Identity In The Miracle Worker

In “The Miracle Worker,” by William Gibson, Helen Keller is a blind, deaf, and mute protagonist, who is trapped in a dark, isolated culture by her disabilities. She has been disabled ever since she was a baby, and has basically been cut off from contact to the rest of the world. Because of this, she has developed her own identity and her own culture. This causes her to grow further and further apart from her family. In the play, Kate says (talking about Helen): “She wants to talk, like-be like you and me…Every day she slips further away. And I don’t know how to call her back.” Helen yearns to assimilate into the cultures that her family, and almost all of the rest of the world, live in, but does not know how. This means that the aspect of family
She cannot understand how they look and sound, and therefore cannot understand many things about their culture. The author talks frequently about the distress Helen and her family experience in trying to communicate with one another. “The child’s been to specialists all over Alabama and Tennessee, if I thought it would do good I’d have her to every fool doctor in the country.” The family has no way of leveling with her, so they attempt to reach out to her with the help of doctors and specialists throughout the country. In terms of her other cultural “circles,” she is very limited as well. She has not learned about many basic things in life, and therefore they are not able to be a part of who she is, as much as most families are in childrens’ cultures. She does not know any type of language, and does not know how to identify and understand many of the feelings humans have. Therefore, her culture is limited to that that she can taste, smell, and feel. However, she does try to expand her culture. “Annie puts forth her hand, and touches Helen’s. Helen at once grasps it, and commences to explore it, like reading a face.” The author talks frequently about how Helen develops her culture, and how she struggles to do so at