Hi Everyone!! This article will share The Story of My Life Questions & Answers.
In my previous posts, I have shared the questions & answers of Daffodils, Paper Boats and A Trek through the Himalayas so, you can check these posts as well.
The Story of My Life Questions & Answers
Question 1: Fill in the blanks:
1. Casper Keller, Helen’s ancestor, settled in Maryland.
2. The old-fashioned garden of Ivy Green was the paradise of Helen’s childhood.
3. Helen’s mother wished to call her Helen Everett after her own mother.
4. Helen, as a child, would always insist upon imitating what other people did.
5. Once, as a child, Helen attracted everyone’s attention by saying ‘tea-tea-tea’ quite plainly.
6. Helen’s illness was diagnosed as congestion of the stomach and brain.
Question 2: Write a short note on Helen’s family background.
Answer: Helen’s father was Arthur H Keller, and her mother was Kate Adams. Her father was a captain in the Confederate Army. His family was descended from Caspar Keller, who was a native of Switzerland but had settled in Maryland. One of Helen’s ancestors was the first teacher of the deaf in Zurich and had written a book on their education.
Question 3: Where did Helen live till the time of her illness?
Answer: Till the time of her illness Helen lived in a tiny house, which had one large and one small room. The house was built by her father after the Civil War. It had an annex attached to it. It was completely covered with vines, climbing rose and honeysuckles. The porch of the house was hidden behind a screen of yellow roses. It also had a little rose bower. The house was called ‘Ivy green’.
Question 4: How would Helen calm herself after a fit of temper?
Answer: Helen’s house had an old-fashioned garden with stiff boxwood hedges. Helen would guide herself by her sense of smell and by feeling along the hedges. After a fit of temper, Helen would go to this garden to comfort herself, and hide her face in the cool leaves and grass.
Question 5: How did Helen’s mother solve the problem of her name?
Answer: Helen’s mother gave the solution to the problem of selecting a name for Helen. She suggested to name the baby Helen Everett, after her own mother. However, the solution was not a success. Helen’s father was not in favour of the name ‘Helen Everett’. So, while he carried Helen to the church to be christened, he lost the name.
The Story of My Life Questions & Answers
Question 6: What were the signs that showed Helen’s eager, self-asserting disposition?
Answer: Since she was a baby, Helen showed many signs of an eager, self-asserting disposition. She insisted on imitating everything that other people did. At the age of six-months she could say ‘How d’ye’. One day she said ‘Tea,tea,tea’ quite clearly and surprised everyone.
Question 7: Give an instance of the ‘happy days’ that existed before Helen fell ill.
Answer: One of the happy days that existed before Helen fell ill was the day that she first walked. She was a year old. Her mother had taken her out of the bath tub and was holding her on her lap. Helen was attracted by the flickering shadows of the leaves on the smooth floor. She almost ran towards the shadows in her excitement and fell down. This was the first walk of her life.
Question 8: Describe the various seasons that Helen enjoyed before the illness attacked her.
Answer: Before her illness came, Helen enjoyed a brief spring, which was musical with the songs of robin and mocking-bird; a summer rich in fruit and roses; and an autumn which fell the gold and crimson leaves at her feet. Then the illness came in the month of February.
Question 9: What was the illness that attacked Helen called? What was its effect?
Answer: The illness that attacked Helen was called acute congestion of the stomach and brain by the doctors. The illness left suddenly one day, but due to it Helen lost her ability to see and hear.
Question 10: Read the lines given below and answer the questions that follow.
The task of writing an autobiography is a difficult one.
(a) Who says the above words?
Answer: The above words are spoken by the author Helen Adams.
(b) Why is the task of writing an autobiography a difficult one?
Answer: The task of writing an autobiography is a difficult one, because while many of the experiences are clear and vivid in our memory, most of the details of the joys and sorrows of childhood are forgotten. In the excitement of adult life, the incidents of childhood which are vital lose their clarity in the memory.
(c) How does the speaker decide to present it?
Answer: The speaker decides to present it in a series of sketches. She describes only the episodes that seem to her to be the most interesting and important. This, she hopes, will help her make her work less tedious.
Question 11: Read the lines given below and answer the questions that follow.
‘Tea, tea, tea’…….
(a) Who said these words?
Answer: Helen Keller said these words.
(b) When exactly were these words spoken?
Answer: These words were spoken by Helen, one day, when she was about six months old.
(c) What was everyone’s reaction to the above words?
Answer: When Helen spoke these words, everyone’s attention was attracted to her as she was just six months old at that time.
Question 12: Read the lines given below and answer the questions that follow.
……l continued to make some sound for that word after all other speech was lost.
(a) What is the ‘word’ being referred to in the above line?
Answer: The word being referred to in the above line is ‘water’.
(b) What sound did Helen make for the word?
Answer: After her illness, when she had lost her ability to hear and had lost all other speech, she could still make the sound ‘wah-wah’ for the word ‘water’.
(c) Why was Helen’s speech lost?
Answer: Helen’s speech was lost because of an illness she had as a child. The doctors had diagnosed the illness as the acute congestion of stomach and brain.
So, these were The Story of My Life Questions & Answers.