The Story of My Life

In October 1893, Keller’s education takes on a greater meaning to her as she begins to study specific subjects for a set number of hours. Keller begins to learn Latin when she and Miss Sullivan visit the Wade family in Pennsylvania. Mr. Irons, a neighbor and a Latin scholar, patiently teaches Keller the language.

Initially, Keller finds the instruction dry and pointless: “It seemed absurd to waste time analyzing every word I came across — noun, genitive, singular, feminine — when its meaning was quite plain” (104). But as she delves deeper into her language studies, Keller finds great beauty in the Latin tongue, and she takes pleasure in reading Latin passages on her own.

Keller concludes, “There is nothing more beautiful, I think, than the evanescent fleeting images and sentiments presented by a language one is just becoming familiar with” (106). This important lesson teaches her to value patience and to work past her initial perceptions of subject matter.

For the next two years, Keller is educated in New York City at the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf. Accompanied by Miss Sullivan, Keller’s education is expanded to include more languages (French and German), arithmetic, and physical geography.