The Miracle Worker

Anne Sullivan:
Why should I talk to you? I'm teaching Percy!

[Kate gave Annie a deadline; today Annie must return Helen to the big house and her family]

Kate Keller:
How I have waited for this day.

Captain Keller:
I only hope we won't be disappointed.

James Keller:
*Helen* doesn't ever disappoint you, father.

[Annie is writing notes when she hears a carriage pull up outside the small house where she and Helen have been staying for two weeks. The horse whinnies; a dog barks]

Anne Sullivan:
Captain.

Captain Keller:
Ah, Miss Sullivan, I've brought Helen a playmate. [He has a white shepherd dog on a leash] It's a kind of graduation present.

Anne Sullivan:
Please, wait outside, Captain. [She takes the dog's leash, leads it inside, and shuts the door in his face] Dog. [She spells the word into Helen's fingers, then allows Helen to pet it]

Captain Keller:
Well, Miss Sullivan, the two weeks are up.

Anne Sullivan:
Not until five o'clock.

Captain Keller:
Oh, what difference can half a day make? You don't know how eager we are to have her back.

Anne Sullivan:
I do know. It's my main concern.

Captain Keller:
You've done wonders for her. And you've done us a great service. I've actually missed her. I owe that debt to you.

Anne Sullivan:
Pay it to Helen, Captain. Give her another week.

Captain Keller:
Well, look what you've done for her already. She's well-behaved, seems quite contented, certainly cleaner.

Anne Sullivan:
She's cleaner? Is that what you care about? She's learning to talk, Captain! The words are in her fingers already. I can't risk her unlearning it when she goes back to her old life in the house.

Captain Keller:
Aw, look.

[They look inside the small house, where Helen is trying to spell something to the dog's paw]

Captain Keller:
What is she spelling?

Anne Sullivan:
[sarcastically] 'Water'!

Captain Keller:
Miss Sullivan, that dog doesn't know what words are any more than she does. The dog's happy enough [chuckling] , and for her, God may not have meant her to speak, Miss Sullivan.

Anne Sullivan:
*I* mean her to, Captain. Give her half a week.

Captain Keller:
You have until five o'clock. Kate cannot bear to be separated from her for another night.

[When he returns home, Kate rushes outside]

Kate Keller:
Where is she?

Captain Keller:
Your Miss Sullivan insisted on keeping her until five o'clock.

[James Keller comes to escort Annie back to the big house]

James Keller:
May I escort you?

Anne Sullivan:
I'm not very good company right now.

James Keller:
Well, I didn't come to keep you company. I came to keep you from getting lost in the dark.

Anne Sullivan:
[stiffly] Maybe that is just what I was looking to do.

James Keller:
[smiles understandingly] Are you feeling sorry for yourself, Miss Sullivan?

Anne Sullivan:
Just this once. Yes. [She smiles, and gestures with her head that she will walk with him]

James Keller:
My father has a great respect for you. That's not easily earned. He fought at Vicksburg; he edits a newspaper.

Anne Sullivan:
And he's always daring you to measure up.

James Keller:
If you have any advice for me, I wouldn't mind hearing it.

Anne Sullivan:
I never really had a father, so I'm the last person to ask. But you've got to stand up to the world. That's all I know.

Anne Sullivan:
Well, what if he's the world?

Anne Sullivan:
Then you can just look around, James, and see how much bigger it really is. He's a man, James, that's all. So are you.

Captain Keller:
Miss Sullivan, I've brought you your first month's salary. You've done quite a job. You've taken a wild thing and given us back a child.

Anne Sullivan:
I taught Helen one thing. 'No.' Don't do this, don't do that. I wanted to teach her 'yes'.

Captain Keller:
Well, you'll have all the time you need, now.

Anne Sullivan:
Will you help me, Captain?

Captain Keller:
Yes. How?

Anne Sullivan:
Don't undo what I've done. The world is not an easy place for anyone. To give Helen her way in everything is a lie to her. You've got to stand between her and that lie. Don't give in.

Captain Keller:
[He appears to have understood none of this] We're certainly going to try.

Anne Sullivan:
I used to wonder how I would earn a living. Now the question is, can I survive it.

Captain Keller:
I'll see you at supper.

[At Helen's 'Welcome Home' dinner, Helen throws her napkin on the floor. Annie replaces it]

Kate Keller:
Pickles, Aunt Ev?

Aunt Ev:
I should say so. You know my opinion of your pickles.

Kate Keller:
[smiling] Well, this is the last of them, I'm afraid. I didn't put up nearly enough last summer, but this year I intend to.

[Kate doles some food out onto Helen's plate; Helen drops her napkin again. While the others talk, Helen repeatedly drops and Annie repeatedly replaces Helen's napkin. Annie takes Helen's plate away]

Kate Keller:
Miss Sullivan, no. No. Please? I have hardly had an hour with her.

[Helen reverts to her bad habits:
spanking the table, eating with her hands, moaning and groaning]

Anne Sullivan:
Captain?

Captain Keller:
Katie, we, uh, we had a little talk. Miss Sullivan feels that if we indulge Helen in...

Aunt Ev:
But what has the child done?

Anne Sullivan:
She's learned not to throw things on the floor, and...

Aunt Ev:
It's only a napkin. It's not as if it was something breakable.

Anne Sullivan:
Either give Helen to me, or you keep her from kicking.

[It is Helen's 'Welcome Home' dinner, and she is misbehaving]

Kate Keller:
What do you want me to do?

Anne Sullivan:
Let me take her from the table.

Aunt Ev:
But this is her first evening back.

Kate Keller:
I have made all of Helen's favorite foods.

Anne Sullivan:
She's testing you.

James Keller:
She's testing *you*.

Anne Sullivan:
I know!

Captain Keller:
Well, she's not kicking now.

Anne Sullivan:
This is what I was worried about. Is this what you promised me, less than an hour ago?

[Helen nestles against her mother, who holds her protectively]

Anne Sullivan:
Give into her, then. She's the one who will pay for it. [She sits again] Please, pass me more of Helen's favorite foods.

Kate Keller:
Take her, Miss Annie.

Anne Sullivan:
Thank you.

Captain Keller:
No. No, I won't have it. I don't see that we need to send her from the table.

Anne Sullivan:
Let me hold Helen to what's she's learned, and she will go on learning. Take her out of my hands, and it all comes apart!

Captain Keller:
She is the Guest of Honor. Bring her plate back.

Anne Sullivan:
If she was a seeing child, you would not stand for this!

Captain Keller:
Well, she is not! I think some allowances are called for. Bring her plate back.

[Helen has never stopped moaning. The Captain puts Helen into her chair, replaces her napkin, and gives her a fork]

Captain Keller:
Thank you. There. Now, let's start all over.

[Helen throws her fork and napkin to the ground, then starts to stuff food into her mouth with the palm of her hand. She gets up to wander around the table, in her old habit. Annie pauses her]

Anne Sullivan:
No. No. No. [She takes Helen's hand and puts it to her own cheek, so that Helen will feel her shaking her head negatively] No. No.

[Helen reaches for the pitcher of water and sloshes Annie]

Anne Sullivan:
Auhh!

[She grabs Helen and lifts her. Kate and Arthur start to rise from the table]

Anne Sullivan:
Don't get up!

Captain Keller:
What are you doing?

Anne Sullivan:
I treat her like a seeing child because I ask her to see. I expect her to see!

Captain Keller:
Where are you taking her?

Anne Sullivan:
To make her re-fill this pitcher!

[Annie has pulled Helen out of the dining room]

Aunt Ev:
You let her speak to you like that, Arthur?

Captain Keller:
[His pride is challenged] No. I don't! [He rises from his chair and strides to the door]

James Keller:
Let her go!

Captain Keller:
What?

James Keller:
Let her go. She's right. She's right, and Kate's right. If we drive Miss Sullivan away from here, then we're lost. No: Helen is lost.

Kate Keller:
Captain, please.

[the Captain returns to his seat at the table. He is putting on a show for Aunt Ev, but he looks secretly relieved not to have to confront Annie Sullivan]

Captain Keller:
Jimmy?

[Jimmy looks at him resentfully]

Captain Keller:
Thank you.

[Jimmy stares, then smiles. Clearly, this is the first kind word from his father in ages]