motions of her teacher’s fingers. After that she had some gradual understanding that the ‘w-a-t-e-r’ meant the wonderful cool, something that was flowing over her hand. She understood that the word ‘w-a-t-e-r’ was a reality. It awakened her soul and gave it some light, hope, joy and in a way set it free from the barriers of the darkness that still prevailed in her mind.

She was full of eagerness to learn more when they left the well. She had come to know that everything had a name and each name gave birth to a new thought in her mind. While coming back home, every object that she touched seemed filled with life to her. She also remembered the doll she had broken as she entered the door. She picked up the broken pieces and tried in vain to rejoin them. Then her eyes were filled with tears and for the first time she felt repentance and sorrow for the wrong she had committed.

She learned many new words that day. She remembered some of them that were: mother, father, sister, teacher, etc. These were the words that were going to fill her life with happiness. She was a happier child when she lay in her small cot and for the first time she longed for the new day to arrive.

 15. The Most Important Day by Helen Keller (For Class:VII)

A. Fill in the blanks to complete information about Helen Keller.

1. sight, hearing 2. 1880, Alabama 3. Infancy, blind, deaf 4. Blind, deaf     5. Anne Sullivan, Perkins Institute for the Blinds     6. 3^rd of March, seven

B. Answer these questions.

1. Despite being sightless and without the ability to hear, Helen knew something special was about to happen that day. How?

Ans. On that afternoon, Helen stood on the porch. She knew that something special was going to happen in the house that day. She had guessed it from her mother’s unusual movements.

2. What kind of feelings did her handicaps create in her?

Ans. Her handicaps had made her hopeless. She was living as if surrounded by dark fog around her.

3. Who had sent a doll for Helen? What did Miss Sullivan try to teach Helen while she played with the doll?

Ans. The little blind children at the Perkins Institute for the blinds had sent that doll to her. Her teacher Miss Sullivan tried to teach her the word doll by writing the spellings  ‘d-o-l-l’ on her hand.

4. What did Helen learn in the following days?

Ans. In the following days, Helen learnt the words like pin, hat, cup and few verbs like sit, stand and walk. She also learnt the words like water and mug.

5. Why did Helen break her new doll?

Ans. Her teacher was repeatedly trying to tell Helen the difference between the words ‘mug’ and ‘water’. She was unable to understand it. So, in irritation, she broke her new doll.

6. Which was the most important day in Helen’s life? Why was it so?

Ans. The most important day for Helen was the one when her teacher Miss Sullivan came to teach her at her house. It was because of her teacher, light, hope and joy came in her life. She could know that everything in this world has a name.

7. What change came into Helen’s life after that day?

Ans. After that day, Helen’s life changed wonderfully. The day removed the fog of hopelessness and light, hope and joy entered her life. Gradually she came to know the names of the things and her curiosity increased day by day. She came to know many words but the most important of them were: mother, father, sister and teacher. These brought great happiness in her life.

C. Answer these questions.

1. “I was like that ship before my education began…”

a. Which ‘ship’ does Helen compare her life to?

Ans. She refers to the ship that is surrounded by dense fog in the sea and that tries hard to tear that sheet of white darkness to reach the shore.

b. Why is she like a ship?

Ans. She is blind and deaf. There is darkness in her life. So she is the ‘ship’ that is surrounded by the white darkness of dense fog.

2. “Light! Give me light!” was the wordless cry of my soul…

a. Why does Helen cry for ‘light’? Which light is she referring to?

Ans. Helen is blind. She cannot see anything. She is referring to the light of sight.

b. Why does she call her cry ‘wordless’?

Ans. Her cry is wordless because she is unable to say any word. No one can understand what her cry means.

c. What does this statement tell us about Helen’s frame of mind?

Ans. It tells us that Helen has become hopeless in her life.

3. “When I finally succeeded in making the letters correctly, I was finished with childish pleasure and pride.”

a. What letters was Helen trying to make?

Ans. She was trying to make the letters: ‘d-o-l-l’

b. Whom was she learning them from?

Ans. She was learning them from her teacher Miss Sullivan.

c. Who did she show her new skill to?

Ans. She showed her new skill to her mother.

4. ‘In the still, dark world in which I lived, there was no strong sentiment or tenderness.”

a. Which dark world does the speaker refer to?

Ans. She refers to the dark world of blindness in which nothing is visible.

b. When does Helen make statement?

Ans. She made that statement after she had broken the doll.

c. What light does this statement throw on Helen’s attitude?

Ans. The statement shows her pessimistic attitude to life. She was hopeless at that time.

5. “I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers.”

a. Where was Helen when she made this statement?

Ans. Helen stood near a hand pump then.

b. What was her attention fixed on?

Ans. Her attention was fixed on the motions of the fingers.

c. What impact did this incident have on Helen’s life?

Ans. Her soul was awakened and she felt a ray of light, hope and joy in her life after that.

Word- Meanings (Extra)

1.      Impaired: damaged, handicapped 2. Penetrated:  succeeded in entering 3. Mass: heap, bunch, collection 4. Passionate: having strong feelings