Skip to main content

What circumstances led Helen Keller to be accused of plagiarism?

Helen tells us this story in Chapters 14 and 15. She was about 12 years old when she wrote a story she originally called “Autumn Leaves” and then re-titled as “The Frost King.” She sent it to Mr. Anagnos at the Perkins Institution for the Blind in Boston, and he chose to publish it in a school report. Unfortunately, it turned out Helen’s story was quite similar to a story called “The Frost Fairies,” written...

Helen tells us this story in Chapters 14 and 15. She was about 12 years old when she wrote a story she originally called “Autumn Leaves” and then re-titled as “The Frost King.” She sent it to Mr. Anagnos at the Perkins Institution for the Blind in Boston, and he chose to publish it in a school report. Unfortunately, it turned out Helen’s story was quite similar to a story called “The Frost Fairies,” written by Margaret T. Canby and first appearing in a book called Birdie and His Fairy Friends, originally released in 1874. Evidently, the Hopkins house had a copy of this old book; and once when Helen was staying there, someone read the story to her. She was used to assimilating everything she read and learned, and she hadn’t realized the story she wrote wasn’t her own work. She didn’t remember having ever heard the tale before. Perkins launched an investigation. Helen had to appear before a committee without Anne Sullivan to help her. She was nervous and upset, and the members thought she was guilty of deliberately copying the Canby story. While Mr. Anagnos later maintained that he always believed in her innocence, Helen was sad to sense a definite change in his attitude whenever she was in his presence afterward. For a long while, Helen felt she had to question every one of her “original” ideas. “I am not sure it is mine,” she said.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is the meaning of "juggling fiends" in Macbeth?

Macbeth is beginning to realize that the three witches have been deceiving him since he first encountered them. Like jugglers, they have kept changing their forecasts in order create confusion. This is particularly apparent when the Second Apparition they raise in Act IV,   Scene 1 tells him that no man of woman born can overcome him in hand-to-hand battle--and then Macbeth finds himself confronted by the one man he has been avoiding out of a... Macbeth is beginning to realize that the three witches have been deceiving him since he first encountered them. Like jugglers, they have kept changing their forecasts in order create confusion. This is particularly apparent when the Second Apparition they raise in Act IV,   Scene 1 tells him that no man of woman born can overcome him in hand-to-hand battle--and then Macbeth finds himself confronted by the one man he has been avoiding out of a sense of guilt, and that man tells him: Despair thy charm. And let the angel whom thou still hast serve...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are some external and internal conflicts that Montag has in Fahrenheit 451?

 Montag, the protagonist of Fahrenheit 451, faces both external and internal conflicts throughout the novel. Some examples of these conflicts are: External Conflicts: Conflict with the society: Montag lives in a society that prohibits books and critical thinking. He faces opposition from the government and the people who enforce this law. Montag struggles to come to terms with the fact that his society is based on censorship and control. Conflict with his wife: Montag's wife, Mildred, is completely absorbed in the shallow and meaningless entertainment provided by the government. Montag's growing dissatisfaction with his marriage adds to his external conflict. Conflict with the fire captain: Montag's superior, Captain Beatty, is the personification of the oppressive regime that Montag is fighting against. Montag's struggle against Beatty represents his external conflict with the government. Internal Conflicts: Conflict with his own beliefs: Montag, at the beginning of th...
Post a Comment
Read more

In A People's History of the United States, why does Howard Zinn feel that Wilson made a flimsy argument for entering World War I?

"War is the health of the state," the radical writer Randolph Bourne said, in the midst of the First World War. Indeed, as the nations of Europe went to war in 1914, the governments flourished, patriotism bloomed, class struggle was stilled, and young men died in frightful numbers on the battlefields-often for a hundred yards of land, a line of trenches. -- Chapter 14, Page 350, A People's History of the United States Howard Zinn outlines his arguments for why World War I was fought in the opening paragraph of Chapter 14 (referenced above). The nationalism that was created by the Great War benefited the elite political and financial leadership of the various countries involved. Socialism, which was gaining momentum in Europe, as was class struggle, took a backseat to mobilizing for war. Zinn believes that World War I was fought for the gain of the industrial capitalists of Europe in a competition for capital and resources. He states that humanity itself was punished by t...
Post a Comment
Read more