The morning after my teacher came she led me into her room and gave me a doll. The little blind children at the Perkins Institution had sent it and Laura Bridgman had dressed it; but I did not
know this until afterward. When I had played with it a little while, Miss Sullivan slowly spelled into my
hand the word “d-o-l-l.” I was at once interested in this finger play and tried to imitate it. When I finally
succeeded in making the letters correctly I was flushed with childish pleasure and pride. Running
downstairs to my mother I held up my hand and made the letters for doll. I did not know that I was
spelling a word or even that words existed; I was simply making my fingers go in monkey-like imitation.
In the days that followed I learned to spell in this uncomprehending way a great many words, among
them pin, hat, cup and a few verbs like sit, stand and walk. But my teacher had been with me several
weeks before I understood that everything has a name.
One day, while I was playing with my new doll, Miss Sullivan put my big rag doll into my lap also,
spelled “d-o-l-l” and tried to make me understand that “d-o-l-l” applied to both. Earlier in the day we
had had a tussle over the words “m-u-g” and “w-a-t-e-r.” Miss Sullivan had tried to impress it upon me
that “m-u-g” is mug and that “w-a-t-e-r” is water, but I persisted in confounding the two. In despair she
had dropped the subject for the time, only to renew it at the first opportunity. I became impatient at her
repeated attempts and, seizing the new doll, I dashed it upon the floor. I was keenly delighted when I
felt the fragments of the broken doll at my feet. Neither sorrow nor regret followed my passionate
outburst. I had not loved the doll. In the still, dark world in which I lived there was no strong sentiment
of tenderness. I felt my teacher sweep the fragments to one side of the hearth, and I had a sense of
satisfaction that the cause of my discomfort was removed. She brought me my hat, and I knew I was
going out into the warm sunshine. This thought, if a wordless sensation may be called a thought, made
me hop and skip with pleasure.
We walked down the path to the well-house, attracted by the fragrance of the honeysuckle with
which it was covered. Someone 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.
I left the well-house eager to learn. Everything had a name, and each name gave birth to a new
thought. As we returned to the house every object which I touched seemed to quiver with life. That was
because I saw everything with the strange, new sight that had come to me. On entering the door I
remembered the doll I had broken. I felt my way to the hearth and picked up the pieces. I tried vainly to
put them together. Then my eyes filled with tears; for I realized what I had done, and for the first time I
felt repentance and sorrow.
Question 1
Which line from the passage best supports the central idea of the passage?
a. In the days that followed I learned to spell in this uncomprehending way a great many
words, among them pin, hat, cup and a few verbs like sit, stand and walk.
b. One day, while I was playing with my new doll, Miss Sullivan put my big rag doll into my lap also, spelled “d-o-l-l” and tried to make me understand that “d-o-l-l” applied to both.
c. There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away.
d. As we returned to the house every object which I touched seemed to quiver with life. That was because I saw everything with the strange, new sight that had come to me.
Question 2
DETERMINE an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and ANALYZE how the
author acknowledges and responds to conflicting evidence or viewpoints
The reason why the author describes “the big rag doll” incident in such great detail is to
demonstrate...
a. how important the doll was to Helen Keller
b. that Helen Keller had no sense of empathy or tenderness for anything
c. that Miss Sullivan was frustrated with Helen Keller
d. the power Miss Sullivan had over Helen Keller