The Scapegoat Helen Keller Quotes

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” said Nelson Mandela. Both Helen Keller and Minas, a character from the book The Scapegoat, used their education to influence both their lives and the lives of others around them. Similar to this quote by Nelson Mandela, they each utilized their intelligence to help change the world in their own ways. In the novel The Scapegoat written by Sofia Nikolaidou, she constructs a story about a teenage boy, Minas, who has lost interest in school, but due to one of his teachers, begins to appreciate learning again. The compelling conflict of Minas’s hesitation to attend university, found in the novel The Scapegoat, was also witnessed in three distinctive ways throughout …show more content…
Hellen Keller was born with all five senses, but then at the age of nineteen months, she became sick. As a result of her illness, she lost her sight and hearing. “The beginning of my life was simple and much like every other little life,” said Helen Keller. Due to her sickness, she was not able to speak for many years of her life. She was angry that she could not see nor hear, and sometimes took it out on the people she loved the most. Helen shut the world out and had no interest in learning at this time in her life. Minas, one of the main characters from The Scapegoat, also did not have any desire to learn. “My name is Minas and I don't want to go to university” (Nikolaidou 9). When he was growing up, his parents would teach him much more information than he was being taught in school. Minas’s parents and grandparents all absorbed new knowledge, and loved it, so they expected him to love learning too. This constant push of schooling actually caused Minas to lose all interest in acquiring new knowledge. Helen realized that losing her sight would cause the rest of her life to be an uphill battle. Helen Keller said, “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” In this quote by Helen Keller, she is admitting becoming blind is one of the most difficult challenges that can happen to a person. Helen’s parents pushed her to behave …show more content…
An important lesson to remember is to not underestimate the power of others and the positive impact they can have on one’s life. People teach each other everyday with their intelligence. Education is powerful and with it positive effects can