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Examples Of Perseverance In The Miracle Worker

Decent Essays

“I [Annie Sullivan] know the education of this child [Helen Keller] will be the distinguishing event of my life, if I have the brains and perseverance to accomplish it”. Annie Sullivan was at first looked down upon by her student, Helen Keller’s family. They would tell Sullivan that there was no hope in teaching Keller—a blind and deaf child—to properly behave and communicate. Although Sullivan faced many obstacles while attempting to teach Keller the meaning of language, she was able to triumph over Keller’s handicaps. The non-fiction drama titled The Miracle Worker written by William Gibson depicted the methods that Sullivan utilized to educate Helen on how to behave and converse with others. The drama expressed that for one to succeed in …show more content…

Helen has been a spoiled child for her entire life—especially because her parents often give her whatever she long for to distract Helen from disturbing them. When Helen is taking food from her family’s plates during breakfast, Annie stops her and demands that she is left alone with the child in order to teach her how to properly eat. Before Annie is able to teach Helen how to sit down and have a proper meal, she makes Helen sit in a chair so Annie can eat her breakfast without Helen groping for her plate. However, Helen persists and keeps going for Annie’s food instead of her own. To stop this, Annie must force utensils into Helen’s hands and have her eat from her own plate, rather than one of her family’s. Annie is eventually able to get Helen to eat her own food. The drama shows, “HELEN swallows involuntarily… ANNIE forced her palm open , throws four swift letters into it, then another four, and bows toward her with devastating pleasantness. ‘Good Girl’” (Gibson 523). Since Helen had never been taught how to properly sit down at a table and eat with manners, this task was cumbersome for Annie. She was able to get Helen to swallow her food and fold a napkin—which Helen’s mother, Kate, emphasised. When Helen’s father, Captain Keller, would talk about how Annie was making no progress and only ruining the child, she would bring up that Annie had gotten Helen to fold her napkin for the first time. Despite Helen persisting to get her way and the Keller family not approving of Annie’s teaching methods, Annie was able to teach Helen a lot more than what she knew before tutoring had

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