The Miracle Worker

Act II begins in Annie’s room. She strains her eyes when writing a letter back to Boston describing the challenge she is faced with: “how, to, discipline, her, without, breaking, her, spirit” (39). Helen sits with Annie, and Annie teaches her how to sew. She spells out words to Helen, but sign language still means nothing to the child. Kate walks in and asks Annie why she keeps spelling to Helen when Helen doesn’t understand. Annie replies that it’s the way one would talk to “[a]ny baby. Gibberish, grown-up gibberish, baby talk gibberish, do they understand one word of it to start? Somehow they begin to” (41). Kate, tired but hopeful, then asks Annie if she can learn sign language as well. She wants to communicate with her daughter once Helen does understand, and Annie agrees to teach her.

The next scene takes place at the dinner table. James and Captain Keller are debating General Grant’s leadership of the Union Army in the Civil War. Captain Keller argues that Grant was a “butcher” who “led [soldiers] to slaughter with no more regard than for so many sheep” (43). James, meanwhile, rebukes his father for not seeing that Grant’s strength was being “obstinate” (43) in his battles. Helen wanders around the table and sticks her hands into the food on each of their plates, helping herself to anything she likes. Everyone at the table ignores this and lets her continue, until Helen gets to Annie. Annie takes Helen’s hands and holds them away from her food. Captain Keller and Kate offer to get Annie a new plate, but Annie is relentless. James is amused at how Annie is as obstinate as Grant was, and says, “You see why they took Vicksburg?” (44). Annie proceeds to kick the family out of the dining room and lock the door behind them, leaving her alone with Helen.

The following five pages have no dialogue. They consist of stage directions that describe an intense physical struggle between the two as Annie fights to teach Helen how to eat properly. Helen throws utensils, kicks, pounds, and makes a huge mess as Annie chases her around the room. The scene is both comical and exhausting. At the end of it, Helen folds her napkin. This is a milestone her parents never achieved with their methods of love and pity.

The next scene features Annie in her room, alone with her thoughts. She finds a report from Perkins in her suitcase which spurns a memory of her brother, and his voice can be heard offstage. Annie, in the present, speaks back to him, recreating the memory. They discuss a body being wheeled away “[t]o the deadhouse” (57), which refers to some of the many horrors the siblings witnessed at Tewksbury. Annie tries to drown out the memory, but more voices come that provide a glimpse into Annie’s past. This time, women tell Annie of “schools where they teach blind ones” (56), while Jimmie begs Annie not to go to school. He reminds her that she promised him they’d be “together, forever and ever and ever” (56). The voices overwhelm Annie, until the final one she hears is Jimmie’s, saying, “Annie. It hurts to be dead. Forever” (57). Annie, overcome with grief for her brother, collapses by the bed. When it passes, she finishes reading the note she began to read at the beginning of the scene. A man’s voice reads the words on the page to the audience: “…is the life of the soul less important than that of the body?” (57). This quote’s importance is seen throughout the play, as Annie’s freedom found through learning language reflects the possibilities that await Helen.

Meanwhile, Captain Keller takes Kate to the garden house on their property for a private conversation. He is “deeply dissatisfied” with Annie’s methods of teaching and wants to terminate her position, but Kate disagrees (59). She reminds him that Helen “folded her napkin” and that’s “more than [the Captain] did” (58). When Annie finds the Kellers in the garden house, Captain Keller loses his nerve and decides to keep Annie employed, so long as there is a “radical change of manner” (59). Annie agrees with the Captain that a radical change must be made. Annie must be allowed to have complete charge of Helen if they are ever to make any progress.

The proposition stuns the Captain and Kate, but they hear Annie out. Annie says that if they really want what’s best for Helen, that they must live together elsewhere. Captain Keller, furious at her demands, asks Annie, “And what is your intention if I say no? Pack the other half, for home, and abandon your charge to—” (62), but Annie stops him from saying more. “The asylum?” she says (62). In a cold tone, Annie explains, from her own experience, what Helen might find if she ends up in a hospital for children with disabilities. She describes terrible health conditions: children playing with rats and being piled into rooms with babies who had “sores all over them from diseases you’re not supposed to talk about” (62). Annie recounts how she and Jimmie would play in the “deadhouse, which is where they kept the bodies until they could dig […] the graves” (62).

When Helen’s parents are visibly distressed, Annie says, “No, it made me strong. But I don’t think you need send Helen there. She’s strong enough” (62). The Captain and Kate are persuaded by Annie’s speech and agree that Annie’s teaching is preferable to sending Helen to the hospital.

The three of them decide that the best compromise is for Annie and Helen, along with Percy, to live in the garden house. They take Helen on a buggy ride in the country for several hours to disorient her. Helen will think she’s far away from home, when in reality she is still close enough to put her parents at ease. Annie is given two weeks to make this living and teaching arrangement work. After that time, regardless of how much progress has or has not been made, Helen will return to the main house.

As the garden house is being prepped for Helen, James stops by to see Annie. He asks why she doesn’t give up on Helen and “have some—pity on her, for being what she is—” (66). Annie replies that if “[she’d] ever once thought like that, [she’d] be dead” (66). James leaves, and Annie is more determined than ever to prove that James, and everyone else who underestimates Helen, is wrong.

Upon her arrival to the garden house, Helen is “a little tornado incarnate, all destruction” (67). She signs furiously for her mother by touching her cheek over and over again, but realizes Kate isn’t there. Helen finally breaks down and sobs on the floor, feeling lost without her parents. Annie grows nervous about the task at hand. Helen no longer trusts Annie and refuses to come out from under the bed. Annie suddenly understands that getting Helen to trust her as a teacher is going to be harder than she first anticipated.

With only two weeks to work a miracle, Annie must get Helen to let her touch her again, and soon. One night, she wakes Percy up with an idea. She lets him interact with Helen, and Helen is relieved to have her familiar playmate in the garden house. Then, since Helen is mad at Annie, Annie starts to spell words into Percy’s hand instead. This gets Helen’s attention, and she starts groping around to see what Percy and Annie are doing. Annie shoves Helen away, saying “No, why should I talk to you? I’m teaching a new word to Percy” (70). Helen grows increasingly jealous, finally pushing Percy out of the way and holding out her own hand for Annie. At last, Annie can touch her again. Annie sighs and says, “Now, all I have to teach you is one word—Everything” (70-71). Annie is satisfied with her victory, but knows the road ahead is long. As she settles in for the evening, she picks up Helen’s doll and rocks it, singing. The audience has never seen this maternal side to Annie. Each of the Kellers are spotlit as they stand on different parts of the stage. They listen as if they can hear the song. Then the lights fade to black.