All My Sons - Character Analysis

Late 20s Loves Chris Brings letter from Larry First see: Joe Shock, Chris happy, Mother worried Was engaged to Larry Not afraid "Those dear dead days beyond recall"

Annie Deever

Background Daughter of Steve Deever, former neighbour of the Kellers, as well as former fiancée of the dead Larry Keller. Ann may be young but she knows what she wants. She's strong. She turned her back on her father when he was convicted of selling faulty good to the military. She moved to New York and got a job. A little while after Larry's death, she and Chris started writing each other letters.

Motive Visiting the Kellers, she has no problem going head to head with Kate, a fierce and manipulative women who is twice her age. At the end of the play, when Joe's guilt has been revealed, Ann lays down the law: Q: "I'll do nothing about Joe, but you're going to do something for me. [Directly to mother] You made Chris feel guilty with me.... I'd like you to tell him that Larry is dead and you know it. You understand me?"

Letter She has in her possession a letter that Larry wrote to her before he commits suicide, in which he explains that he cannot live with the knowledge that his father was responsible for having caused so many men's deaths. She has never revealed the contents of the letter but intends to show it to Chris before they get married. She's merciful enough to keep quiet until Kate's stubbornness finally forces her hand. Ann's secret weapon makes her the most powerful character in the story, and the only one who reaches her objective - engagement to Chris - by the play's end. The connection between Larry's death and Joe's action was there, long before Ann's revelation in Act 3 that Larry deliberately took his own life out of shame.

Joe Keller

Description Q: "A heavy man of stolid mind and build." Q: "A man among men" The description of Joe as a simpleton comes up again and again. Chris calls him an "elephant" and Kate calls him a "Bull". After George's ominous phone call, Kate warns her husband to "be smart now Joe. The boy is coming. be smart."  Miller emphasises Joe's lack of education as one justification for his criminal actions. We don't think Joe approved those cracked cylinder heads because he's stupid. He approved them because, as an uneducated man, he needs all the more desperately to protect his way of making a living.

Money Joe has always been concerned with money. He is outraged when Kate and Chris attack him for saving his business: "I spoiled both of you," he says. " i should've put him out when i was ten like I was put out, and make him earn his keep. Then he'd know how a buck is made in this world." He boasts that he's out smarts the justice system: "14 months later i had one of the best shops in the state again, a respected man again; bugger than ever." Until he finally understands the cause of Larry's death, his primary value us the success of his business and his ability to make money.

The Family Man Joe doesn't make money for himself but his family. "Nothin is bigger" than family to Joe. Though they don't like to admit it, Kate and Chris reap the benefits of Joe's single-mindedness. Kate has a nice house and garden. Chris stands to inherit a lucrative business that will support a family with Ann. We believe Joe when he tells Chris he done it for him. He isn't evil, he just has a tragic lack of vision.

Timeline + Summary Joe entertains the neighbours. Chris informs Joe that he intends to marry Ann. He doesn't share this info with Kate. For Ann's benefit, Joe tells the story of the day her dad shipped faulty airplane parts. He reckons he didn't know anything about it. Ann's brother George calls. He's coming for a visit. Kate tells Joe to be careful. George accuses Joe of framing his father. he wants to get Ann out of there. She refuses. Faced with the real responsibility of Chris and Ann's engagement, Kate reveals Joe's guilt to Chris. Joe defends his action. He did it for his family. Ann and Chris ant him to go to prison. Chris reads aloud Larry's letter. Joe kills himself

Crime Four years before the acion of "All My Sons" begins, in the fall of 1943 during World War 2, Joe committed the crime that drives the plot. He knowingly sent out faulty cylinder heads that resulted in the deaths of 21 pilots, and blamed the incident on his deputy manager, Steve Deever. Steve was imprisoned, while Joe escaped by lying about his own part in the affair.

Annie

joe