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Imagery
Explanation and Analysis—The Ocean :
In Chapter 10, Helen uses tactile imagery to convey the joy and terror she experienced on vacation at Cape Cod:
My most vivid recollection of that summer is the ocean[...] No sooner had I been helped into my bathing-suit than I sprang out upon the warm sand and without thought of fear plunged into the cool water. I felt the great billows rock and sink. The buoyant motion of the water filled me with an exquisite, quivering joy. Suddenly my ecstasy gave place to terror; for my foot struck against a rock and the next instant there was a rush of water over my head.
Here, Helen describes the confluence of many sensations as her childish excitement leads her to leap into the sea "without thought of fear." Tactile imagery brings this "vivid recollection" to life; she recalls the warm sand, cool water, and the buoyant motion of the waves. Soon after entering the water, though, she feels her foot strike against a rock, and water rushes over her head. After being tossed back to shore, she recovers by sitting on a big rock and "feel[ing] wave after wave dash against [it]" as the air "throbbed with their pulsations." Although Helen does not again enter the sea, she loves the seashore and always longs to visit it.
In this passage, tactile imagery gives Helen's near-accident a more intimate and emotional tenor. This chapter emphasizes not only how the ocean felt but how it makes her feel. As a child without sight or hearing, she feels very out of control in the "wild frolic" of the waves before they toss her back to shore. Nonetheless, something magical about the waves and beach draws her attention and captures her imagination. From her first lessons with Miss Sullivan about the rivers and oceans of the world, she is fascinated by bodies of water, and she makes this moment all the more unforgettable by using vivid tactile imagery.
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