The Story of My Life takes place during the early years of Helen Keller's life during the late 19th century in the United States. Each location in the story represents a new chapter in Helen's life. The first location she mentions is Tuscumbia, Alabama—a small town in Northern Alabama where Keller was born on June 27, 1880. She grows up, falls ill, and loses her sight and hearing in this location. The second significant location is Boston, Massachusetts, at the Perkins Institution for the Blind. While at the Institution, Helen meets Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, a man of "tenderness and sympathy" who examines her and approves of her beginning more formal education. In May 1888, Helen moved to Boston to attend Perkins, and her life was forever changed.
As a young adult, Helen attended the Cambridge School for Young Ladies in hopes that she could someday go to Radcliffe (the women's college at Harvard). Before college, she also studied at the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf in New York City. Nearby was Niagara Falls, New York, where Helen attended the inauguration of President Cleveland and went to the World's Fair with Alexander Graham Bell. From a small town in Alabama to New York City to a handful of world-renowned educational institutions, the inclusion of many settings demonstrates how much Helen was able to accomplish in the first few decades of her life.
