MovieChat Forums > The Miracle Worker (1962) Discussion > One little thing that bugged me about th...

One little thing that bugged me about the movie


One of my favorites movies, yes. The one thing that had me wondering is... If Helen was blind from infancy, how would she know how to look at herself in the mirror. Not long after Annie arrives, Helen is wearing her (Annie's) jacket, hat, and glasses, and is "looking" at herself in a hand-held mirror.

Such a little thing to pick at, I know, but....

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She may be imitating her mother's dressing ritual. She was clearly a smart mimic, so it wouldn't be too off the mark to think she was copying her mother's routine.

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Yes. She couldn't see herself, she was just imitating her mom. She probably did that a lot.

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In Helen's book 'The Story of my Life', Helen even admits that she would get dressed as a child in her best outfits and examine herself in the mirror. Clearly, she couldn't see herself, but she wanted to mimic and be like everyone else. She wanted to be 'normal', and thus, carried out normal rituals and tasks, even if they had no relevance to her.

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Helen Keller hadn't lost her sight and hearing until she was nineteen months old. She may have been acting in things she had observed as a baby. She was very bright, after all.

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Very bright? Yes, she graduated from Radcliffe when she was nineteen. Not many women who had all their five senses were able to do that.

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