Identifying Conflict Have you ever been at sea in a dense fog, when it seemed as if a tangible white
darkness shut you in, and the great ship, tense and anxious, groped her way
toward the shore with plummet and sounding-line, and you waited with beating
heart for something to happen? I was like that ship before my education began,
only I was without compass or sounding-line, and had no way of knowing how
near the harbour was.1
-Helen Keller, The Story of My Life
What is the conflict in this chapter? How does this passage help reveal that
conflict? Explain your answer in a few sentences.