Miracle Worker Determination Essay

Tommy Lasorda, who was a professional baseball pitcher and manager, once stated, “The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination.” Determination is one’s willingness to accomplish a goal, no matter how difficult it is. In playwright William Gibson’s drama, The Miracle Worker, determination is skillfully incorporated through the characters and the actions they take in order to accomplish their goals. The play describes the beginning of the relationship between Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller, a blind, deaf, and mute young girl. Annie’s early life was extremely difficult as she was trapped in a poorhouse; however, she remained determined to escape and she eventually attended the Perkins Institute for the

During the first scene, Kate walks into Annie’s room and watches as Annie spells into Helen’s hand. Annie explains to Kate that spelling is only a finger game to Helen. She tells Kate, “What she has to learn first is that things have names.” Kate then asks her when Helen will learn, to which she responds, “Maybe after a million and one words” (516). Annie refuses to give up on teaching Helen, no matter how many words she has to spell into Helen’s hand. In the third scene, Annie and Helen are alone at the breakfast table; Annie’s goal here is to teach Helen to eat with a spoon instead of her hands. After an extremely long struggle, Annie is able to make Helen sit still in her chair and puts a plate of food in front of her. She fills her hands with spoons and stands next to Helen. “ANNIE puts…a spoon in HELEN’S hand. HELEN throws it on the floor. ANNIE puts another spoon in her hand. HELEN throws it on the floor” (523). Once Annie reaches the final spoon, she forces Helen to pick up some food with it and put it in her mouth. Annie’s determination finally allows her to succeed in teaching Helen to eat with a spoon. Finally, near the end of the act, Annie argues with the Kellers to live alone with Helen for two weeks. Despite how difficult teaching Helen has been up to this point, Annie feels she could teach Helen best if others were not there to pity her

The final day of Annie’s two weeks with Helen has arrived; still, Annie is vying to teach Helen that everything has a name. She tells Helen, “It has a name…[i]t has a name, the name stands for the thing…it has a name. It—has—a—name” (534). Annie has remained determined to teach Helen about names, and she is using repetition to do so. Later on, when Kate comes to see Annie and Helen, she tells Annie that she has taught Helen so much during the past two weeks. Annie responds, “Not enough…[o]bedience isn’t enough…I’ve done everything I could think of…that hand aches to—speak out, and something in her mind is asleep, how do I—nudge that awake…keep at it” (535-536). Annie asks the Kellers for more time, but they deny her. The Kellers want their daughter back, and this is what they get as the two weeks have now passed and Helen returns home. For dinner, all of Helen’s favorite foods have been made. However, Helen returns to her former habits of eating with her hands and misbehaving. She even throws a water pitcher at Annie. After this, Annie takes Helen outside to the water pump to refill the pitcher Helen had spilled. At the water pump, a miracle takes place. Helen’s face shows “some struggle in the depths behind it; and her lips tremble, trying to remember something the muscles around them once knew” Helen attempts to say the word water, and she makes the baby sound, “Wah. Wah”