The story is about Helen Keller, who became blind and deaf at the age of nineteen months due to severe disease. It is Helen Keller’s autobiography which is a first person narrative told by her. In the story, Keller describes her time with Annie Sullivan as precious because she taught the language and the value of life to her. Therefore, under Sullivan’s teaching, Keller began to learn the language, and finally she was able to find a purpose of her life. At first in the story, Keller expressed her state of mind filled in anger and bitterness. She describes her life as a ship which lost the way without compass at sea in a dense fog. From it, we can feel that her life was ripped with despair. However, after she met Miss Sullivan, her life saw the light in the dark, learning language from Miss Sullivan infused her with meaningful life. The scene where Miss Sullivan spelled into Keller’s hand the word ‘w a t e r’ with the other in the cool streaming water, was most powerful moment.
The author was able to break a barrier of language, and find the way of her life, as if she detected a harbor in the sea. To be honest, I am never able to emphasize with Hellen Keller because I have not had any problem about learning language. I took leaning language with my mouth and ears for granted, and I thought everyone has opportunity to learn the language to communicate with the world. However, for someone who has limits to learning a language like as Keller, the language is precious tool making them realize the value of life. Therefore, through her story, we need to understand the worth of language and thank the world for allowing us to learn language without any difficulty.