Character Analysis of Annie Sullivan in the Miracle Worker

            The miracle worker is a play where young Keller who is blind and deaf is taught how to communicate. Characters in the play are seen to go through extreme changes from the beginning of the play towards the end (Gibson, 2008). The different characters in the play all have different personalities and character that evolves throughout. Despite the fact that all the characters have gone through evolution; there are three characters in the play that go through extreme changes Annie, James and Helen (Stirling et al, 2000).

            Annie Sullivan is one of the main characters that has achieved a lot in the play and has also gone through profound changes. At the beginning of the book she experiences a harsh and dangerous childhood (Gibson, 2008). This can be seen from her flares back while she was in orphanage. In her childhood she is also threatened of being blind but the situation is recuperated through a couple of operations. Her mother dies and the father abandons her and later she is chosen to teach in school without experience (Gibson, 2008). By the end of the book she is a lady who is energetic, full of life and hopeful. She is very hard working that everyone does not believe the work she does yet she is inexperienced. Despite her dysfunctional childhood she grows to be a very helpful person in the society (Gibson, 2008).

            Annie has grown to be very persistent, confident, patient and outgoing. This can be seen by the fact that the father to Helen disliked her but she was determined into helping the blind girl (Keller, 2016). The confidence is seen by the fact she stood very strong despite the inner fear of failure. The turning point was experiences as soon as she lost her brother and with time Helen begins the journey into learning language and starting to communicate. This was a great turning point for her as the fear of failure was removed and she was more confident of herself despite she was not experienced (Keller, 2016).

            The character had had low points in life like being brought up from an orphanage and the father abandoning her after the death of the mother. However, the lowest moral point was after the death of her brother, Jimmy. It is also evident that she was haunted by the death of Jimmy since she had promised to take care of him (Gibson, 2008). This even affected how she cared for Annie because voices were always there to discourage her. The high point was after Helen mastered the art of language and communication. This is considered as a miracle and this makes her love Helen more despite that she had vowed not to love anyone else after her brother’s death. This also resolved the conflict between Keller and her (Gibson, 2008).

            The death of jimmy is not Annie’s fault because the boy had been ill for quite some time. However, she is deeply hurt by the loss of her brother (Stirling et al, 2000). This would have been termed as the mistake of the father because he placed them in an institution at a very tender age. She was also young at that time and was not in a position to do anything. It is important to note that if she was in the position she is by the end of the book, perhaps she would have assisted the brother and sough better medical care to avoid the death (Stirling et al, 2000).

            Annie Sullivan has portrayed very important virtues such as patience and endurance even as she was dealing with Helen (Keller, 2016). This can be seen by the fact that she still held on to teaching even when noting seemed to change. Despite the fact that Keller did not like Annie and was harsh to her, she was still very patient with Helen and encouraged her even to the point where she learned the art of language (Keller, 2016). However, even after being the miracle worker she did not go back to look for her dad. She should have sought for him and at least told him about the loss of Jimmy. The fact that she did not do this shows that she still harbored anger and bitterness for her father. Despite what the father did to them, he was still their father and deserved some respect (Keller, 2016).

            Annie should dress is simple casual wear. In the play she is seen in long dresses. The simple casual dressing would help Helen to be more comfortable with her bearing in mind that she did not like him at first.  Simple clothing also help in increasing concentration for people working with them and are comfortable as they are not very tight or fitting but enhance efficiency of work. They are also smart and presentable. The outfit would speak more of Annie as she is a very focused and hard working woman.

            The best colors for Annie would be plain bright colors that are blended with dark. For example a white collar shirt and a straight, black, knee length skirt. This would help to bring out her character and personality. The bright plain would color show that she is confident, outgoing, assertive and cool. The black helps to match the bright color bringing out the best of her.

References

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Stirling, D., Archibald, G., McKay, L., & Berg, S. (2000). Character education connections for   school, home and community: A collection of field-generated, field-tested ideas for            integrating character education into daily learning. St. Louis, Mo: Cooperating School   Districts.

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Gibson, W. (2008). The Miracle Worker. Simon and Schuster.

Keller, H. (2016). The Story of My Life. Om Books International