Point of View in Helen Keller's Memoir, The Story of My Life

Read the excerpt from The Story of My Life by Helen Keller. Have you ever been at sea in a dense fog, when it seemed as if a tangible white darkness shut you in, and the great ship, tense and anxious, groped her way toward the shore with plummet and sounding-line, and you waited with beating heart for something to happen? I was like that ship before my education began, only I was without compass or sounding-line, and had no way of knowing how near the harbour was. Which statement best describes the purpose of the imagery in the excerpt?

It allows the reader to feel how lost Helen feels before she learns to communicate.

Which answer choice best states the difference between a memoir and a biography?

A memoir is written in first person, but a biography is written in third person.

Which excerpt from The Story of My Life by Helen Keller contains the best example of the author's use of vivid verbs?

Anger and bitterness had preyed upon me

Read the excerpt from The Story of My Life by Helen Keller. Dr. Bell advised my father to write to Mr. Anagnos, director of the Perkins Institution in Boston, the scene of Dr. Howe's great labours for the blind, and ask him if he had a teacher competent to begin my education. This my father did at once, and in a few weeks there came a kind letter from Mr. Anagnos with the comforting assurance that a teacher had been found. This was in the summer of 1886. But Miss Sullivan did not arrive until the following March. From whose point of view is the excerpt narrated?

Helen's

Read the excerpt from The Story of My Life by Helen Keller. We walked down the path to the well-house, attracted by the fragrance of the honeysuckle with which it was covered. Some one was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as 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 cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away. What does the point of view in the excerpt allow readers to learn?

It allows readers to learn what Helen is thinking and feeling when she discovers language.

Which line from The Story of My Life by Helen Keller contains imagery?

My mother's only ray of hope came from Dickens's "American Notes."

Read the excerpt from The Story of My Life by Helen Keller. On the afternoon of that eventful day, I stood on the porch, dumb, expectant. I guessed vaguely from my mother's signs and from the hurrying to and fro in the house that something unusual was about to happen, so I went to the door and waited on the steps. The afternoon sun penetrated the mass of honeysuckle that covered the porch, and fell on my upturned face. My fingers lingered almost unconsciously on the familiar leaves and blossoms which had just come forth to greet the sweet southern spring. I did not know what the future held of marvel or surprise for me. Which answer choice best describes the imagery in the excerpt?

Sensory details appeal to the reader's sense of touch.

What will the readers experience in a biographical play about Helen Keller that they will not experience in Helen Keller's memoir?

The readers will learn about an event through an outsider's perspective, not Helen Keller's.

The first-person point of view allows readers to

experience an event through the author's eyes.

A comparison of two unrelated things using the words "like" or "as" is an element of imagery called a

similie.