The Miracle Worker

by Lawrence Kadish
July 5, 2023 at 11:00 am

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19779/the-miracle-worker

Pictured: Anne Bancroft holding Patty Duke's hand in a scene from the film 'The Miracle Worker', 1962. (Photo by United Artists/Getty Images)

There is a generation that views the loss of Wi-Fi as a calamity, a cold latte worthy of scorn, and a five-day work week as a curious relic from a distant past. Sad but true, they have no sense of real life challenges that have been confronted and mastered by those whose spirit, ethics, and indomitable strength remain unimaginable to the rest of us.

One of the most courageous Americans was Helen Keller. Blind and deaf since infancy due to scarlet fever, she angrily lived in a world of total silence and darkness until her parents received a visiting angel, Anne Sullivan. Visually impaired herself, she was able to break through to Helen by teaching her sign language that eventually revealed Helen's intellect, curiosity, and humanity.

This story was the subject of a 1962 film, the Oscar award-winning "The Miracle Worker." A young Patty Duke played Helen Keller and Anne Bancroft her teacher, mentor, and guide to a world beyond darkness and silence. Their performances captured the terror of Helen Keller's disabilities and the breakthrough that reminded the world that everyone has worth, no matter the disability.

Historians of popular culture note, "The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Director for Arthur Penn, and won two awards, Best Actress for Anne Bancroft and Best Supporting Actress for Patty Duke, the latter of whom, at age 16, became the youngest competitive Oscar winner at the time."

Not surprising, it is also among the films listed as "America's most inspiring movies."

I strongly recommend you find it on your local cable channel that features classic movies. You will discover it to be a riveting one hour and 43 minutes that reveals how two people created a miracle, putting our own personal challenges in powerful perspective.

Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.

© 2024 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

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Comment on this item

11 Reader Comments

Chana Givon • Jul 7, 2023 at 09:10

Yes, it was a miraculous work of love, struggle, effort, and success!
Deep contrast to those who have all their senses and do not perceive the dangers of their very surroundings as what is happening in the world today.

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Sandra Smith • Jul 6, 2023 at 03:07

Bancroft and Duke portrayed those rolls on Broadway for two years, before leaving the show there to make that film, Anna (Patty) Duke starting at just 12 yrs old, and Anna faced her own struggles as well; she suffered with Bipolar disorder starting in adolescence,through her whole adult life. She continued acting after raising her two sons, Sean and Mackenzie Astin, wrote a book about living with Bipolar disorder ("Call Me Anna").
I remember seeing the show on Broadway, and the theater asking us if we would sign birthday cards to Helen, whose birthday was coming up in a few weeks, the cards were in braille as well as print. That was my first Broadway show, I was Anna's age, and very impressed with what Helen overcame, as well as Anna's ability, so young, to convey the frustration and resultant rage so well. But by that time, I'd had some exposure to others overcoming serious odds too. That was the tail end of the "polio years", so had schoolmates dealing with that, and my younger sister had meningoencephalitis a couple of years before and post encephalitic cerebral palsy,so although she cold see and hear, she was unable to communicate or move at all really. Yes, big hurdles are part of our world, and few of us appreciate that fact.

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Edward A. Hannan • Jul 5, 2023 at 20:08

Anne Sullivan's persistence in attempting the "impossible" -- teaching a deaf and blind child how to learn, experience life she could not perceive directly, and then effectively communicate with others both emotionally and intellectually -- is a paragon example of achieving a search for meaning and for obtaining a richly meaningful life.

All of us can learn from not only Hellen Keller's efforts, but also from Anne Sullivan's devotion in assisting Hellen Keller in surmounting horrific permanent deprivations and achieving the ability to experience life.

Whenever life seems "tough," it's critical to be thankful for what you have and to try your best to use your gifts and talents to leave the world a little better than when you found it at the day's beginning.

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Ruckweiler • Jul 5, 2023 at 18:00

Helen Keller did all she's known for without the internet or computers but with sheer intellect. The young ones today should contemplate her "Life of the Mind" and ditch their dumbphones but won't because they've been zombified.

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Ramesh Kumar • Jul 5, 2023 at 13:43

I still remember reading in grade school about Helen Keller. Hers is a story that is impossible to forget. I shudder to think of what would be done with/to her if she were born in today's America.

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Bull Herman • Jul 5, 2023 at 13:34

As somebody who works with the disabled, this film represents a pleasant enigma. No computers, no electronic mind monitoring, no nothing. Helen Keller's story still gives me a headache. In imagining what her world was, her suffering and fighting to get out. I'll never conceive the infinite patience Anne Sullivan had in liberating Helen from her inner prison.
Today? There likely would be no miracle worker. Instead, the debate would be whether Helen should be offered a self suicide option. And if so, how would she go about making an informed decision? How could she be offered full informed consent? How would her advocates handle it?

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Woman of Steel • Jul 5, 2023 at 13:27

Yes! That film stands as a great inspiration to this day.

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cammo99 • Jul 5, 2023 at 13:24

There is a remake of the Miracle Worker available free on YouTube,
They also carry the original but I think you have to be a member.

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udi • Jul 5, 2023 at 13:20

Yes, the God who created Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan, created their miracle, showed HIS Glory and Grace in their lives, to the God of Abram, Isaac, Jacob, Dovid and Father of JESUS CHRIST, be all Glory, Honor, Grace and Mercy, for all Eternity.

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angelo barbato

udi • Jul 6, 2023 at 03:38

If anything, that movie proves there's nothing out there. No god or anything supernatural. It does show humanity and what can be accomplished by human endeavour!

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schutzhund • Jul 5, 2023 at 13:14

Kant Versus Sullivan -- by Ayn Rand. [A brilliant review of "The Miracle Worker" by William Gibson, which tells the story of Anne Sullivan's attempt to get Helen Keller to grasp the concept of LANGUAGE, as well as a general discussion of how it dramatizes the need for both concepts and percepts, and is in opposition to both rationalism and empiricism. She refers to "The Miracle Worker" as the only Epistemological play ever written.]

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