You know it’s 2019 that as I read a memoir from 1903, written by a woman in Alabama, I am on edge but then relieved that we made it through the whole thing without a use of the “N-word!”
But that’s not being fair. You, like I have, have probably read or seen The Miracle Worker. If you’re like me, that doesn’t mean you’ve ever read the original memoir that Helen Keller wrote. And it’s perfectly good and a good early example (or at least 20th century example of a few things).
One, it’s a celebrity memoir and widely popular. I am interested in what people were reading at various times. That kind of data is not readily available before about 1905, but there are some lists. I can’t recall if this was on that list for this year, but it seems entirely possible.
Two, it’s very interesting to watch someone explain how they acquired language. She makes the point early on that hearing children pick up language as an automatic process. And so her articulation of her language acquisition puts words to the process in way we don’t normally get.
Three, it’s a wonderful account of teaching, persistence, methodology, and of course love. It’s lost on a lot of people who aren’t teachers how much love plays into it. And how this love is not automatic or looks the same way. Helen Keller also discusses how she began to process abstract ideas like love.
Four, it’s a book about privilege. It’s deeply unfortunate that she experienced the illness that led to these changes in her seeing and hearing. It’s very fortunate she came from a well off white family in the South who cared enough to pay for her education. She doesn’t explain it this way, but it’s there.
(Photo: https://www.amazon.com/Story-My-Life-Classic-Autobiography/dp/1790628245/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=helen+keller&qid=1550752109&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1)
