Helen Keller - Language the Savior

Before Helen Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, comes into her life. Keller's existence is as if she is ""at sea in a dense fog"", she writes. Having been blind and deaf since the age of 18 months, at 7 years old she had spent a little over 5 years in a horrific mental prison, from which escape was impossible. At the time, she could feel nothing but resentment and anger for how fate had treated her, and was continually in a bitter funk over her inability to perceive and interact with the world. She felt like she had no direction, no goal to orient her towards, for in her world the things that we take for granted, such as speech, talking to people, seeing things with our own eyes, cannot be. She tells us of how, previous to her teachers arrival, she had languored in anger and bitterness for weeks, falling afterwards into a tranquilizing depression from which she had yet been given no suitable entreaty to leave.

Soon, however, Ms. Sullivan's 'Miracle working' would bring new meaning and possibility to Keller's life. A perfect example of the turning point reached by Helen is shown in her essay ""The Day Language Came Into My Life"" . She writes, ""I became impatient at her repeat attempts, and seizing the new doll, I dashed it upon the floor. I was keenly delighted when i felt the fragment of the broken doll at my feet, neither sorrow nor regret followed my passionate outburst, I had not loved the doll. In the still, dark world in which I lived there was no strong sentiment or tenderness. I felt my teacher sweep the fragments to one side of the hearth, and i had a sense of satisfaction that the cause of my discomfort was removed.

"" Here we see the pre-language Helen. Who knows nothing other than immediate gratification of whims and desires, for nothing lasting can be built upon a foundation of fog such as she purportedly existed in. Then, later ""Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness of something forgotten - a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that ""w-a-t-e-r"" meant the wonderful and cool something that was flowing over my hand. The living world awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it was true, but barriers that could in time be swept away. I left the well-house eager to learn. Everything had a name, and each name gave birth to a new thought. As we returned to the house, every object I touched seemed to quiver with life. That was because I saw everything with the strange, new sight that had come to me.

On entering the door I remembered the doll that I had broken. I felt my way to the hearth and picked up the pieces. I tried vainly to put them together. Then my eyes filled with tears;for I realized what I had done, and for the first time I felt repentance and sorrow."" Here we see an entirely new facet of Helen's character. Now she is full of hope, and light, and joy. A great contrast from the earlier anger, bitterness, and depression. now she can feel sorrow, can be repentant at her actions, whereas before ""In the still, dark world in which I lived there was no strong sentiment or tenderness.""

So while in both parts of her life, she is fundamentally the same, a deaf and blind woman who has been so since she was 18 months old. However prior to language coming into her life, Helen's existence had been a dreary, meaningless, and uncomfortable one. Afterwards, however, she came to see the joy of living, and learned to feel all emotions, and not be confined to the bitter ones. That day, her personality started the long uphill journey to becoming the celebrated advocate for deaf and blind people all over the world, as well as becoming the inspiring story she has been to millions ever since.