Individual Reading. Culture
My book is “The Story of My Life” by Helen Keller. The cultural component plays a pivotal role in the book, as the main heroine was always engrossed in the wonderful world of learning and observing.
Helen started to learn the world via books. There were world-famous books which she adored and which influenced her character, for example: Lamb’s “Tales from Shakespeare,” “A Child’s History of England” by Dickens, “The Arabian Nights,” “The Swiss Family Robinson,” “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” “Robinson Crusoe,” “Little Women,” and many others. Reading helped Helen learn more about culture and the world in general, which made her a very versatile person who knew a lot about every sphere of people’s life. Helen herself was also a prolific author, writing 14 books and hundreds of speeches and essays on topics ranging from animals to Mahatma Gandhi.
“…And from the sacred mountain I heard a voice which said, “Knowledge is love and light and vision.”
As the story took place in America, its culture is vividly represented here, too. During her life, Helen was a friend of many famous people of America, including Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, Mark Twain, and Charlie Chaplin. Moreover, Keller met every U.S. president from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon B. Johnson, which made her an influential figure in the history of America and its politics. Culture of that time had impact on her actions. She cared a lot about the US and its citizens, was campaigned for those with disabilities, for women’s suffrage, labor rights, and world peace. She also joined the Socialist Party of America and was a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union.
“Often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.”
To understand her contemporaries, Helen first learned the origins of human culture. Knowing culture is important for the comprehesion of the book as Helen’s personality was built on analyzing the history and insights of mankind.
Some new words from the book:
- abstruse — заумный
- vivacious — бодрый, живой
- drudgery — тяжелый труд
- futile — тщетный, напрасный
- desultory — сумбурный
See you soon!
