The Story of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan in The Miracle Worker Analytical Essay

Helen is described by Mr. Anagnos as a small locked safe that no one can access. Helen is clever, sociable, and good-tempered before her sickness as a child. Then, she loses her sight and hearing due to sickness. As a result, she grows up in darkness and quietness, navigating her surroundings as best she can with no words to understand or supply structure and purpose to everything. Her mind is still infantile, a domain of sensory experience and emotion that has not grown. Helen, on the other hand, is always reaching out with her intelligent hands to investigate the environment. Annie Sullivan deduces afterward that she wants to know “Anything is possible. Each speck of God’s creation.” Helen has developed into a wild, spoilt, unmanageable tyrant by the time Annie comes to Ivy Green to become Helen’s teacher. “The whole house turns on her whims,” Annie sees. (“The Miracle Worker Character Analysis Course Hero”) If she is disappointed or hurt, Helen is also obstinate, haughty, and vindictive. She lashes out violently because she has no other way of expressing herself, and she has never been taught obedience or self-control. Helen, despite her anarchy, has a brilliant mind and tremendous potential. Annie informs Kate, “Ho, there’s nothing wrong with that head; it works like a mousetrap!” Helen is also an excellent mimic, learning the forms and rhythms of words before understanding their meaning. Even while she sleeps, something in her mind tells her, they are essential, leading her to fingerspell. Helen’s inherent brilliance and fumbling curiosity serve her well, helping her to understand language, the key that unlocks her mind and spirit.

References

• Character Analysis – The Miracle Worker – Course Hero
• Helen Keller – Biography, Facts, &amp