I don’t want this to be a debate, but I would like a common sense answer to this. Helen Keller learned to read and speak even though she was deaf and blind. I know this shows no lack of intellect on her part, but Anne Sullivan was nearly blind herself, and had to teach a deaf and blind girl how to read, to understand spoken words, and even how to speak. I hear a lot of praise for Keller, but was Sullivan the greater person?
SSG Schwartz
I have heard (and not from reliable sources, mind you), that Helen wasn’t “all that” when it came to brains, and that Anne Sullivan merely used Helen as a way to secure steady income.
You do realise that while largely blind Anne Sullivan was able to read for short periods for most of her life.
If Helen wasn’t “all that” when it came to brains who wrote all her books that include these quotes:
Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.
Literature is my Utopia. Here I am not disenfranchised. No barrier of the senses shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourses of my book friends. They talk to me without embarrassment or awkwardness.
Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature… Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.
And others here.
Notice that I stated it wasn’t from reliable sources. One of the arguments made in favor of it being Anne Sullivan was that pretty much all communication with Helen went through Anne. Did Helen physically write her books or were they dictated to Anne who then wrote them down?
Helen typed her own books on a braille typewriter. She communicated with many other people in her life - and learned how to speak (although only people who knew her well could really understand her). Anne died in 1936. Helen died in 1968 - 32 years later. During this period she visited disabled WWII soldiers, continued to write and speak and work for the disabled.
Neither, in my opinion. Samuel Howe was the smart one.
Helen Keller probably popularized the idea that deaf blind children could be educated, though, so I’d give her more credit than Anne Sulllivan.
I’d say “ignorance fought,” but I threw it out there simply because I considered it a bit specious, and figured that if it was garbage, it could be pretty easily shot down, which you’ve done admirably.
Helen Keller’s later years don’t get the same publicity her childhood experiences do. Her learning to speak is a story everyone can feel good about. Her becoming a socialist was more controversial.