1. Assignment 4.6
The Miracle Worker Movie Reflection
By:
Teresa Puga
ECD 300
Child, Family, and Community
CD 52 Lemoore Center
Fresno Pacific University
April 17, 2013
Kimberly Bonjorni
2. THE MIRACLE WORKER MOVIE REFLECTION
The movie, The Miracle Worker, a story of Helen Keller. The movie was
about the attempt to socialize Helen, a girl who was deaf and blind. The movie took
place in the 1880’s, when Helen was a young girl. As the movie started out Helen had no
social skills, she was in her own world. Helen could not communicate with anyone.
Helen did whatever she wanted and her family let her. I’m sure it was very difficult to
know the right way to handle her situation and her family was just clueless as to know
what to do. Helen was so out of control they hired a teacher, the teacher had to break
her of all of the old behaviors that she had learned. Then her teacher had the task of
reaching her, then teaching her how to communicate and understand the world around
her. By the end of the movie this goal is accomplished and was very uplifting and
inspiring what hard work can accomplish.
The era in which Helen grew up was the 1880’s. During this era less was known
about disabilities. The views individuals had in the movie were simply out of ignorance.
The comments like Helen cannot learn anything her parents goal was for Helen to
simply to become calmer and better behaved. The focus was not on reaching her or
communicating with her. They thought Helen was incapable of learning and functioning
as a healthy individual. Another point in the movie that was interesting was when the
father of Helen was angered by the teacher wearing her glasses, even though he was
instructed that she needed them to see. He insisted that she remove her glasses. The
social standards were different back then, people were unaware of disabilities and thus
were insensitive to their needs. Individuals with disabilities came across as rude.
3. Helen came from a well off family, if she had come from a less well-off family the
results may have been drastically different. A less well-off family may have had to put
her in a sanitarium like her teacher came from. In these facilities in that time they would
not have gone out of their way to help Helen. These facilities in this time seemed cold
and uncaring for these children’s needs.
This movie was a very powerful example just how much of an affect socialization
has on the development of a child. In the beginning of the movie Helen had none or very
little socialization. She did not know how to behave according to social standards. Helen
was unruly she wanted what she wanted, and wanted it now. Watching this movie and
seeing Helen’s behavior you can’t help but say how awful she is behaving. If you were to
step into her shoes just imagine how scary and frustrating her life must be. She cannot
see or hear anything, she has no idea what is going on around her. She cannot tell
anyone how she feels, or what she needs, or simply express her feelings. This would be
the worst part of her situation. This would make anyone upset and misbehave.
Once Helen’s teacher starts making progress with her she seems to progress
fairly quickly. She learns signs and to behave socially pretty quickly. I found it amazing
how much was accomplished within those two weeks alone with her teacher. Soon the
learning progress is stopped because Helen does not comprehend the meaning of the
words being taught. She does not understand that each object has its own name, she is
not connecting the words with the object. Finally after struggling Helen has a break
through and she comes to her own realization and understands.
4. The major difficulty in this video were probably the parents. Helen’s parents
were very loving and caring parents, but they did not realize that their love and caring
were spoiling her. They were not letting her experience the knowledge that she needed
to learn and enforcing her boundaries physically and socially. This, I felt is what occurs
with many parents it is difficult to stay strong and not give into your child. Giving in
actually hurts your child’s development.
