Didn't you want to slap the parents?! - The Miracle Worker (1962) Discussion

[–] tegyeven 19 years ago

No, it was the Mother's idea to get help for Helen and the Father allowed it. What would have happed to Helen if they hadn't gone looking for a teacher for her. It's very difficult for a parent to let another person take control of their child. I can see Annie Sullivan had more work on her hands than just having to deal with Helen. I think it helped that Annie herself was young and stubborn.

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[–] JR541 19 years ago

The reason I wanted them slapped (especially the dad) is because they never seemed to get what Annie was doing. They would give in to Helen every time and undermine everything that Miss Sullivan was trying to do.

He's taking the knife out of the Cheese!
Do you think he wants some cheese?

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[–] lroy77 13 years ago

People, you have to remember that in those days, the man made the decisions. Women had absolutely none-ZERO-say at all. They were totally submissive. That's it.

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[–] goldenagefilmstv (178) 3 years ago

They had fewer legal rights, but they certainly were NOT "totally submissive.". Some would have been more assertive than others, of course, depending on their personality, just like today.

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[–] jcarter-21 19 years ago

I play the father in my play coming up in May. I'm having a lot of fun playing his part.

Guess what? I got a fever! And the only prescription.. is more cowbell!-
Christopher Walken

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[–] zelda1964 19 years ago

I think this is a brilliant masterpiece! It made me see how much determination and willpower Annie had in reaching Helen. Her Quote "What you and your pity do will destroy her,Captain Keller" was the heart of Annie's goal for Helen.
The Kellers were soft and lenient, while Annie tried to be stern and faithful in her Job. If Annie were not stubborn, then Helen would not learn dignity,self respect and Persistence in Life's trials.

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[–] jcarter-21 19 years ago

Agreed!

Guess what? I got a fever! And the only prescription.. is more cowbell!-
Christopher Walken

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[–] cheongsam_kimono 18 years ago

I dunno, personally I felt like slapping Helen.

Meh, all of them needed slapping at one point or another. But nevertheless, the movie was brilliant.

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[–] goldenhawk40 18 years ago

Given the time that this all occurs, it was typical for parents to either indulge children in Helen's situation, or to send them away. It was just assumed that handicapped children would never be much more than pets and had even less capacity for learning (hence the comment Annie makes about housebreaking a dog..) There wasn't the sensibility that we have now about what someone can achieve - that is one reason why Helen Keller is so important- she proved that conventional limitations don't have to be accepted as fact.

It was (really) the parent's fault - they were operating under the ignorant assumptions of the times. Annie knew that Helen could be more, because she knew what she'd been able to accomplish.

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[–] Molly-31 17 years ago

More to the point, she knew what Laura Bridgman had been able to accomplish. Laura was one of the first (not the first) deaf-blind people to be educated. She was highly intelligent and an omnivorous reader with a huge amount of curiosity about the world and about spiritual matters. She was also Annie's devoted friend as she'd been living at Perkins for I forget how long. Annie learned the manual alphabet so she and Laura could talk. Read "The Imprisoned Guest" for more about Laura.

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[–] blaze3-2 17 years ago

GoldenHawk40, you took the words right out of my mouth!

Even today, some parents don't know how to manage a child who has a challenge of some kind or is ill. They may be so grateful that the child is alive that they're afraid to discipline the child.

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[–] lroy77 15 years ago

If anyone, I want to give Helen's half brother Jimmy a good solid smack on the side of the head.

He's as impartial and insensitive as his father...perhaps more so because Helen's not his child.

I saw no affection-only mockery-between Jimmy and Helen. It's as if Jimmy's ashamed of his half-sister. Even though he's a sibling (and a half one at that), he ALSO should be part of the solution, not the problem.

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[–] MissMargoChanning 18 years ago

Being a parent, in defense of Hellen`s mother and father, They loved her. They did all that they felt was best for her in the first six years of her life, including writing to the school, and finding a teacher. Once they had Anne, the teacher, in their home, it shocked them to learn that they were making mistakes with their child, and at first, they resisted hearing that they were`nt doing her any favors by indulging her. Many parents make these mistakes with their children and it has nothing to do with the times. We parents sometimes don`t see what others see, because we are just too close to our children. It`s hard to practice tough love when it`s your child and they need it.
As for wanting to smack someone, I wanted to smack the father, the mother, and the half brother! It was actually the actors. They all over acted!

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[–] JR541 18 years ago

One of the reasons they might have over acted is because they were pretty much doing the stage performance of the movie. Stage actors often overact or "emote".

When I started this post my reason for wanting to smack the parents was not necessarily because of how they treated Helen before Annie shows up but how they quickly went back to thier old ways when Helen is at the dinner table near the end of the film.

He's taking the knife out of the Cheese!
Do you think he wants some cheese?

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[–] Coryraisa 18 years ago

True...and two weeks was much too short for Annie to reach Helen; I hated how the Kellers were so inflexible in that.

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[–] Hard_Luck_Woman 17 years ago

What pisses me off was the fact they were considering actually putting poor Helen in an mental institution. How they have the audacity to tell that to Annie shortly before saying, "Two weeks! Then the child comes back to us!"
Making such a big deal about this considerate woman taking their child away for two weeks, when they were going to send Helen to live with rats, invalids, child-beaters and who knows what the hell else. They didn't seem fit to own an aloe plant.

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[–] lester-42 17 years ago

They were considering putting Helen in what was available at the time. They were also searching for an alternate and got in touch with Alexander Graham Bell(who had a deaf wife, and who invented the telephone to ease communication with the deaf) he referred them to the school where Annie Sullivan lived and was trained. She had come from an "asylum" which is where all the people with what were then untreatable problems-psychiatric disorders, the effects of lifelong alcoholism untreatable physical disorders.It would be inevitable that there would be child molesters in those places- they were not governed very well, but were holding pens for those people whom society didn't know what to do with at that time.

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[–] titanicsurvivor93 15 years ago

Based on what I saw from the movie(since I have not read *much* about Helen Keller), I think the mother was sympathetic towards Helen and the father just wanted to get rid of her. I'm sure he loved her, but he did a lousy job of showing it. At the end of it, they both had their share in spoiling her and that's what made it difficult for Anne to crack Helen.

Revenge is a dish best served cold.-Kill Bill

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[–] stevenackerman69 14 years ago

Well, they didn't know how to deal with Helen's double disability, that's all. It wasn't like they could go to family counseling or something. And why do you always end your notes with this stupid remark about a knife and cheese?

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] SteveG (1370) 3 years ago

I wanted to slap everybody… lol. Great film. That Anne Bancroft is something else. What a great actress. She is a classic.

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