William Gibson's play, The Miracle Worker, illustrates how people who triumph over hardships can succeed in achieving their goals. The play follows Annie Sullivan, a half-blind northern young woman, as she travels to Post-Civil War Tuscumbia, Alabama in order to teach Helen Keller, a blind and deaf little girl. When she arrives in Alabama, Annie meets Helen's family members; her father, Captain Keller, is a stubborn, commanding former Civil War captain and her mother, Kate Keller, is a young, overly protective woman, both of them have kept Helen almost as a pet because they did not know what to do with her or how to treat her. In order for Annie to succeed in teaching Helen, she has to battle with Captain Keller's stubbornness, Kate's …show more content…
I think it's your love. And pity" (667). Annie knows that Mrs. Keller's love and pity for Helen has caused Kate to distort Helen's differentiation between right and wrong, and Annie realizes that being alone with Helen will allow her to be taught without the interference of her mother's love. Annie thinks that this love and pity from Kate is Helen's worst handicap because it prevents her from learning language and keeps Helen closed off from the world around her. Furthermore, Helen tests her family, and her teacher, when her welcome home dinner after her two weeks alone with Annie, repeatedly dropping her napkin, Kate tries to make excuses for her and supposes, "Will once hurt so much, Miss Annie? I've--made all Helen's favorite foods, tonight" (699). Kate's desire to make Helen happy on her first night back blinds Kate to the realization that if she allows Helen misbehave even once, the progress that Helen has made in the time she spent with Annie in the garden house will diminish and Annie will have to start teaching Helen all over again. Annie knows that if Helen realizes that she can get away with misbehaving, now that she is reunited with her family, she will revert back to her old ways and continue misbehaving. Because Annie fights with Kate to keep Helen in line, Annie is able to teach Helen how to act and behave like a seeing child, and begin to break through Helen's shell that prevents her from
Imagine living in a world without sound and everything is pitch black. Well, welcome to the amazing world of Helen Keller. Helen is a girl who grew up in Alabama who is blind, deaf, and mute. The astounding book The Miracle Worker by William Gibson captures her unbelievable story. The book that he wrote is in play form not original text, so there is a movie that comes with the novel. The Miracle Worker the movie was released in 2000. The film is directed by Nadia Tass, starring Alison Elliott as Annie Sullivan, who is Helen’s teacher and helps her out of her world, and also stars Hallie Kate as the Helen Keller. Even though the book and the movie have many similarities, they are different in their own way.
"All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming" said Helen Keller, a woman who faced many obstacles in her life ("Fun"). Most people don't dedicate their lives to help others, especially if they have disabilities themselves, but Helen Keller is a different story. At 19 months old, Helen Keller was diagnosed with a disease that led her to be deaf and blind. A true hero is someone who is dedicated to help others in need no matter the circumstances/struggle he or she faces, never gives up, and is an inspiration for others. Helen Keller is a hero because she overcame the struggle of being deaf and blind by never giving up, dedicated her life to help others, and made change in the world despite her disabilities.
Throughout the passage, Keller's tone changes. In the beginning, the tone is heavier and frustrated, because this is how Keller was feeling at the beginning of the story. She was having trouble understanding the concept of words, and the way that they related to the world around her. Keller became extremely frustrated with her own limitations, and even threw down a new doll that her tutor had given to her, shattering it into a multitude of pieces. Later in the passage, Keller describes her joy at going outside, and from that
Annie Sullivan of William Gibson's The Miracle Worker desperately wishes to unlock Helen Keller's true potential but doing so is an arduous activity. At the start of the play, Helen is an obstreperous child, locking Annie in her own room and stabbing her teacher with a needle. Despite Helen's rude behavior, Annie can see Helen is a bright child who would go on to do amazing things. To James, Annie says, “Oh, there's nothing impaired in her head. It works like a mousetrap” (Gibson 680). Helen, unfortunately, constantly pushes Annie away by throwing food at her or running away. Annie gets little joy from Helen and her attempts to treat Helen as normal child are seen as cruel. Still, Annie persists by teaching her the alphabet through hand signs and she is finally able to get Helen to connect names to objects. Annie's struggles are well rewarded because her relationship with Helen significantly improves after that and Helen goes on to be one of the most influential women in history. Annie Sullivan truly
Have you ever wondered what it is like to be blind and deaf? It would make you trapped in your own head, helpless, hopeless, but could anyone like that be able to get a college degree and learn many languages? Helen Adams Keller Did. Helen came into the world on June 27,1880, in Tuscumbia, a small rural town in northwest Alabama. Struck by an illness that Helen left her blind and deaf only 19 months old. The syndrome may have been rubella, scarlet fever, or meningitis, but no one knows for sure. Helen couldn't communicate well frustrating her. By the time Helen aged, seven years, her parents finally got her guidance and instruction. Helen's parents took her to a specialist, and they were eventually connected with Annie Sullivan. Anne a graduate
When both Annie and Helen had moved back into the original Keller household everything that Annie taught all went away. Such as eating with a fork or spoon, to folding her napkin, and in general having discipline. When out of nowhere here comes the miracle everybody was waiting for Helen the behaved “ … a change in Helen’s face, some light coming into it we have never seen there, some struggle in the depths behind it; and her lips tremble, trying to remember something the muscle around them once knew…” (118). It out of nowhere clicks to Helen and she understands what a word is. It had seemed to click at that exact moment because she had seemed to be so familiar with the word water throughout the play. Also that she realized that water had a purpose and figured out that it wasn’t as much of a finger game as it once was. Annie then after teaches Helen other words and she now has the ability to learn other words and get communicate without her disadvantages in the
In the novel Annie John, by Jamaica Kincaid, Annie’s life with her mother is full of surprises. Annie’s relationship with her mother is very dynamic and changes throughout different parts of the story. In the beginning of the novel, Annie talks about her relationship with her mother as comforting, loving and caring. In the middle of the novel, she goes through puberty and becomes a rebellious teenager much like the stereotypical daughter. And in the end, she leaves her home town Antigua, and sails to England, distancing herself from her mother by over 1000 miles. Throughout the story, Annie and her mother have ongoing cycles of admirations and heartaches which is prevalent to the mother and daughter roles throughout society.
As shown throughout all three of the acts, Kate had the desire to understand and help Helen in anyway possible. One of the vital tasks that she did to help her daughter was learning sign language, with the help of Annie. During her conversation in the gardenhouse, Annie shared, “Spell it! If she ever learns, you’ll have a lot to tell each other, start now” (Gibson 536). Because Kate was hopeful that Helen would eventually be able to communicate, she did everything in her power to assist in this process. Countless other times, she showed her desire to understand, showing her frustration and hopelessness of not being able to get to her child. Kate shared to Helen, “How can I get into your head, my darling, my poor-- (Gibson 499). All through this inspiring story, Kate tried all that she could to fulfill her desire to understand Helen. Furthermore, this desire became reality when Anne was finally able to “open” Helen and teach her to communicate with
Anne Mccaffery once said that " A good story is a good story no matter who wrote it." Well, what is a good story? More specifically, what is a good short story? A good short story should have intriguing characters that provide the readers with a rollercoaster of emotions. To make the characters as interesting as possible, there is also a need for descriptive language and specific sensory details. The events in the story should engage the reader and lead them into another world, they should let readers journey through the story with the characters one page at a time. This applies to all stories, but to achieve this in a short story is harder, since it is shorter in length. Another thing that is important in a short story is the mood. When
The film “The Miracle Worker” takes place during the late 1880s in Tuscumbia, Alabama. This film was based on the 1959 play, “The Miracle Worker”, by William Gibson. The story starts with Helen Keller in a room with her parents, and her parents are discussing what they should do with her while she is running around. Helen Keller was deaf, blind and mute. The father, Captain Keller, wanted to put Helen in an asylum, but the mother, Kate Keller, didn’t want to.
The initial scene, set in Keller’s own home, presented a brief overview of a day in Keller’s life before meeting Sullivan. Keller was an angry child who was both deaf and blind. Due to her impairments, her father and mother often engaged in heated conversations regarding placing Keller in an asylum. Keller’s parents finally agreed to hire a teacher for Keller. The climax of the movie began when Sullivan entered the household of the Kellers and struggled to manage Keller’s misbehaviors whilst appeasing the concerns of Keller’s parents.
In the beginning, Keller consistently rejected James’ rude behaviors. At one instance when James refers Kate as Mrs. Keller instead of mother, Keller scolds James by heavily stating, “Mrs. Keller. Must you always speak of her as though you haven’t met the lady?” (24). The stage direction of Keller’s heavy tone infers the high volume of Keller’s strictness towards James’ unreasonable attitude. As the story progresses, the frequent clashes between the two characters gradually build antagonism in their relationship. Eventually, James starts to fear, and pleads Keller in pain “Don’t-don’t-” (83). James’ painful tone mentioned in the stage direction while interacting with Keller proves the corruption of their relationship since James’ terror delineates his hate against Keller. The visible effects of love’s treatment foment conflicts with James, and the characters are soon viewed as
This is a rhythm book, it explains about Annie’s daily life and she is also experiencing many things, she loves to run and draw. Annie also wants to fit in. When she is running barefoot she can hear her heart beating, her mother is pregnant. Her grandfather is forgettable, and her best friend Max, is moody. Everything changes through time, even the apple that she is supposed to draw. But when she watch and listen, she began to understand the rhythms of life and how she fits into them.
A strong theme for the play of "The Miracle Worker" Is when Helen yanked off the buttons off her Aunt and then she puts them on her doll that has no eyes. Helen wants experiencing of having eyes so she out them on her doll to experiences it because Helen cant see or hear or speak. When she had put the buttons on her dolls face she started to touch her eyes and then pointing of the doll so her mom (Kate) can put them on her doll face. It shows on the play and the movie. That Helen yanks off the buttons off of her Aunt and outs then on her doll.
The director wanted to emphasize the importance of teachers throughout her life. The story of Helen Keller and the miracle worker is beautiful in that is does show how hard it was to teach Helen what was going on in her world. The director used Kate Keller and Annie Sullivan to show how Helen needed to be taught with both love and structure to be able to succeed in learning to communicate.