The Miracle Worker

"The Miracle Worker" is a play about Helen Keller and how her life changes when Annie Sullivan arrives. Viney is a servant in the Keller household. She has two children, Martha and Percy. Viney...

James Keller, a son of the family's patriarch from a previous marriage is a young man who clearly represents the younger generation that questions authority for authority's sake. He has a very...

In Act Two of The Miracle Worker, Anne Sullivan tries to gain control of Helen, but is met with resistance by the Kellers. When the Captain threatens to fire her, Anne returns to her room, goes...

The Miracle Worker reveals the difficulties and the progress of Helen Keller after Annie Sullivan comes to the Keller's home to try and improve Helen's quality of life. Helen is a spoiled child,...

Captain Keller and his son, James, are arguing over how and why the South lost the war. They focus their debate on the Battle of Vicksburg, which was won by Ulysses S. Grant. Keller's argument is...

Both Annie and Helen are vision impaired, though Helen is completely blind, while Annie is still partially able to see. Their limitations have been overcome by their own stubbornness, and Annie is...

The poignant history of Helen Keller's los of hearing and sight, and her miraculous rescue by Annie Sullivan from dark isolation, the key is a symbol of what Annie will do for Helen: She will open...

In the second part of act 1, we meet Annie Sullivan as she prepares to leave for Alabama from the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Massachusetts. She is a student at the institute, but Annie also...

The Miracle Worker is a play, adapted for television, revealing the influence that Annie Sullivan has on Helen Keller after she has been left blind and deaf after an illness as a baby. Annie works...

James is Helen’s half-brother, and with his negative attitude, he emphasizes the ‘half,’ desiring to distance his association with her. He wants Helen sent away to an asylum, out of sight and out...

Helen enjoys eating candies, which everyone in her family gives her (probably because they feel bad for her and want a way to communicate their love for her). Since she is blind and deaf, she...

The moral lesson in The Miracle Worker by William Gibson revolves around the need for discipline and self-control in the search for growth and success. The play presents scenes from the early life...

Percy in The Miracle Worker is a young Black servant who, like Martha, works on the Keller estate. He has a small but significant supporting role. In act 1, he and Martha play with paper dolls as...

In Act One of William Gibson's play, The Miracle Worker, twenty-year-old Anne Sullivan completes her arduous train rides from the Perkins Institute for the Blind and arrives in Tuscumbia, Alabama,...

At a young age, Helen is allowed to do as she pleases most of the time. Her family views her as incapable of learning. It is to Helen's disadvantage that her family basically ignores her. They...

Annie Sullivan is Helen Keller's teacher and her determination and patience, as revealed in The Miracle Worker, reveal her great strength and one of the reasons why Helen Keller is able to become...

The stage directions indicate the changes of scenes, which are marked by lights fading in and out and characters from the closing scene remaining motionless. After the directions for lights fading...

Annie and her little brother Jimmie grew up in the state asylum at Tewksberry, Massachusetts, where conditions were notoriously harsh. The two children were sent there together when their mother...

I can't even tell you what fun I had answering your question! I love this play and know most of it by heart, but never really explored these two characters as a pair. What an interesting set of...

When Kate arrives back at the house with Annie Sullivan, her husband attempts to act chivalrous and carry Annie's suitcase. However, Annie argues with him about this, insisting on handling her...

In The Miracle Worker, Helen Keller is portrayed as an unruly, out of control, child who suffers more from her parents' pity than from her affliction, having been left deaf and blind after...

The Civil War was not only the "War Between the States," it was in some states a war within the state as families were divided in their support of the North or the South. Such a war within the...

The story of Helen Keller is one that is so well known, and still very useful today. When Helen's mother wanted to get her daughter real help, instead of having her institutionalized, Annie...

James finally stands up to his father at the end of Act II. After being alone with Annie, Helen's behavior has improved considerably, but with the return of her indulgent parents Helen reverts to...

The miracle that occurs at the end of The Miracle Worker is that Helen Keller learns to communicate with words. The audience, therefore, has the sense that this is a turning point in her life and...

Even from the beginning of The Miracle Worker, it is evident that there is animosity between James and his father, Captain Keller. James tries to resist his father's authority but as he says...

Because of her disability, Helen has not been held to the same standards as other children. In their dysfunctional family dynamic, the Kellers do not wish to deal realistically with the fact that...

Kate responds with both weariness and defeat. Kate, of course, has just given Helen a sweet so that (even though Helen has just stabbed Annie) Helen will drop the sewing card (which was Annie's...

The Miracle Worker's central conflict is between Helen Keller and her teacher Annie Sullivan. Annie wants to bring Helen into contact with a world that has been closed to her due to her blindness...

"The Miracle Worker" by William Gibson is based on Helen Keller's first discovery that words, and that most famous word of all for Helen Keller, "W-A-T-E-R," have the potential to release Helen...

Annie Sullivan comes to the Keller household from The Perkins' Institute for the Blind and is only partially sighted herself. In The Miracle Worker, the audience learns of the difference the...

In The Miracle Worker, Annie saw that Helen's parents often caved into her demands. Annie knew that this was keeping Helen from properly learning and from reaching her fullest potential. She knew...

Anne Sullivan is a survivor to the core. She had a sad childhood, being forced to grow up in an almshouse surrounded by illness, filth, and death, and then losing her younger brother. She is still...

Helen's disabilities cut her off from the rest of the world. Her parents, though they love her, have no idea how to reach her since she cannot see nor hear. They resign themselves to the idea that...

Captain Keller has pretty much given up hope of his daughter Helen's blindness ever being cured. As he tells the family, Helen's been to specialists all over Alabama and Tennessee, but all to no...

Act II is a very dramatic section of this play, because we see Annie beginning to impose her regime upon Helen and upon the Keller family. One of the most important sections of this act to my mind...

Belle is an Irish Setter, a beloved member of the Keller family. Although she is not a character usually focused upon in The Miracle Worker, I applaud you for asking this question in order to...

Kate is surprised by Annie's youth. She is also understandably concerned because Annie has never taught before. James suggests that Annie may end up being a burden on the family, and Captain Keller...

The Miracle Worker by William Gibson is a play about Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan, particularly the influence Annie has on Helen and her family. Helen Keller was left blind and deaf after an...

Helen Keller's life has been chronicled in various ways; Helen herself wrote several books, the most revealing being The Story of My Life. After an illness as a baby, Helen was left blind and deaf....

James' perception of Helen's ability to learn is clouded by his own sense of resentment and hurt for being neglected. With the focus on Helen, James feels slighted and does not feel that he is the...

The Miracle Worker by William Gibson is a play which outlines some of the highlights and difficulties for Helen Keller's family, and in particular, Annie Sullivan, as they struggle to help Helen...

Oh, you're right that Annie faces new problems in Act 2! Annie gives us a glimpse into those problems with the letter she is writing at the beginning of the act (each word interrupted by commas to...

Annie requests that she be allowed to treat Helen as she thinks is best, which of course brings her into conflict with the Captain and the way that he perceives Annie is treating Helen. Annie...

The Miracle Worker tracks the progress made by Annie Sullivan in her quest to improve the life of Helen Keller. Annie understands some of Helen's frustrations and wants to pass on her skills to an...

The Miracle Worker, a play by William Gibson, is based on the lives of Helen Keller and her lifetime companion, Annie Sullivan. In terms of conflicts, there are two major kinds: internal and...