The Story of My Life · Chapter
XXII explained
Helen Keller reflects on the contrast between the harsh, oppressive city and the restorative beauty of the countryside.
What happens
Helen Keller reflects on the contrast between the harsh, oppressive city and the restorative beauty of the countryside. She describes the sensory and emotional toll of urban poverty, the joy of returning to nature, and the pleasures of cycling, playing games, and interacting with children. She also shares her deep appreciation for sculpture, theater, and the company of great actors, finding solace and inspiration in art and human connection.
Themes in this chapter
Social Justice and Compassion
Helen expresses indignation at the poverty and suffering in city slums, contrasting the lives of the wealthy with those condemned to sunless tenements, and calls for a return to simple, honest living.
Nature and the Senses
Helen vividly describes the joy of feeling the springy earth, grassy roads, and ferny brooks, and the sensory pleasure of cycling and being outdoors.
Identity and Self-Expression
Helen finds joy in self-forgetfulness and expresses herself through tactile engagement with art, games, and the company of children and actors.
Characters to notice
- Helen Keller
Narrator and protagonist; describes her sensory experiences of city and country, her love of cycling, games, and art, and her interactions with children and actors.
- Ellen Terry
Helen touches her face and costume while she impersonates a queen on stage, noting the divinity and woe in her portrayal.
- Henry Irving
Standing beside Ellen Terry, he wears the symbols of kingship; Helen recalls the majesty and grief in his performance.
- Joseph Jefferson
Helen counts him among her friends and recalls seeing him act 'Rip Van Winkle' while at school in New York.
Key passages
“The grinding of heavy wagons on hard pavements and the monotonous clangour of machinery are all the more torturing to the nerves if one’s attention is not diverted by the panorama that is always present in the noisy streets to people who can see.”
The harsh sounds of city traffic and machinery are especially painful when one cannot see the distracting sights that sighted people enjoy.
Helen contrasts her auditory experience of the city with the visual distractions available to others.
“Oh, would that men would leave the city, its splendour and its tumult and its gold, and return to wood and field and simple, honest living!”
Helen wishes people would abandon the city's wealth and noise for the simplicity and honesty of rural life.
Expresses her idealization of country life over urban existence.
“I can feel in the faces of gods and heroes hate, courage and love, just as I can detect them in living faces I am permitted to touch.”
By touching sculptures, Helen perceives the same emotions she reads in the faces of real people.
Highlights her tactile ability to interpret emotion in art.