Without Anne Sullivan, Helen Keller would have been walled into a dark, hopeless world. Miss Sullivan was Helen's lifeline.
It was the stalwart and persistent Miss Sullivan who managed to figuratively and literally lead Helen to water. Water was the object which allowed Helen to make the connection between the spelling of the word water into the palm of her hand and the object named. The expression "water is life" also applies to Helen's mental connection with the signing and the object. It was then that her fruitful life began. Because she understood that Anne was spelling the word for the substance spilling from the pump, Helen then was able to leave her self-contained life and go out into the world, where she could interact with others and learn.
When Helen began her learning, Miss Sullivan was very patient with her. She made raised letters for Helen to learn the alphabet. She also used real objects, such as fossils to teach about dinosaurs, so that Helen would have something to touch, allowing her to make connections with the time period and concepts. The appreciative Helen once said, "All the best of me belongs to her" (Ch.1). Through Miss Sullivan, Helen formed friendships with other people. Helen further described her close relationship with Miss Sullivan in these words: "Her being is inseparable from my own, and the footsteps of my life are in hers" (Ch. 7).
Miss Sullivan was always Helen's defender. For instance, when Helen was at the Gilmer School, she became slightly ill and the director, Mr. Gilmer, felt that Helen was "breaking down." He made such changes in her coursework that would have prohibited Helen from taking her final examination with her class. Miss Sullivan consulted with Mrs. Keller. Consequently, her mother withdrew both Helen and her sister, Mildred, from this school. Helen's preparations for college continued smoothly after this incident.
Miss Sullivan was indispensable to Helen when she attended Radcliffe College because at the time that Helen attended (She graduated in 1900), there were few devices available for the blind. For instance, Miss Sullivan spelled into her hands what the professor said during lectures. Later, after Helen graduated, Anne Sullivan married, but she never stopped serving Helen, even though she was married. After Anne's divorce, she traveled with Helen, and they stood on stages telling audiences of Helen's successes. Together they fascinated audiences.