The Miracle Worker

The first act of The Miracle Worker establishes the setting and characters of the play, beginning with the infant Helen’s recovery from scarlet fever. The play opens on the Keller Home in Tuscumbia, Alabama, in the year 1882. Helen’s parents, Captain Keller and Kate Keller, look in their child’s crib with the family doctor as he examines Helen. To his surprise and her parents’ relief, the doctor says that Helen will survive. Captain Keller sees the doctor out, and Kate is left alone with Helen. Kate speaks to and waves at Helen but receives no response from her young daughter. With horror, Kate realizes Helen can no longer see or hear.

When Helen is just recovering from scarlet fever, Captain Keller brags that Helen’s survival didn’t surprise him in the least. He tells the doctor, “the child’s a Keller, she has a constitution of a goat. She’ll outlive [them] all” (5). Five years later Captain Keller changes his tone, saying that he’s “stopped believing in wonders” (10).

Helen, now six-and-a-half, is playing with the servant’s children, Martha and Percy. As they speak, Helen fumbles her fingers into their mouths and then touches her own. Percy says, “She’s tryin’ talk” (8); it’s clear that Helen longs to communicate with those around her. In the five years since she became deaf and blind, no one has been able to reach her. However, Helen’s tenacity and determination to understand, and to be understood, is clear.

Helen is also willful and responds to her environment with frustration. While they are playing, Helen gets upset with Martha. Helen lunges at her, nearly stabbing Martha’s eyes with a pair of scissors. A few moments later, Helen dumps her baby sister, Mildred, out of the crib so she can place her doll in it instead. Each family member reacts differently to the chaos: Kate defends Helen and tries to comfort her, James uses the moment as an opportunity suggest that they “ought to put [Helen] away” (11), and Captain Keller is torn between the two. Aunt Ev, Captain Keller’s sister, sides with Kate. She suggests that they write to a doctor in Baltimore who might be able to help. She reminds the Captain that Helen “has more sense than all these men Kellers, if there’s ever any way to reach that mind of hers” (13). Eventually, Captain Keller relents and writes to inquire if there’s anything more that can be done for Helen.

The scene shifts to the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Anagnos sits with Annie Sullivan, an Irish, twenty-year-old woman. Annie has had two recent life changes: She has just had a ninth operation on her eyes and regained vision (though her eyes are still sensitive to light). She has also graduated from Perkins and aged out of the system. Dr. Anagnos tells Annie of the Keller’s situation in Alabama. The family needs a governess, and Dr. Anagnos has decided Annie is the best candidate. Annie has no other place to go. Dr. Anagnos warns Annie to be on her best behavior when she is at her new job. He has a right to worry, as the only thing that kept Annie from being expelled from Perkins was that there was nowhere to send her, except “back to Tewksbury” (15). Annie’s time at Tewksbury at a state almshouse is not deeply explored in this act of the play, but enough is revealed to know that it was a dark period of her life, one that still lingers in her memories. This teaching position is a chance for Annie to start fresh, where no one knows about her tragic past.

As the time for Annie to leave grows closer, Dr. Anagnos reassures Annie that while Helen could surprise her, “no one expects [her] to work miracles” (16). Annie’s stoic guard softens, and she tells Dr. Anagnos that she is grateful for the care and education she received at Perkins, for teaching her “how to live again” (17). Dr. Anagnos then brings in the other girls who are blind to say goodbye. They give her two parting gifts: the first, a pair of smoky glasses to help her eyes (which are sensitive to light), and the second, a doll for Helen. The girls exchange a tearful goodbye, and Annie is off to Alabama. Her journey signifies the transition from student to teacher, from girlhood to adulthood.

When the Kellers meet Annie at the train station, she is not the governess they had anticipated. Annie is young, was blind, and is fiercely independent. The family tries to graciously welcome Annie into their home, but Annie is focused on Helen. Immediately, Annie begins her work, and she and Helen go off alone into Annie’s new room.

Annie gives Helen the doll from the blind girls, using it as an opportunity to try to teach Helen her first word in sign language. Annie spells the word “doll” into Helen’s hand, and Helen copies her movements. James, now lurking in the doorway, remarks that “[s]he imitates everything” and isn’t really learning what the words mean (30). Annie shoos James out of the room and returns to her teaching. This first lesson doesn’t last long. Helen, growing frustrated, swings her new doll into Annie’s face with great force, knocking out a tooth. Helen scrambles out of the room and locks the door behind her, leaving Annie trapped.

At the dinner table, the Kellers wonder why Annie has still not come downstairs to eat. James says he can fetch her, but he’ll need to “get a ladder” (34). When his father prompts him further, James reveals that Helen locked Annie in her bedroom. The family searches Helen for the key but are unsuccessful. In a comical exchange, Captain Keller promptly ascends a ladder to reach Annie, and subsequently carries her through the window and back down the ladder.

Once Annie is safely on the ground, the family exit into the house, leaving Helen and Annie alone by the well. Helen, not realizing Annie is still there, removes the key from her mouth, where she has been hiding it the entire time. She drops the key into the well and smiles, pleased with herself. Annie can’t help but smile, too: Helen is bright; she just needs someone to reach her. Annie may have found her match in a battle of wills, but she won’t give up so easily. With nowhere else to go, Annie has no choice but to stay on and try her best to teach Helen.