Symbolism is frequently employed during major sequences in Penn’s motion picture and Gibson’s written play of The Miracle Worker. The many different symbols used throughout the play signify Helen Keller’s distinctiveness. Specific symbols include, the water and the well, the key, the dolls, as well as the dog, and the baby crib.
From the start of the play, Helen silently lies in a prison-like baby crib, with the doctor, and Mr. and Mrs. Keller presiding over her and discussing her future. When Kate Keller snaps her fingers in Helen’s direction and receives no response, she immediately realizes that Helen is a mute baby. The bars that enclose the baby in the crib clearly demonstrate Helen’s captivity and that she is, even as a baby, locked away from human contact due to her disability.
Later in the play, Helen is recurrently seen petting the dog or affectionately embracing it. Their bond is a display of their common uniqueness. Like the dog, Helen is a family pet because of her illnesses. Similar to a dog, Helen is habitually attention hungry. Her parents, however, only give into Helen’s need for attention, if they want to “play” with her at the moment, like they would with a dog. The best example of symbolism between the dog and Helen is shown at the dinner table. Like a dog would, Helen is commonly seen eating leftovers on other people’s plates. After being barred from her parents for two weeks, and under the direct supervision and care of Annie Sullivan, Helen’s demeanor drastically changes from that of an uncontrollable dog to an obedient one. She throws fewer tantrums, follows multiple commands that she wouldn’t have earlier, and eats when told to.
The Term Paper on Cat, Dog and Baby
Cat,Dog and Baby This is the ranking of everyone in the house. On top of the ladder is my master, the master of the house. Right below her is the naiive and foolish dog, which always rely on simple tricks like rolling over and shaking hands to gain attention. At last, at the bottom of the ladder, is me. No matter how many impressive feats I pull off, all my master does is to give me a grin, and ...
As family members discuss Helen’s future, Helen frantically walks around the living room. While sauntering around the room, Helen vigorously strokes the head of a shapeless towel doll, constantly searching for the doll’s missing eyes. Later in the scene, Helen steals two buttons from Aunt Ev and tries to jam them into the head of the doll. The doll represents Helen and her blindness. Helen wants the doll to have eyes so it can see, just as she wants to see herself.
During Helen’s two weeks stay with Annie Sullivan, in a secluded cottage, another doll represents Helen. After countless times of failing to reach Helen during the two-week span, Annie Sullivan strangles the doll that Helen had grown attached to. Annie wrings the neck of the plastic doll that symbolizes Helen to let out her frustration and disappointment in Helen’s current progress. Later, however, after manipulating Helen into spelling the word milk, Annie tucks the doll in her arms and sings to it a lullaby; thus exemplifying Annie’s happiness with Helen and her improvement.
Possibly the best symbolic representations of Helen and her inability to communicate come from the key, the water, and the well. Upon Annie’s arrival, a brawl takes place between Annie and Helen in a bedroom. Their struggle leaves the room in complete disarray. Helen, however, escapes through the door and locks it behind her, leaving Annie trapped in the room. This action, by Helen, is a symbolic seal, which represents a blockade from Annie so that she cannot enter Helen’s world and teach her to communicate. Shortly after locking Annie in the bedroom, Helen hides the key in her mouth, further demonstrating that she is locking Annie away from teaching her language. While Captain Keller feverishly relinquishes Annie from her imprisonment, by way of ladder, Helen surreptitiously drops the key into the source of language, the well. Helen drops the key into the well to indicate that the only way to unlock the learning barricade that seals Helen from the world is through water.
This barricade is shattered shortly after Helen’s homecoming reunion. After Helen demonstrates displeasing behavior at the dinner table by emptying the water jug into her teacher’s face, Annie drags her to the pump outside the house to refill the jug. Instead of allowing the water to gush into the pitcher, Helen drops the jug and lets the cool water run over her fingers. A miracle occurs, and Annie finally reaches her through the water. Helen says, “Wah. Wah,” which is a word that Helen had formed when she was a baby to refer to water. The breach had finally been closed because Helen could now understand the word water, which symbolically represents language. Abruptly after learning the word water, Helen retrieves a key from her mother and gives it to Annie; consequently demonstrating that Annie had finally unlocked the doors to Helen’s mind.
The Essay on Helen Annie Understand Goal
The purpose of my essay is to persuade the reader that your goal can be accomplished when you work hard to try to achieve it. In life people work hard to try to accomplish something they can't do and want to be able to do. There are few people in our world that are blind and deaf. It takes them a long time to accept their disability and the method of learning. In the play, "The Miracle Worker" by ...
The glut of symbols used during the play, represent Helen physically, emotionally, and mentally. The prison-like crib denotes Helen’s captivity; the dog indicates her demeanor, the first doll demonstrates Helen’s desire for vision, and the second doll signifies Helen’s learning process and development. The principal symbols include the water and the well, which represent language, and the key, which exemplifies the will to learn.
