Chapter 10 Summary

After visiting Boston, Helen and her teacher vacationed at Cape Cod with a friend, Mrs. Hopkins. The first time she was in the ocean, Helen was pulled under and badly frightened. She asked Anne Sullivan, "Who put salt in the water?" After that, she enjoyed being splashed by the waves from her seat on a large rock. For a few hours, she took possession of a horseshoe crab. She dragged it to the Hopkins home from the beach, but it escaped the first night.

Chapter 10 Analysis

The story of Helen's scare in the ocean reminds us that, though she is extremely capable, she would be lost without guidance and help. She had an independent child's spirit, the kind that would drag a crab home by its legs, but she could never be as independent as she might like.