William gibson the miracle worker biography sample

Playwright

William Gibson (1914–2008)

Gibson was born in the Bronx neighborhood of New York City in 1914. As a child, he fell in love with the library and read whenever he could. He was determined to avoid a soulless desk job, and spent his early years roaming, writing and taking odd jobs: acting, playing piano, and organizing for the Young Communist League. After he met his wife Margaret Brenman, an eminent psychiatrist and social activist, he was able to write full-time. Her work in mental institutions inspired Gibson’s first novel, The Cobweb, about the intricate politics of a psychiatric hospital. An immediate hit, the book was adapted into a film by Vincente Minnelli in 1955.

Hollywood fame quickly led to two Broadway hits: The Miracle Worker (1958), which was originally written as a television movie, and a two-person romantic drama, Two for a Seesaw (1959).  Anne Bancroft, then-unknown, starred in both plays; she and Gibson each won Tony awards for their work. In 1964, The Miracle Worker was adapted into an Oscar-winning film. However, Gibson was dissatisfied with Broadway and Hollywood’s creative processes; he was offended by how producers sacrificed artistic integrity for financial profit. The rest of his career never achieved the success of The Miracle Worker, although Golda’s Balcony, his one-woman play about Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, became an Off-Broadway hit in 2002.

Many of Gibson’s plays tell the stories of women triumphing despite all odds. After reading Annie Sullivan’s autobiography as a teenager, Gibson was forever fascinated by her story– a young woman tasked to teach a child what she herself had only recently learned. His script draws primarily from Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan’s autobiographies, as well as Sullivan’s published letters. The Miracle Worker takes its title from a quote by author Mark Twain, who was a friend of Helen Keller: “Helen is a

WILLIAM GIBSON 1957

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

PLOT SUMMARY

CHARACTERS

THEMES

STYLE

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

CRITICAL OVERVIEW

CRITICISM

FURTHER READING

SOURCES

Initially written for television, The Miracle Worker by William Gibson first aired in 1957. After it was warmly received by television audiences, it was rewritten for the stage and opened on Broadway in 1959 at the Playhouse Theatre. Although some of the reviews were mixed, the audience response was very favorable and during its run the first production of The Miracle Worker rarely failed to fill the 1,000 seat theatre.

Drawing heavily from letters written by Anne Sullivan in 1887, as well as from Helen Keller’s autobiography, William Gibson constructed a drama around the events that took place when Helen Keller and her teacher, Anne Sullivan, first met in the 1880s. The exchanges that take place in The Miracle Worker are all derived from factual events that Gibson has woven together to construct a fluid, emotionally real, depiction of the “miracle” Anne Sullivan was able to work: teaching Helen Keller language.

Audiences and critics alike were most drawn to The Miracle Worker’s honest and emotionally vivid portrayal of the relationship between Annie (as she is called in the play) and Helen. The actors’ intense energy and commitment to truth in the scenes of physical struggle between Annie and Helen were held as the most memorable moments of the play when it first opened on Broadway. Audiences found the story of Annie’s struggle to teach Helen language and her eventual success life affirming and uplifting. Surrounding the major themes of change and transformation and language and meaning is basic integrity and emotional honesty. These two elements are the strongest reasons that The Miracle Worker is so popular among audiences and has been called an American Theatre classic.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

William Gibson was born in the Bronx, New York, on November 13, 1914, the son of Georg

Student Activities for The Miracle Worker

Essential Questions for The Miracle Worker

1. What challenges did Annie face and how did she overcome them?
2. What challenges did Helen face and how did she overcome them?
3. What are some similarities between Annie and Helen? What are some differences?
4. What are some of the important themes in this novel?
5. How did Anna change over the course of the play?

The Miracle Worker Summary

Helen Keller was born a healthy baby. She was very bright, even as an infant, and began forming words at only 6 months old; her first word being wah wah (water). When she was 18 months old, a terrible illness left her blind and deaf, breaking the hearts of her parents, who didn’t know what to do.

When Helen is six years old, Annie Sullivan, a young woman who was once blind but now has partial sight, is introduced to her family. Annie is a recent graduate from the Perkins School for the Blind in Massachusetts. She has had a difficult life herself, and now feels grateful to have some of her sight back. She vows to do what she can to help this new family, and says goodbye to the school, the teachers, and the young students who look up to her very much. After a long journey from Massachusetts to Alabama, Annie arrives at the Keller home.

Annie’s first day at the Keller’s is not easy. When Annie gives Helen a doll and tries to spell “doll” on her hand, Helen grabs the doll, pushes Annie away, and locks her in the bedroom, taking the key with her. With help, Annie is able to climb out the window and down the ladder, and watches as Helen gleefully hides the key under a piece of concrete from the water pump; it is then that Annie realizes that Helen is a little girl of great intelligence.

Breakfast the next morning is when Annie realizes how little discipline Helen has been exposed to. While the adults are eating, Helen walks around the table, taking food off of everyone’s plate. Annie is shock