Annie Sullivan had many struggles throughout her lifetime, but she was able to pass through those obstacles with determination. This determination is shown throughout the nonfiction play, The Miracle Worker written by William Gibson. Annie Sullivan was the teacher of Helen Keller—a blind and deaf six year old girl. After weeks of discipline and training, Helen was finally able to understand that words and letters meant something. Without determination, Annie would not have been able to achieve this miracle. Accomplishing teaching with success is troublesome without the determination to do so. In Act I of the play, Kate Keller, Helen’s mother, shows determination towards helping Helen. Helen struggled a lot since the beginning of her life, …show more content…
The Keller family is used to Helen running around the breakfast table, eating from everyone’s plates, and sticking her hands into the food; however, Annie would not accept this behavior. Since Annie grew up in an almshouse surrounded by terrifying people, she gained strength and perseverance which gave her the ability to deal with Helen’s rash behavior. Annie kept Helen in the dining room the entire day, attempting to teach Helen how to properly eat. Since Annie was determined to accomplish this task, she was able to do so. In the script, Annie states, “She ate from her own plate… She ate with a spoon. Herself… and she folded her napkin” (Gibson 524). The family doubted Annie’s ability to teach Helen, but through her determination, Annie was able to complete her goal. Annie then told James, “It’s my idea of the original sin… Giving up.” (Gibson 529). At this point, Annie will not give up on teaching Helen for any …show more content…
She was given only a fortnight to teach Helen alone in the garden house and when that time was up, she would have to hand Helen back over to the family. However, by the last day, Captain Keller wanted Helen back, when Annie knew she still had a few hours left. He thought that only a fraction of a day would not be enough to get Helen to understand words if after two weeks she barely learned a thing. Despite his disbelief, Annie was determined to teach Helen for as long as it takes. In the conclusion of the play, Annie’s hard work and struggles payed off. In the stage directions, William Gibson wrote, “[HELEN… stands transfixed. ANNIE freezes on the pump handle: there is a change in the sundown light and with it a change in HELEN’S face… and her lips tremble, trying to remember something the muscles around them once knew. Till at last it finds its way out, painfully, a baby sound buried under the debris of years of dumbness.]” (542). Then with great effort, Helen was able to get out a few noises that seemed like she was trying to say the word “water.” Few believed in Annie that she would be able to teach a deaf and blind girl how to understand words and their meanings, but she was so stouthearted that she was able to accomplish this challenging
Among them are only four women of all ages: the Grandma, the Mother and her two daughters, the pregnant Rose of Sharon and the young Ruthie. Appearing in Chapter Eight, the mother, who is referred to as “Ma”, holds a decisive role in Steinbeck’s novel. She is, along with her son Tom (the main character of the book), present from the early stage of the story until its very end. We will attempt to trace back her emotional journey (I) as well as to analyze its universal aspects and to deliver an overall impression on the book (II). Steinbeck describes Ma as a strong woman, physically “heavy, thick with childbearing and work” (Chap.8).
The play depicts the feelings and thoughts of the people of their time. Their feelings are different then what we see today in our lives. The family had to deal with poverty and racism. Not having enough money and always being put down because of the color of their skin held them back from having a lot of self-respect and dignity. I think that Mama was the one who had the most pride and held the family together.
Helen comes from a very low class family and community. Helen’s family is known as what is called “the ghetto”, although they may not have riches they have a great heart that unites them happily. Helen depended so much on a believed love who failed her. Helen never really came far on her education due to having everything with Charles. Charles lost interest on Helen, but she was blindfolded to see that her happiness didn’t exist. Charles has had an affair during their matrimony with a light complected woman who is mother of his two children. The woman had more power over Helen’s feelings because Charles realized his children needed him. Charles left Helen without much to do, kicking her out o...
Keller in her essay “The Day Language Came into My Life” notes many contrasts between her lives before and after she acquired language. Keller even states at the beginning of her essay the “immeasurable contrast between the two lives which it connects” (72). When Keller first met her teacher Anne Mansfield Sullivan she described herself as dumb, expectant, like being at sea in a dense fog. Before language, Keller recalls her fingers lingered unconsciously on familiar objects such as leaves and blossoms. Before Keller met Anne Sullivan, she was not aware words even existed.
She learnt to speak and ‘hear’ by following the movements of people’s lips. Keller was extremely hardworking and she personified willpower and diligence by patiently untangling the taboos of society to prove her critics
“Picking up the pieces of their shattered lives was very, very difficult, but most survivors found a way to begin again.” Once again, Helen was faced with the struggle of living life day-to-day, trying not to continue feeling the pain of her past.
When pondering on life as not only a blind child but also a deaf child, one might say perception of the world and life is impossible. In the movie The Miracle Worker, Helen Keller was blind, deaf and mute since she had been a baby. Helen was incapable of communicating to anyone. The question, “do you think she had an accurate idea of color,” to me, is defined through her inability to know the difference between colors and physical appearance on objects certain colors, for instance the sun being yellow. Because Helen was blind and deaf, she could not actually see the color pink or yellow I can see. Helen had never actually seen color; therefore an accurate idea of a color is nearly impossible.
...te to Mother Courage as she too is a single mother and is working for the family’s survival. In everything that one reads that uses the family dynamic as a theme, it is quite simple to be able to tie at least one of their situations to one’s own family life. This further solidifies how important the family is in almost everyone’s lives, whether in real live or in a piece of literature.
Although Jane respects Helen’s honesty and stoicism, she cannot. understand her beliefs and the way in which she accepts her constant chastisement so submissively; she herself ‘should wish the earth to. open and swallow me up.’ After talking to Helen, Jane comments that. her feelings were ‘better regulated’ and ‘thoughts more harmonious’. Finally, Mrs. Temple finds someone whom she can respect.
Helen’s early life was very much shaped by her loss and abandonment. The greatest loss Helen experienced was the death of her parents. As she was orphaned by the age of six, it left her with great grief, darkened childhood memories and bewilderment of where she truly belonged. She eventually found her position as a labourer in her uncle’s house. After working on her uncle’s farm for two years and being denied an opportunity for education, she faced the most significant abandonment in her life: being turned
At the very beginning of the play we find out what Helen does for a
In Helen Keller’s autobiography, The Story of My Life, she draws the reader in by admitting her fears strongly saying, “ I have, as it were, a superstitions hesitation in lifting the veil that clings about my childhood like a golden mi...
When Jane is shunned by Mr. Brocklehurst in front of the entire Lowood population, Helen is the one person that does not immediately judge Jane. In fact, she makes her feel more comfortable in a place that is filled with punishment and hypocrisy. Though Lowood does not truly feel like home, Helen is able to provide Jane with not only all the compassion she needs as well as support and respect. This is one of the first loves Jane experiences on her journey and it allows her to become more open to the love she finds in her future endeavors.
Anne Sullivan had a very hard childhood, just like Helen. She was born to Irish immigra...
Helen was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama on June 27, 1880. She was born just like most people, with all five senses. She was born to Captain Arthur H., Kate Adams Keller, and an older brother William Simpson Keller. She was a happy and healthy baby. When she was 19 months old, she became devastatingly ill. This unknown illness caused her to go blind and deaf. As she began