Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Teacher: Anne Sullivan Macy

Rate this book
Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso

256 pages, Hardcover

First published November 30, 1954

17 people are currently reading
741 people want to read

About the author

Helen Keller

337 books1,820 followers
Blind and deaf since infancy, American memoirist and lecturer Helen Adams Keller learned to read, to write, and to speak from her teacher Anne Sullivan, graduated from Radcliffe in 1904, and lectured widely on behalf of sightless people; her books include Out of the Dark (1913).

Conditions bound not Keller. Scarlet fever rendered her deaf and blind at 19 months; she in several languages and as a student wrote The Story of My Life . In this age, few women then attended college, and people often relegated the disabled to the background and spoke of the disabled only in hushed tones, when she so remarkably accomplished. Nevertheless, alongside many other impressive achievements, Keller authored 13 books, wrote countless articles, and devoted her life to social reform. An active and effective suffragist, pacifist, and socialist (the latter association earned her a file of Federal Bureau of Investigation), she lectured on behalf of disabled people everywhere. She also helped to start several foundations that continue to improve the lives of the deaf and blind around the world.

As a young girl, obstinate Keller, prone to fits of violence, seethed with rage at her inability to express herself. Nevertheless, at the urging of Alexander Graham Bell, Anne Sullivan, a teacher, transformed this wild child at the age of 7 years in an event that she declares "the most important day I remember in all my life." (After a series of operations, Sullivan, once blind, partially recovered her sight.) In a memorable passage, Keller writes of the day "Teacher" led her to a stream and repeatedly spelled out the letters w-a-t-e-r on one of her hands while pouring water over the other. This method proved a revelation: "That living world 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." And, indeed, most of them were.

In her lovingly crafted and deeply perceptive autobiography, Keller's joyous spirit is most vividly expressed in her connection to nature:

Indeed, everything that could hum, or buzz, or sing, or bloom, had a part in my education.... Few know what joy it is to feel the roses pressing softly into the hand, or the beautiful motion of the lilies as they sway in the morning breeze. Sometimes I caught an insect in the flower I was plucking, and I felt the faint noise of a pair of wings rubbed together in a sudden terror....

The idea of feeling rather than hearing a sound, or of admiring a flower's motion rather than its color, evokes a strong visceral sensation in the reader, giving The Story of My Life a subtle power and beauty. Keller's celebration of discovery becomes our own. In the end, this blind and deaf woman succeeds in sharpening our eyes and ears to the beauty of the world. --Shawn Carkonen

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
105 (49%)
4 stars
53 (25%)
3 stars
37 (17%)
2 stars
14 (6%)
1 star
2 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
Profile Image for Gedankenlabor.
836 reviews123 followers
September 3, 2021
>>Erde, Luft und Wasser wurden durch Teachers schaffende Hand lebendig, und Phantom verschwand, als das Leben voll Bedeutungen über Helen hereinbrach...<<

„TEACHER – Meine Lehrerin Anne Sullivan Macy“ von Helen Keller ist ein Werk, das mich zutiefst beeindruckt und berührt hat! Geschrieben von Helen Keller, einem taubblinden Mädchen, das Jahre eingesperrt in ihrer eigenen Dunkelheit verharrte, ja nahezu verzweifelte und durch ihre Lehrerin Anne Sullivan Macy das Leben sehen und hören, in ihrer möglichen Gänze spüren konnte.
Teacher lehrte sie sich mitzuteilen und gemeinsam haben diese beiden Frauen einfach unglaubliches erreicht! Gemeinsam mit Anne war es Helen möglich ihren Geist nach außen zu tragen und die Welt auf ganz wunderbare, mutige und einzigartige Weise zu bereichern!
Helen selbst möchte in diesem Werk jedoch zum Ausdruck bringen, welch wichtige Stellung Anne, Teacher in ihrem Leben hatte und welch wunderbare, außergewöhnliche und starke Frau sich hinter Teacher verbarg.
Ich glaube, ich habe in kaum einem Buch so vieles markiert, und so sehr habe ich an Helens Zeilen geklebt, so berührt war ich, das doch auch das ein oder andere Tränchen geflossen ist.
Es sind einfach zwei ganz außerordentlich besondere Frauen, denen man hier begegnet und beide schätze ich auf ihre ganz eigene Weise sehr! Vor beiden ziehe ich den Hut, denn das Leben hat ihnen beiden wirklich große Hürden auferlegt und sie haben sie dennoch mit ganzem Herzen versucht zu nehmen und so unglaublich viel erreicht und voller Güte getan, um eben auch anderen zu helfen.
✒Ein wahnsinnig wunderbares Porträt zweier Frauen, die mutig mit all den Hürden ihr Leben in die Hand nahmen – ein Buch, das ich jedem sehr sehr ans Herz legen möchte!💖📖
Profile Image for Amy.
960 reviews
March 18, 2009
I was hoping for more info on Anne Sullivan's childhood, but apparently it was so tough for her that she refused to let helen Keller write about it. Raised in Massachusetts, her mother died and her father abandoned the children, when the Tewsbury almshouse took them in. Her brother died of TB, and Anne was left alone in the almshouse where the stench became so bad that state inspectors came to check out the problem. Anne, partially blind, threw herself at them, begging to be allowed to attend school. She was then brought to the Perkins School for the Blind.
5 reviews
April 14, 2013
Did this in first person. The I is actually Anne Sullivan.


I was born on April 14, 1866 in Feeding Hills, Agawam, Massachusetts and died on October 20, 1936. I was blind when I was about five years old due to a contagious eye disease called trachoma. I had slightly curly hair when my brother and I were sent to the Tewksbury, Massachusetts State poorhouse, or almshouse, at the age of ten years old. Because I have had many operations on my eyes, I hence wore sunglasses to keep the sun out of my eyes. Usually, I wear my hair up in a braided bun and long Victorian gowns for when Helen Keller makes speeches or goes to school. My parents are Thomas Sullivan and Alice Cloesy, both who are Irish immigrant farmers. I also have 2 siblings who are younger than me. My family was poor and my father was an alcoholic who sometimes hit my mother and I, so, my mother had to hide me from him. My younger brother was sick often, but however, my younger sister was very healthy. One of the personalities I had as a child was a quick temper. Now, one of my personalities I have is being patient. I was patient for Helen Keller, who was restless and willful.
Profile Image for leilanis_books ..
231 reviews11 followers
September 4, 2021
IT is not I ----
But the world
That is blind --------------

Und wie auch Mary Shelleys Frankenstein fühlte sich die taubblinde Helen Keller als
Phantom bevor „Teacher“ zu ihr kam und widmet diese Biographie ihrer Lehrerin die sie aus der Dunkelheit ans „Licht“ holte.

Sie wächst auf ohne zu wissen, dass Zeit vergeht. Ohne Richtung, ohne Ziel, ohne irgendein Wohin. Sie spricht in dieser Zeit von sich in der dritten Person bevor Annies Hand sie rettete. Und so übernimmt Annie die Worte von Howe als sie sagt:

Sie war ein Mensch, der sich allein und hilflos in einem dunklen Schacht befindet, und ich ließ ein Seil herab und ließ es über ihr baumeln, in der Hoffnung, dass sie es findet, ergreift und daran heraufgezogen werden kann in das Licht des Tages und der menschlichen Gesellschaft.

Helen sagt nach Teachers Tod folgendes: Sie war mir von Gott geliehen worden, damit ich meine eigene Persönlichkeit durch Dunkelheit und Stille hindurch entwickeln konnte.

Wenn in Tags nach lebensverändernden Büchern gefragt wird, so war es bei mir
ein Bericht über Helen und Annie den ich als Teenager sah. Damals beeindruckte mich das so sehr, dass ich obwohl es Hochsommer war und ich mich in einem Sommercamp befand sehr krank wurde. Unerklärliches Fieber befiel mich, und als ich wieder gesund war, war nichts mehr wie zuvor, und ähnlich wie Helen war ich „sehend“ geworden.

Besonders beeindruckend ist die „Water“ Szene die ihr bei YouTube findet wenn ihr Helen Keller und Water eingebt.

Lisa @gedankenlabor hat genau die richtigen Worte für die Gemeinschaft der beiden Frauen gefunden, dem ist nichts mehr hinzu zufügen. Bitte besucht doch ihre Seite und lest selbst.

Zum Schluss möchte ich gerne Helen zu Worte kommen lassen, in einem Film der 1953 unter dem Titel „Helen Keller in Her Story“ in die Kinos kam.

„Annie Sullivan my beloved Teacher – through thirty years of discouragement and jap
We have walked together hand in hand, her vitalizing love is the secret of progress and triumph over difficulty”

Neben Helens Buch kann ich noch zwei weitere Biographen empfehlen, wenn man noch tiefer in die Materie einsteigen will.

Katja Behrens – Alles Sehn kommt von der Seele
Helen E. Waite – Öffne mir das Tor zur Welt
Profile Image for Lara.
659 reviews109 followers
July 6, 2018
2,5/5
La historia de Hellen Keller y su teacher Anne Sullivan es realmente impresionante e interesantísima de leer. Me encantó aprender sobre como una mujer sorda y ciega pudo abrirse camino en la vida haciendo grandes cosas con la ayuda de una maestra que supo comprenderla. Su escritura, muy buena, aunque si un poco densa en algunas partes. Sin embargo, me hubiera gustado que profundizara más en algunos aspectos y los saltos en el tiempo y el cambio de primera a tercera persona me confundieron mucho.
Creo que tendría que haber leído Story of my life primero.
Profile Image for Stephanie.
105 reviews
June 6, 2022
This is a biography written by Helen Keller about her teacher Anne Sullivan Macy. Though I was quite excited for this book and the it was a diamond found in the rough of the auto/biography section it didn’t quite live up to expectations. I really enjoy reading certain books from this era because the writing is so eloquent but unfotunately the narrative while very pretty and insightful was also written in stream of consciousness almost. Helen Keller I believe was fairly old when she wrote this book I think at least in her 60s and the way it reads is that there is some frame work for how the book is set up but she follows her own tangents. This normally wouldn’t be a problem but the things is she doesn’t come back to reinforce the main idea or give you much insight to why the tangent was taken. This being said it was hard to follow and I think you get a bit less out of it due to this just because you can’t quite piece together all Helen is trying to convey. I actually stopped about 20-30 pages from the end just by exhaustion. However the story itself is of course very interesting. Would I suggest? Only if you really enjoy studying Helen Keller and want some more insight between the relation between her and Anne Sullivan Macy from Helen’s perspective.
Profile Image for Maria.
242 reviews25 followers
July 4, 2019
Despite the fact that the writer did not mentioned any personal background about Anne childhood, I still feel it is enough to have our relationship with Anne as a Teacher. I loved the book because it is representing the lovely gradual pain of Helen in developing her cognitive improvement in discovering the world with the help of her teacher.

Many questions we can wonder here : Can teachers be the eye of their students? Can teachers reveal the future of this world? I am not sure what is the correct answer, but I am sure that Anne Sullivan did a change in someone's life.
469 reviews1 follower
October 6, 2014
My interest in this book was learning more about Anne Sullivan's childhood. So much has been written about her as Teacher and so little about her life at home and then in Tewksbury. I understand that Anne was reluctant to speak about this part of her life and the book, of course, is titled Teacher...

It took me months to get through this.
Profile Image for Peter Ells.
Author 2 books3 followers
February 16, 2022
Anne Sullivan Macy, Helen's teacher, is an even more extraordinary person than Helen herself. She had a horrendous childhood, and sacrificed her life completely for Helen.
72 reviews
August 8, 2008
Incredible story of Anne Sullivan the woman who overcame great obstacles in her own life to become the rescuer and teacher of one of histories great women Helen Keller.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.