The Story of My Life: Chapter 12 Summary & Analysis

After her first visit to Boston, Helen spent nearly every winter up North. Once she visited a small New England village, and was able to play in the snow for the first time. She was mystified by the contrasting beauty and bleakness of winter. During a snowstorm one afternoon, Helen and Miss Sullivan rushed outside to feel the flakes falling, but as the storm worsened, they retreated inside and sat cozily around the fire while the snow blew through the air outside. The morning after the storm broke, Helen went out to play in the snow. “So dazzling was the light,” she writes, that “it penetrated even the darkness that veils my eyes.” As the days passed, the snowdrifts melted and shrunk, but another storm came before they were gone and replenished them. On pleasant days, Helen and Miss Sullivan enjoyed tobogganing, and Helen experienced incredible joy and “felt [herself] divine” as she flew down the steep slopes.