Before Annie Sullivan leaves her school to go to the Kellers’ home, her blind students give her a present: a pair of smoked (i.e., tinted) glasses. Annie uses these glasses to protect her eyes, which are still weak after her operation and sensitive to bright lights. Setting aside their practical value, however, the smoked glasses are an important symbol of Annie’s past. They remind the audience that Annie herself has struggled with blindness, and knows first-hand—to a limited extent—what Helen Keller is going through. In a way, the smoked glasses establish that Annie is a character with a foot in both worlds: she’s an educated woman who has learned how to “see,” both literally and metaphorically, and yet she can remember a time when she was blind and cut-off from the world just like Helen.
Smoked glasses Symbol Timeline in The Miracle Worker
