The Miracle Worker

The Miracle Worker(1962) Movie Review

The Miracle Worker is the story of how one person can enter the lives of others and change them forever. It is a story with a combination of humor and seriousness, often with a touching emotional effect. Annie Sullivan(Anne Bancroft) enters the Keller’s family’s home and through her work manage to teach Helen(Patty Duke), who is deaf, mute and blind about language. At the end, all of the characters’ perceptions of the world changed, as well as her own world-view. The “miracle” that she works, not only teaches Helen language but also has direct effect on everyone’s life and the way in which they live it.

“Language is to the mind more than light is to the eye,” Annie said. She realized the significance of it because she was once blind herself and has benefitted from the language that she has learned. She tried her every resource- humor, patience, cruelty, kindness and above all perseverance - to make Helen communicate enough so that the teaching process can begin. She even locked herself and Helen in a small hut to force Helen start to communicate and depend on her as her teacher.

In the beginning, the work that Annie does with Helen is simply a matter of discipline and repetition. Because in 19th century, people who were blind were thought to be ignorant and were unable to reason or process thought. Deafness and dumbness is another disability that Helen faces. Her language development and socialization is greatly affected. However, Annie is a very stubborn woman who does not give up easily and is able to manipulate both parents into letting her have the chance to prove herself.

Annie begins to teach Helen hand symbols for different objects. The hand symbols are just a repetition game to Helen, who does not make any connection between symbol and object. Annie hopes that Helen will eventually start to connect the symbols with actual objects in her world. At last, the themes of change and transformation and language and meaning come together in a demonstration of the power of love and determination and the strength of the human will.

This movie has inspire me as an early childhood professional, we should learn from Annie not to give up easily and to try every different way of how to teach and guide children. Every child is different and the way they learn also different, thus we should be sensitive to their needs. Once they are on the right track, they will not depart from it in future.

We should take seriously the importance of rearing all children, because they are the future of our society. Together with parents, we need to commit ourselves day after day to provide our children with a warm, supportive, safe, and stimulating learning environment that will make them feel secure and allow them to reach their full potential. Children learn to love when they are loved.

Apart from that, we need to occupy ourselves with all knowledge related to child development, so that we can understand and guide them in the right way. Teachers need to be a role model for children to see and learn. When teaching children we need to set a consistency in doing things, especially in discipline, once the rules is set they need to follow it every day, just like how Annie teaches Helen.

In conclusion, The Miracle Worker did teach us a lot about how to love, be patient and teach our children. It is a gripping and inspiring story of the battle to overcome impossible obstacles and the struggle to communicate.

Name of student : Lim Sze Ying
Student ID : SCSJ-0007112