It Has A Name: The Miracle Worker

    What almost every human uses to survive: Sight and sound. What is some people have to live most of  or their entire life without those two things? The Miracle Worker, based on the play by William Gibson, tells the true story of Helen Keller, a remarkable woman who was both deaf and blind, and her teacher, Annie Sullivan.

     Once upon a time, when Helen Keller was a baby, she contracted a terrible illness. Helen lived, but the her sight and hearing were gone. Growing up without these things made her early childhood very difficult. Her parents didn't know how to help her, and without sight and sound, Helen was unable to communicate. Helen's frustration at this was easily triggered and sometimes resulted in violent outbreaks. In a desperate attempt to help Helen, Annie Sullivan is sent from the Perkins Institute for the Blind to live with the Kellers. There, Annie begins to teach Helen the names of things by spelling the words in Helen's hand. But Helen doesn't want Annie around and doesn't understand what Annie's trying to teach her. Will Annie be able to get through to Helen and become the Miracle Worker? 

     The Miracle Worker makes us think about the concept about how we've given everything in our world a name. Helen doesn't know those names, forcing her to just think, this, at almost everything she touches. Annie is constantly trying to teach Helen names, spelling the words into Helen's hand while saying things like, "Water, it has a name,"despite the fact that Helen cannot hear her.  This frustrates them both, possibly more Annie than Helen because most of the time, Helen is quite resentful towards Annie because she's so forceful with her. This tells us that Helen's been spoiled. Annie, however, is determined to make Helen understand the world around her.
 
     The story of Helen Keller and how she is portrayed, (with a marvelous performance from Patty Duke,) in The Miracle Worker shows that one's inability to see and hear cannot limit their understanding. In a particular scene, Helen is holding and touching an egg. Next to her is Annie, telling Helen, "Egg. It has a name. The name stands for the thing." Annie then talks about how that concept is as simple as birth and that a chick has to come out of its shell sometime. Upon realizing this, Annie wants Helen to come out to. The egg then hatches suddenly in Helen's hand, making a look of joy come onto her face. She can't see it, but she can still feel it and thus, understand that something alive had just come. Helen can know through her mother and father about the idea of love, even if she doesn't know it's name, which teaches us that things like love, faith and trust, and all other emotions don't need to named to be felt and understood. 

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