AN ANALYSIS ON ANNIE SULLIVAN’S STRUGGLE TO TEACH HELLEN KELLER (AS A DISABLED CHILD) IN THE MOVIE “THE MIRACLE WORKER”

AN ANALYSIS ON ANNIE SULLIVAN’S STRUGGLE TO TEACH
HELLEN KELLER (AS A DISABLED CHILD) IN THE MOVIE
“THE MIRACLE WORKER”

THESIS

BY
MEI RIYANTI
( 07360062 )

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
JULY 2013

AN ANALYSIS ON ANNIE SULLIVAN’S STRUGGLE TO TEACH
HELLEN KELLER (AS A DISABLED CHILD) IN THE MOVIE
“THE MIRACLE WORKER”

THESIS

BY
MEI RIYANTI
( 07360062 )

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
JULY 2013

AN ANALYSIS ON ANNIE SULLIVAN’S STRUGGLE TO TEACH
HELLEN KELLER (AS A DISABLED CHILD) IN THE MOVIE
“THE MIRACLE WORKER”

THESIS
This thesis is submitted to Fulfill One of the Requirement to
achieve Sarjana Degree in English Education

BY:
MEI RIYANTI
( 07360062 )

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
JULY 2013

This thesis written by Mei Riyanti was approved on July 31, 2013.

By:

Advisor I,

Dra. Erly Wahyuni, M.Si

Advisor II,

Drs. Masduki, M.Pd

MOTTO AND DEDICATION

Man Jadda Wa Jadda
Yesterday was History
Tomorrow is Mystery
Today is Gift
( Mey )

DEDICATION:
I dedicated this thesis to:
My beloved parents, (alm) father and mother,
My beloved sisters andari
My beloved advisors Dra Erly Wahyuni, M.Si and Drs. Masduki, M.Pd
My beloved MR
My beloved Friends

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The researcher would like to convey her grateful, praise and worship to the Almighty
God, Allah S.W.T who gave the researcher mercy that she could finally finish this thesis and
for the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him) for his guidance to us from the darkness
into the lightness.

The researcher wishes to express her gratitude to Dra. Erly Wahyuni, M.Si as the first
advisor and Drs. Masduki, M.Pd as the second advisor whose patience, guidance, correction,
and suggestion enable her to complete this thesis. The researcher feels that words will never
be enough to acknowledge them.
Her next gratitude goes to her dearest parents (alm). Ponidi and Windarsih) for all of
their everlasting love, and never ending prays. Her thanks also goes to her lovely sister who
always support her. My lovely MR, thanks for your support, motivation and prays. My best
friends ever (Mr. Kusuma Hadi, Ruli, Nurul, Tia, Sam, Dian, Udhit, Menik, Citra, Linda,
Denok, Finda, Agung, Fadh Ahmad, Sofyan A, Kholis F, Huda A, Yonx Putra and for those
people who the researcher can not mention one by one thanks for everything.
The Researcher

Mei Riyanti

TABLE OF CONTENTS

APROVAL ........................................................................................................ iii
LEGALIZATION ............................................................................................ iv
MOTTO & DEDICATION ............................................................................ v
ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................ vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................ viii
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of Study ............................................................................. 1
1.2 Statement of Problem ............................................................................ 5
1.3 Objective of Study ................................................................................. 5
1.4 Scope and limitation .............................................................................. 5
1.5 Significance of Study............................................................................. 5
1.6 Definition of Key Terms ........................................................................ 6
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Literature................................................................................................ 7
2.2 Movie ..................................................................................................... 8
2.3 The Kinds of Movie .............................................................................. 9
2.4 The Elements of Movie……………………………………………..

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2.5 Struggle .....................................………………………………..... 17
2.5.1 The definition of struggles to teach disabled children………….. 17
2.5.2 The Ways of Struggle ...........................................……………… 18

2.5.3 The Effects of Struggle ......................................……………….. 19
2.6 Disability........................................................................................26
2.6.1 The definition of disability.......................................................26
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design .................................................................................... 27
3.2 Research Instrument .............................................................................. 27

3.3 Data Collection ...................................................................................... 28
3.5 Data Analysis ......................................................................................... 29
CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Findings ................................................................................................. 30
4.1.1 Annie’s struggles to teach Helen Keller ....................................... 30
4.1.2 The effects of Annie Sullivan’s Struggle towards Helen Keller’s life
............................................................................................................... 41
4.2 Discussion ............................................................................................ 44
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION
5.1 Conclusion ............................................................................................ 46
REFERENCES
APPENDIX

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams, M.H. 1999. A glossary of literary terms Seven Edition. United States:
Heinle&Heinle.
Alwisol. 2007. Psikologi Kepribadian (fifth edition). Malang: UMM Press
Arp, Thomas R. and Greg Johnson. 2006. Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense
(Ninth Edition). Boston: Thomson Wadsworth.
Ary, Donald. 2002. Introduction to Research in Education (Sixth Edition). Belmont:
Wadsworth.
Brown, Douglas H. 2000. Principle of language learning and teaching (4th edition). New
York: Pearson ESL
Chasanah.2005. An analysis of Edward struggles in Captain Maryat’s Novel “the Children of
the New Forest”. Thesis, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education. Muhammadiyah
University Malang.
Corey, Melinda & Ochoa, George.2002. The American Institute Desk Reference. New York:
A Stonesong Press Production.
Heward, L.William & Orlansky, D. Michael. 1988. Exceptional Children (third edition).The
Ohio State University: Merrill Publishing Company.
Koesnosoebroto, Sunarya Basuki. 1988. The Anatomy of Prose Fiction. Jakarta: Depdikbud
MacMillan. 1984. Appreciating Literature. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company
Myers, G David. 2010. Psychology (ninth edition). United States: Worth Publisher

Nurnadifatul, Hamidah.2012. An analysis of Akeelah’s struggles to become the winner in
spelling bee at” Akellah and the Bee” Film. Thesis, Faculty of Teacher Training and
Education. Muhammadiyah University Malang.
Ririn.1999. A Study on Don Corleone’s Dictatorship in Mario Puzo’s Film “the God father”.
Thesis, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education. Muhammadiyah University Malang
Schmidt, Bogarad, Crocket. 2006. Legacies: Fiction, Poetry, Drama Nonfiction (Third
Edition). Boston: Thomson Wadsworth.
Webster, Meriam. 2002. Webster’s third New International Dictionary. USA. Encyclopedia
Britannica, Inc
Wilde, Stuart. 1987. Life Was Never Meant to Be a Struggle, Carlsbad: Hay House
Internet Sources
http://www.nhs.uk/stresssymptoms/Pages/Redirect.aspx

http://www.nhs.uk/depressionsymptoms/Pages/Redirect.aspx
http://www. swayamsat.org
http://www.mindbodythoughts.blogspot.com/2010/05/symptoms-of-fear.html

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter the researcher presents the background of study, the statement of

problem, the objective of the study, scope and limitation, purpose of the study and
also the definition of key terms. It is important to discuss, to make clear what
actually the researcher’s background conducting this research.
1.1 Background of the Study
Language takes an important role in human life. As a society member, we need
a language to build a relationship with others. As a means of communication,
language is not only used to give and get information but also to arouse humans
feeling. By using language, we can share our feeling such as happiness, sadness,
disappointment, and anger to someone else or about something.
According to Valery (in Koesnosubroto 1988:1), “Literature is, and cannot be
anything but, a kind of extension and application of certain properties of language.”
It means that there is a close correlation between language and literature which the
literary work is a verbal of art and it is usually in written language. By using
literature, we can express our experience, thought, ideas and also feeling in
beautiful language form.
There is a close relation between literature and society. The theme of literature
usually based on real condition or problems in one society. According to Wellek (in
Agustin, 2005:5), “Literature is an expression of society because it is a mirror of
social situation”. It means that literature shows what happens in society as a

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reflection and expression of human mind, feeling, happiness, sorrow and culture
through language form.
As a human expression, literature can be classified into songs, movies, drama,
poems, short stories, and novels. They are called literary works. Basically, literary
works are not only in the written form but also in spoken language. One kind of
literary works which combined between written and spoken language is drama.
Usually, the story of drama based on written form which performed by the actor or
actress in spoken language with dialogue in front of the stage.
However, people are never satisfied. They always try to develop something new
in their life included literary works especially drama. They created a new literary
works to get simpler and better, the product of the development of drama is called
as movie or film. Movie is one of media that contains sounds, video, animation,
picture etc. Movie become more popular than drama because the viewer could see it
anywhere without sitting in front of the stage, such as drama, movie also tells what
happens in human life, fiction and non-fiction, in the past or future like the real
situation. Usually it tells about human’s feeling, love, sacrifice, humanity, struggle
and sorrow.
Based on the explanation above, the researcher chooses movie as one kind of

literary works that is interesting to be analyzed. When watching a movie, viewers
will not only get entertainment or education but also can find exploration of human
personality, problems and feeling. In movie, there are many characters of people
and human behavior. People can learn many things from movie because movie

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contains many valuable lessons, messages and pleasure. Besides that, people can
learn how to keep struggle in this life or how to survive, for instance.
People can’t live without struggling to get what they want or happiness because
struggle is the most important thing in human life. Struggle is one of the
characteristics that human should have. Struggle is not only needed for normal
people but also for those people who have physical limitations or disabilities.
Disability is used to refer to physical disorder such as loss of a limb or some other
crippling condition. It is also used with learning and behavior problems that may or
may not be due to physiological cause (Harring and McCormick, 1986: 1). In other
words, a disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, and
developmental or some combination of these. Unfortunately, many disabled people
were neglected and rejected from their society. Disabled people often felt
depression, hopeless and social withdrawal because of their condition. Therefore,
disabled people have to struggle to overcome their impairment to live as normal as
other people. Some good movies tell about struggle of disabled people to keep
survive.
“The Miracle Worker” is one of good movie which tells about the struggle of
extraordinary teacher who teach disabled girl. The Miracle Worker is a cycle of
20th century dramatic works derived from Helen Keller's autobiography The Story
of My Life. The story is based on true story of Helen Keller life who was blind, deaf
and dumb since she was child. She becomes disabled person after suffering a high
fever when she was two years old. Helen Keller parent’s almost desperate with her

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condition until they met Annie Sullivan. She was successfully changed the whole of
Helen Keller’s life.
Considering the background above, the researcher focused on struggle of Helen
Keller’s teacher, Annie Sullivan. The researcher is interested in analyzing her
struggles to teach a student who has disabilities like Helen Keller because the
researcher found a good education from her struggles in this movie especially for
English Department students and the researcher herself. This movie contains of
valuable lessons so the audience can learn how to teach someone who has
disabilities because they needs special education and treatment.
Many researchers using similar perspective and some of them also discuss about
struggle in different focus of discussion. Hamidah Nurnadifatul, wrote the thesis
“An analysis of Akeelah’s struggles to become the winner in spelling bee at”
Akellah and the Bee” Film. “. On this thesis Nurnadifatul focuses on struggle of the
girl who names Akeelah to become the winner in spelling bee contest. She faced
many problems, but finally she became the winner of spelling bee contest. The
result of this research shows that struggles are important and interesting to discuss.
People have to struggle to get what they want and face their problems.
Based on the description above, the tittle of the study is “An Analysis on Anne
Sullivan’s Struggle to Teach Helen Keller As a Disabled child in the Movie “The
Miracle Worker”.

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1.2 Statement of Problem
Based on the background of the study above, this research investigates the
following problems:
1. What are Annie Sullivan’s struggles to teach Helen Keller in the movie “The
Miracle Worker”?
2. What are the effects of Annie Sullivan’s struggle on Helen Keller’s life?

1.3 Objective of the Study
The purpose of the study is related to the problems of the study. The purposes of the
study are as follows:
1. To identify the ways used by Annie Sullivan’s to teach Helen Keller.
2. To explain the effects of Annie Sullivan’s struggle on Helen Keller’s life.

1.4 Scope and Limitation
Movie has many elements such as plot, character, conflict, etc., which are
interesting aspects to be analyzed. However, the scope of this study is Annie
Sullivan’s struggle to teach Helen Keller and the limitations are the ways used by
Annie Sullivan’s to teach Helen Keller, and the last is the effects of Annie
Sullivan’s struggle towards Helen Keller life’s.
1.5 Significance of the Study
The significance of the study is to enrich to the readers and an English
Departement students to understand more literary studies especially movie. This
analysis can be stimulus for them especially who want to spend their leisure time to
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see the literary works as much as possible to get knowledge about life, especially
about struggle to teach students who has disabilities.
For an English Departement students who become a teacher, the researcher
hopes that they will get the understanding about the content of “The Miracle
Worker Movie” that focuses on teacher struggle to teach a student who has
disabilities like Helen Keller, because in the future maybe they are not only
teaching students who are normal but also students who has disabilities like Helen
Keller. Students with disabilities have their rights to get education. The researcher
hopes that the teacher and reader can overcome the same problem that may happen
in their personal life.
1.6 Definition of Key Terms
In order to avoid misinterpretations, it is necessary to give definition of key terms
as follows:
1. Analysis is trying to examine all parts of work in relation to the whole, selects for
examination one aspect or element or part that relates to the whole (Jhonson, 2006).
2. The Miracle Worker is the title of movie that will be analyzed.
3. Struggle is not natural. It is an unholy battle we fight with ourselves because it is a
by-product of our personal imbalances; it's a condition we can easily go beyond
(Wilde: 1987).
4. Annie Sullivan is one of the main characters of the movie “The miracle Worker “.
5. Hellen Keller is one of main the main characters of the movie “The Miracle
Worker”.
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6. Disability is a condition or function judged to be significantly impaired relative to
the usual standard of an individual or group. The term is used to refer to individual
functioning; including physical impairment, sensory impairment, cognitive
impairment, intellectual impairment mental illness, and various types of chronic
disease is a condition or function judged to be significantly impaired relative to the
usual standard of an individual or group.
(http://www.disabled-world.com/disability/types/)
7. Movie is a form of entertainment that enacts a story by a sequence of images that
giving the illusion of continues movement.
(wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webn)

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