Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Miracle Worker
    The Miracle Worker
    The Miracle Worker
    Ebook122 pages1 hour

    The Miracle Worker

    By William Gibson

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    NO ONE COULD REACH HER

    Twelve-year-old Helen Keller lived in a prison of silence and darkness. Born deaf, blind, and mute, with no way to express herself or comprehend those around her, she flew into primal rages against anyone who tried to help her, fighting tooth and nail with a strength born of furious, unknowing desperation.

    Then Annie Sullivan came. Half-blind herself, but possessing an almost fanatical determination, she would begin a frightening and incredibly moving struggle to tame the wild girl no one could reach, and bring Helen into the world at last....
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherScribner
    Release dateJun 17, 2008
    ISBN9781416559375
    The Miracle Worker
    Author

    William Gibson

    William Gibson’s first novel, Neuromancer, won the Hugo Award, the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award, and the Nebula Award in 1984. He is credited with having coined the term “cyberspace,” and having envisioned both the Internet and virtual reality before either existed. His other novels include All Tomorrow’s Parties, Idoru, Virtual Light, Mona Lisa Overdrive, and Count Zero. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with his wife and two children.

    Read more from William Gibson

    Related to The Miracle Worker

    Related ebooks

    Performing Arts For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Pain And Love In The Backyard

      Feb 25, 2020

      In Will Arbery’s new play, five conservative Catholics in Wyoming gather late at night by a fire pit to argue, commiserate, and face the uncertain future of their faith and their country. Danya Taymor, who directed the play’s premiere at New York Cit

      8 min read

    • Article

      Tale As Old As Time: The Dark Appeal of 'Beauty And The Beast'

      Mar 26, 2017

      Disney's new live-action extravaganza is just the latest retelling of this classic fairy tale. But why do Beauty and her Beast have such a hold on us? And why are there so many versions of their tale?

      4 min read

    • Article

      ‘The Humans’ Review: Stephen Karam’s Hit Play About An Unsettling Thanksgiving Comes To Showtime, Starring Amy Schumer And A Table Full Of Real Humans

      Nov 24, 2021

      ‘The Humans’ Review: Stephen Karam’s Hit Play About An Unsettling Thanksgiving Comes To Showtime, Starring Amy Schumer And A Table Full Of Real Humans
      2 min read

    • Article

      Open Short Story Winner Tight Situation

      Apr 4, 2024

      When Carol first wakes up, she thinks it must have been a dream. The ringing phone had been distant, muffled as if the landline device had been buried in a bag of something soft like cotton wool - the packing material stuffed so tightly into its bag

      6 min read

    • Article

      Intelligent Creatures

      Jul 6, 2023

      Intelligent Creatures
      19 min read

    • Article

      Crossed Wires

      Feb 23, 2024

      Crossed Wires
      5 min read

    • Article

      When Tucker Earned His Soul

      Aug 25, 2018

      When Tucker Earned His Soul
      5 min read

    • Article

      Turn To The Angels

      Jan 21, 2020

      Dear Michelle, I recently had to sell the home which had been in our family for decades. On completion day, I went in for the last time, talking to my parents and grandparents in spirit, and asking the angels for a sign that they were happy. I wen

      2 min read

    • Article

      Failure to Thrive

      Dec 15, 2019

      Alice read John Mark’s letter, her eyes narrowed, as I paced our tiny apartment. The envelope contained instructions for retrieving two sets of human remains from the University of Florida. I sometimes worked for John Mark, the director of the Milwau

      20 min read

    • Article

      The Best Fiction of Anxiety

      Feb 20, 2019

      The Best Fiction of Anxiety
      5 min read

    • Article

      A New Beginning

      Mar 25, 2022

      A New Beginning
      5 min read

    • Article

      Sifting

      Mar 4, 2024

      CASSANDRA GARBUS is the author of the novel Solo Variations. Her fiction has appeared in Kenyon Review Online, American Short Fiction, Texas Review, Meridian, Louisiana Literature, and The Cortland Review. Lily slumps on the living room couch, absorb

      22 min read

    • Article

      Reaching OUT

      Jan 17, 2024

      Reaching OUT
      6 min read

    • Article

      Partners

      Sep 15, 2018

      Enter,” she says, and is obeyed. He’s taller than before, or perhaps he only seems taller now that he’s here, in the house. She walks behind him, moving toward the living room, and wonders if he might be too tall for her house. It soon dawns on her t

      8 min read

    • Article

      I Went to an ASMR Spa

      Jun 5, 2017

      I Went to an ASMR Spa
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Empathery

      Oct 10, 2022

      Losi came home from school with a body from the Empathery. Carol stood in the kitchen making lasagna. The garage door slammed, and she wiped a strand of hair off her forehead with the back of her wrist. She listened to her children kicking off their

      17 min read

    • Article

      Whethervane A Short Story

      Nov 25, 2021

      Whethervane A Short Story
      9 min read

    • Article

      O Fortuna, Velut Luna

      Sep 15, 2018

      What is Miss Treece’s trouble, according to a popular notion? The man A has failed to show up. Arousing herself at the restaurant, she fixes her lipstick when her solo supper concludes and takes herself down the stairs situated behind the bar. There,

      3 min read

    • Article

      Heatstroke

      Jun 8, 2020

      Languid. The word that formed in Rachel’s mind was languid. The figure on the lawn was languid. Its limbs were loose, its joints fluid. Its hands and feet seemed too heavy for the bones that held them. It was draped over the sun lounger, dripping fro

      5 min read

    • Article

      An Unspeakable Life

      Jan 10, 2022

      It was a perfect fall afternoon when Muriel found out she was pregnant. Tourists snatched up apple cider by the gallon at farm stands. Leaf peepers stood on the side of the road with their cameras aimed in all directions; wherever you looked, a quint

      12 min read

    • Article

      Cricket Ceague

      May 1, 2019

      Katarina Antonisen, age 10 Good Hope, GA Around the cornerI see her.Along the streetsI see them.The oneWho bound me.Her ravensWho watch me.I cannot be freed.And I warn you to bewareOf the woman in blackAnd her ravensWith feathers and coatOf night an

      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Miracle Worker

    4/5

    294 ratings18 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      I remember well my first introduction to Helen Keller. Unbeknownst to me, my mother had ordered a biography book for me from my second grade Scholastic book order. The day it arrived, I took it to my grandma's house after school, sat down with her, and started to read it. I was hooked instantly. Not too many years later, Grandma checked out the movie, "The Miracle Worker", with Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke, from the library so I could watch it. I remember fighting back tears in the end. It amazes me that it has taken me this long to read the play, and I loved it just as much as all of my Helen experiences.It's been a long time since I've seen the movie, but I recognized many lines and description of actions in this play that I remember from the film. Though I don't have extensive experience in reading plays, I noticed how much more acting direction is given by Gibson compared to other plays I have read. This is completely necessary due to how many scenes are wordless and involve a lot of action between Helen and her teacher, Annie Sullivan. The action is described down to specific movements and facial expressions.This play is appropriate for 7th grade and above, though I think, given the high emotion of the action, it would be better performed by high school students.
    • 4/5
      My seventh graders enjoy reading this story each year because of its play format. Students also learn sign language as they read the book. There is a part for everyone - boys, girls, large parts, and small ones too. In the middle of the second act, there are five pages of narration (the famous teaching Helen table manners scene). Instead of Reader's Theater, I have the students actually act this scene out. I assign a page of action to each small group; the girls play the roles of Anne and Helen, and the boys narrate the story as the girls duke it out. I've acquired a few costumes from the time period and the kids practice for a few periods before we videotape it. (Popcorn is a great substitute for the scrambled eggs.) This is something really fun to watch at Open House each year.
    • 3/5
      This story is about a littl girl named helen keller who was blind and deaf when she was a baby. It wasn't until she was 7 when Annie Sullivan came and taught her manners as well as how to speak sign language, read brail, and later taught her how to write. Helen suffers all her life wondering what it would be like to be normal and see and hear things. She also wants to learn how to talk but can't because she is blind.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      An interesting glimpse of the challenges, frustrations, and ultimate triumps of Annie Sullivan and the Keller family to educate Helen, who at a young age, became both deaf and blind. Gibson makes the characters of Helen and Annie complex and vivid. In addition, he shows the pain and conflicts of Helen's parents as they make decisions about raising their child in a time well before there were adequate facilities or rights for people with disabilities. A thought provoking drama about how some individuals face adversity with bravery and determination.
    • 5/5
      Drama (Play) MS or HSGibson, W. (1956). The miracle worker. New York: Bantam Books.The Miracle Worker is a play about Helen Keller as a six-year-old girl who has been blind and deaf since the age of two. Her parents don’t know what they can do to help her. They hire her a teacher from New York named Annie Sullivan, who she herself has been blind before. When Annie arrives she knows that Helen is capable of learning, but she faces so many challenges because Helen has been allowed to do whatever she wants for years. She is spoiled and undisciplined. After many battles, between Helen and Annie, Annie realizes that she cannot teach Helen when her parents continue to interfere and give her what she wants because they feel sorry for her. Annie demands that Helen be under her control only, so that Helen will have to depend on her for all of her needs. Helen’s father, Captain Keller, is very reluctant in allowing Annie to have complete control over his daughter. He doesn’t feel that what she is teaching makes any sense, especially to a girl who is blind and deaf. But the sign language is how Annie will get through to Helen, so that Helen can learn how to communicate with the world. This play takes place in three acts. Even though Helen is a character without dialogue, Gibson’s descriptions of her actions are clear and make it easy to visualize. The scenes transition easily and the elements of Annie’s past are heard through distant voices as she daydreams. Hearing the voices represents an accurate reflection of her memory, considering she was blind at the time and would have no memory of a visual scene. This play is sure to interest young theater readers, as well as anyone else interested in the topic of Helen Keller. Grades 7-10.
    • 5/5
      Best book i have read. This book is about Helen Keller and about her teacher Anne Sullivan. The book shows how Ms.Sullivan never evar gave up on Helen No matter what. Till one day she got Helen to see from her hands, by teaching her to talk from her hands. Like i said best book i have read.
    • 5/5
      This is a book, writen as a play, describing some to Helen Keller's life. It starts out that Kate (Helen's mother) is beging Captain Keller (Helen's dad) to contact a famous oculist in Baltimore, Dr. Chisholm. Dr. Chisholm sends Annie Sullivan- formerly blind- to teach Hellen. It is a strugle as Helen's parents have been babying her for all her life. Helen is a terror and is gets into everything. From locking Annie in her room and throwing the key down the well shaft to eating off everyone's plate except her's at dinner time, Helen gets her way all the time. Finally, Annie is able get permission to use the old greenhouse for two weeks. There she teaches Helen manners and most importantly words. Then it was up to Helen, would she understand? She was dying to understand, dying to emerge from her world into the world of knowlege. Could she? This is a very inspiring story, a play with the power to wrench at the heart.
    • 4/5
      This book is very inspirational and herioc. This book will show ou that anything you set your mind to is possible. It also shows that teaching someone how to do something rather than doing it for them is better way of teaching self-dependence.
    • 3/5
      Helen Keller is a seven year old girl who is blind and death. Annie Sullivan comes to live with Helen and teacher. Annie teaches Helen sign language even though Helen does not know they have a meaning and that they spill words.
    • 3/5
      The miracle worker was a very good book and it teaches you that basically nothing is impossible.
    • 1/5
      This was a good book. But it wasnt intesting to me. I think its a miracle that she learned so quikly while beeing def and blind.
    • 3/5
      This was a good story and was very describing with what everyone did and felt. It was entertaining and I enjoyed the mix in feelings throughout the story. It was sad, happy, pittyful, and sometimes funny. The story was godd at showing you what it was like for Helen. It also showed how amazing the things were that Annie did to help Helen and able her to understand the world.
    • 4/5
      This story is the script of a play. It tells how Annie Sullivan teaches the deaf and blind Helen Keller to connunicate. Helen becomes ill as a baby, and is left without sight or hearing. Several years later, the Kellers decide to hire a tutor. Annie teaches Helen sign language, and Helen eventually understands.
    • 4/5
      Helen Keller becomes deaf and blind shortly after she is born. She is considered a danger to herself and others because of her curious nature. On one occasion, she nearly killed another girl her age by grabbing some scissors and pinning her down to the ground. Her dad sends for a specialized teacher, whose name is Annie. Annie is slightly blind herself, so she relates well with Helen. They work diligently together until one day when Helen nearly says the word "water."
    • 3/5
      The Miracle Worker talks about a real girl named helen keller who was blind at the age of less than one. She suffered from a sickness that left her deaf and blind. It wasn't until hte age of 7 when Annie Sullivan came and taught her manners as well as how to speak sign language, read brail, and later taught her how to write. Helen suffers all her life wondering what it would be like to be normal and see and hear things. She also wants to learn how to talk but can't because she is blind.
    • 3/5
      This story is about Helen Kellers childhood and the miracle. Helen became blind and deaf when she was 18 months. Mr. Keller looked for help but gave up shortly later, but when he realized that helen was a danger to others he tried one more time. This time Annie Sullivan come, who was legally bilnd, and began to teach Helen. But Helen didnt need to be just educated, she also needed to be disaplen. This was not going to be easy for Annie.
    • 4/5
      "The Miracle Worker" is a play based on Helen Kellers struggle though overcoming her imparities. Helen roams around the house day after day causing trouble and getting into mischief. Once Mr. and Mrs. Keller realize that Helen is not only a danger to herself, but to others as well, they decide to write to A famous doctor for help. He sends a young girl who is fresh out of school named Annie goes to help Helen and her family.
    • 5/5
      The Miracle Worker is a very well constructed play. To keep the drama high, he sets up tight conflicts between Sullivan and the Kellers, the Kellers with Helen, and Mr. Keller with his son James. All of these conflicts rise to an exciting climax and are resolved satisfactorily. Young adults will enjoy this action-packed, emotionally affecting play. If it has a weakness, it is only that the resolution, Helen suddenly understanding a word, comes at the last possible moment and seems too pat. Nevertheless, they will still enjoy the happy ending.

    Book preview

    The Miracle Worker - William Gibson

    ACT I

    IT IS NIGHT OVER THE KELLER HOMESTEAD.

    Inside, three adults in the bedroom are grouped around a crib, in lamplight. They have been through a long vigil, and it shows in their tired bearing and disarranged clothing. One is a young gentlewoman with a sweet girlish face, KATE KELLER; the second is an elderly DOCTOR, stethoscope at neck, thermometer in fingers; the third is a hearty gentleman in his forties with chin whiskers, CAPTAIN ARTHUR KELLER.

    DOCTOR: She’ll live.

    KATE: Thank God.

    (The DOCTOR leaves them together over the crib, packs his bag.)

    DOCTOR: You’re a pair of lucky parents. I can tell you now, I thought she wouldn’t.

    KELLER: Nonsense, the child’s a Keller, she had the constitution of a goat. She’ll outlive us all.

    DOCTOR [AMIABLY]: Yes, especially if some of you Kellers don’t get a night’s sleep. I mean you, Mrs. Keller.

    KELLER: You hear, Katie?

    KATE: I hear.

    KELLER [INDULGENT]: I’ve brought up two of them, but this is my wife’s first, she isn’t battle-scarred yet.

    KATE: Doctor, don’t be merely considerate, will my girl be all right?

    DOCTOR: Oh, by morning she’ll be knocking down Captain Keller’s fences again.

    KATE: And isn’t there anything we should do?

    KELLER [JOVIAL]: Put up stronger fencing, ha?

    DOCTOR: Just let her get well, she knows how to do it better than we do.

    (He is packed, ready to leave.)

    Main thing is the fever’s gone, these things come and go in infants, never know why. Call it acute congestion of the stomach and brain.

    KELLER: I’ll see you to your buggy, Doctor.

    DOCTOR: I’ve never seen a baby, more vitality, that’s the truth.

    (He beams a good night at the baby and KATE, and KELLER leads him downstairs with a lamp. They go down the porch steps, and across the yard, where the DOCTOR goes off left; KELLER stands with the lamp aloft. KATE meanwhile is bent lovingly over the crib, which emits a bleat; her finger is playful with the baby’s face.)

    KATE: Hush. Don’t you cry now, you’ve been trouble enough. Call it acute congestion, indeed, I don’t see what’s so cute about a congestion, just because it’s yours. We’ll have your father run an editorial in his paper, the wonders of modern medicine, they don’t know what they’re curing even when they cure it. Men, men and their battle scars, we women will have to—

    (But she breaks off, puzzled, moves her finger before the baby’s eyes.)

    Will have to—Helen?

    (Now she moves her hand, quickly.)

    Helen.

    (She snaps her fingers at the baby’s eyes twice, and her hand falters; after a moment she calls out, loudly.)

    Captain. Captain, will you come—

    (But she stares at the baby, and her next call is directly at her ears.)

    Captain!

    (And now, still staring, KATE screams. KELLER in the yard hears it, and runs with the lamp back to the house. KATE screams again, her look intent on the baby and terrible. KELLER hurries in and up.)

    KELLER: Katie? What’s wrong?

    KATE: Look.

    (She makes a pass with her hand in the crib, at the baby’s eyes.)

    KELLER: What, Katie? She’s well, she needs only time to—

    KATE: She can’t see. Look at her eyes.

    (She takes the lamp from him, moves it before the child’s face.)

    She can’t see!

    KELLER: [HOARSELY]: Helen.

    KATE: Or hear. When I screamed she didn’t blink. Not an eyelash—

    KELLER: Helen. Helen!

    KATE: She can’t hear you!

    KELLER: Helen!

    (His face has something like fury in it, crying the child’s name; KATE almost fainting presses her knuckles to her mouth, to stop her own cry.

    The room dims out quickly.

    Time, in the form of a slow tune of distant belfry chimes which approaches in a crescendo and then fades, passes; the light comes up again on a day five years later, on three kneeling children and an old dog outside around the pump.

    The dog is a setter named BELLE, and she is sleeping. Two of the children are Negroes, MARTHA and PERCY. The third child is HELEN, six and a half years old, quite unkempt, in body a vivacious little person with a fine head, attractive, but noticeably blind, one eye larger and protruding; her gestures are abrupt, insistent, lacking in human restraint, and her face never smiles. She is flanked by the other two, in a litter of paper-doll cutouts, and while they speak HELEN’S hands thrust at their faces in turn, feeling baffledly at the movements of their lips.)

    MARTHA [SNIPPING]: First I’m gonna cut off this doctor’s legs, one, two, now then—

    PERCY: Why you cuttin’ off that doctor’s legs?

    MARTHA: I’m gonna give him a operation. Now I’m gonna cut off his arms, one, two. Now I’m gonna fix up—

    (She pushes HELEN’S hand away from her mouth.)

    You stop that.

    PERCY: Cut off his stomach, that’s a good operation.

    MARTHA: No, I’m gonna cut off his head first, he got a bad cold.

    PERCY: Ain’t gonna be much of that doctor left to fix up, time you finish all them opera—

    (But HELEN is poking her fingers inside his mouth, to feel his tongue; he bites at them, annoyed, and she jerks them away. HELEN now fingers her own lips, moving them in imitation, but soundlessly.)

    MARTHA: What you do, bite her hand?

    PERCY: That’s how I do, she keep pokin’ her fingers in my mouth, I just bite ’em off.

    MARTHA: What she tryin’ do now?

    PERCY: She tryin’ talk. She gonna get mad. Looka her tryin’ talk.

    (HELEN is scowling, the lips under her fingertips moving in ghostly silence, growing more and more frantic, until in a bizarre rage she bites at her own fingers. This sends PERCY off into laughter, but alarms MARTHA.)

    MARTHA: Hey, you stop now.

    (She pulls HELEN’S hand down.)

    You just sit quiet and—

    (But at once HELEN topples MARTHA on her back, knees pinning her shoulders down, and grabs the scissors. MARTHA screams. PERCY darts to the bell string on the porch, yanks it, and the bell rings.

    Inside, the lights have been gradually coming up on the main room, where we see the family informally gathered, talking, but in pantomime; KATE sits darning socks near a cradle, occasionally rocking it; CAPTAIN KELLER in spectacles is working over newspaper pages at a table; a benign visitor in a hat, AUNT EV, is sharing the sewing basket, putting the finishing touches on a big shapeless doll made out of towels; an indolent young man, JAMES KELLER, is at the window watching the children.

    With the ring of the bell, KATE is instantly on her feet and out the door onto the porch, to take in the scene; now we see what these five years have done to her, the girlish playfulness is gone, she is a woman steeled in grief.)

    KATE [FOR THE THOUSANDTH TIME]: Helen.

    (She is down the steps at once to them, seizing HELEN’S wrists and lifting her off MARTHA; MARTHA runs off in tears and screams for momma, with PERCY after her.)

    Let me have those scissors.

    (Meanwhile the family inside is alerted, AUNT EV joining JAMES at the window; CAPTAIN KELLER resumes work.)

    JAMES [BLANDLY]: She only dug Martha’s eyes out. Almost dug. It’s always almost, no point worrying till it happens, is there?

    (They gaze out, while KATE reaches for the scissors in HELEN’S hand. But HELEN pulls the scissors back, they struggle for them a moment, then KATE gives up, lets HELEN keep them. She tries to draw HELEN into the house. HELEN jerks away. KATE next goes down on her knees, takes HELEN’S hands gently, and using the scissors like a doll, makes HELEN caress and cradle them; she points HELEN’S finger housewards. HELEN’S whole body now becomes eager; she surrenders the scissors, KATE turns her toward the door and gives her a little push. HELEN scrambles up and toward the house, and KATE rising follows her.)

    AUNT EV: How does she stand it? Why haven’t you seen this Baltimore man? It’s not a thing you can let go on and on, like the weather.

    JAMES: The weather here doesn’t ask permission of me, Aunt Ev. Speak to my father.

    AUNT EV: Arthur. Something ought to be done for that child.

    KELLER: A refreshing suggestion. What?

    (KATE entering turns HELEN to AUNT EV, who gives her

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1