Read the passage from "Optimism.” With the first word I used intelligently, I learned to live, to think, to hope. Darkness canno
t shut me in again. I have had a glimpse of the shore, and can now live by the hope of reaching it. Keller provides a(n) for the reader by presenting a real-life scenario to provide evidence for her claim.
An example is a piece of evidence that is provided in order to prove a claim. In this case, Keller provides an example of her claim by describing her experience with learning words. She tells us that when she learned her first word, she learned how to live, think and hope. She also tells us that this allowed her to continue living her life without the fear of darkness surrounding her again.