All My Sons

Emily Gong

AP English Notes: All My Sons Characters:

Joe Keller- a heavy man nearing sixty, a retired businessman and boss; considerably uneducated, but fends off of knowledge gain through experience and age

Kate Keller-in early fifties, a woman of uncontrolled inspirations and an overwhelming capability for love

Chris Keller-Keller’s second oldest son, cautious and reserved, seeks Anne to marry

Ann Deever- Keller’s girlfriend and estranged daughter of Steve Deever, who has been convicted of murder for twenty-one pilots because he knowingly shipped out cracked mechanical parts

George Deever- same age as Chris, a passionate man who lathes Keller from circumventing his punishment

Dr. Jim Bayliss- nearing forty, “very self-controlled man”; very practical, realistic man; scorns Frank’s supernatural suspicions and dismisses his horoscope readings as valid information

Sue Bayliss- also around forty, Jim’s wife, a rather chubby, quirky lady; serious, and stern

Frank Lubey-thirty-two, opinionated man, a superstitious man who works on Larry’s horoscope on Kate’s request

Lydia Lubey- twenty-seven, robust, joyful

Bert- a young neighborhood boy, extremely playful, likes to play cops and detectives

Act 1

• First few to be introduced are the men; their conversation

retained nothing of mild importance; Keller states that he’s more interested in society wants than in the daily news

• Keller cites how communal respect to a questionable occupation has changed: “in my day, there was no such thing…either you were a layer, or a doctor, or your worked a shop”

• Mentions Larry Keller; his tree has fallen down, a victim to vicious gales

• Frank reads horoscopes and tells Keller about how Kate has asked him to figure out whether the day Larry reported missing was a favorable day; find out if Larry has really died

• Jim and Frank get in a spit fight as Jim attacks Frank about his horoscope readings

• Jim alludes to Ann Deever, whose father previously had own and lived in Jim’s house

• Sue interrupts the men’s conversation with an announcement that Jim’s patient is on the phone; she is very serious and distant

to her husband; there is no apparent sign of love or affection between them

• Her mention of “ten dollars”- concludes that money and finance is one of her priorities

• Lydia comes in, after which Sue leaves  briefly mentions to Keller about Anne’s previous love, the late Larry Keller

• Bert runs in and reports to Keller, doing his “police” duties; he also wants to see a jail in Keller’s house

• Keller is anxious over Kate’s possible reaction to the overturned tree; Chris interrupts and clarifies that Kate has already seen the fallen tree while sleepwalking outside at four in the morning • Kate has shown similar abnormal behavior before [after Larry’s

death]

• Chris wants to confess to her mother about Larry’s death; he believes she will prove to be an obstacle during his proposal to Annie Deever because she highly acclaims that Ann will remain faithful and wait for Larry

• Chris denounces his frequent retreat from getting things that he wants

• Keller plays on Chris’s characteristic and tries to persuade him not to provoke Kate with the news; he picks on Chris’s lack of charisma for other women and constantly states Kate’s instability • Chris hints at the possibility of his leaving the town to marry Ann;

Keller is distraught at this and manages to placate Chris

• Kate enters the scene; Chris goes to retrieve the potatoes that Keller thought were garbage

• Kate begins mumbling about how everything seems to happen that month, about Larry

• She recalls her dream about Larry suddenly plunging from the sky and then reprimands Keller for planting a tree in Larry’s remembrance too soon [she completely denies that Larry is dead]

• Kate questions Keller about Ann’s sudden reappearance; she still believes that Ann is waiting for Larry

• Keller refutes Kate’s belief

• Kate links Anne’s reappearance with the broken tree and alludes that Larry might not be dead; she insists that Keller believe it and that he, of all people, must keep faith (foreshadowing)

• Kate shuns Bert away, outraged at Keller’s promoting a “jail business”

• Anne goes admiring her old home and meets Doc. Bayliss; she has reminiscences

• Anne is astounded when she discovers that Larry’s clothes and shoes are all shined

• Anne and Kate argue over doubts of Larry’s survival

• Anne has zero-tolerance for her father---she does not care much if he gets off on parole or not

• Readers find out about the exculpation of Keller and the conviction of Deever

• Keller praises his hypocritical action to Anne and tells her to tell Deever (estranged father) about what he said

• Kate urges Anne to be silent about her belief that her father may have murdered Larry; she still cannot accept his death

• Keller tries to coax Chris and Anne to stop blaming and condemning Deeverhe hid the cracks in a large batch of cylinder heads

• Keller exits into his house, out of the scene; Chris and Ann

intimately chat about their previous years; they are obviously in love

• Chris clarifies his reluctance of openly loving Anne; he was ashamed of living for himself when thousands of men died for each other at war

• Keller interrupts and notified Anne that he brother has called • Keller seems peeved and unnerved asks Chris if Anne came

back with other intentions

• He is extremely pragmatic and has done everything to gain a corpulent fortune and win what he desires

• Keller wants Chris to declare that he is not ashamed of his father’s money

• Anne announces that her brother, George, will be coming

• Katie cautions Keller to be careful- a feel of great apprehension and suspense- Is there more to Keller?

Act 2

• Kate brings snacks and expresses her worries to Chris: is there a possibility of reinvestigating the case?

• Chris and Anne have yet to tell Kate about their engagement • Sue enters and talks to Anne; Doc. Bayliss has gone to pick up

George; she asks that Anne and Chris move away from town because “Chris makes people want to be better than it’s possible to be”

• Sue’s true intentions and feelings are unraveled when she vents out how she abhors living near the Keller family (the “holy” family)

• Anne is disturbed by Sue; she asks for an answer from Chris about his father’s innocence

• Keller has grown fearful of George’s arrival; he desperately wants Anne to accept Deever, as he is dreading the chance of his son realizing his part in the crime

• George comes with vengeance on his mind; he castigates Chris and his father, Keller

• George exposes the truth: Keller had convinced Steve that he would take responsibility for the defections, then committed perjury

• George questions Chris and his conscience

• He temporarily dismisses the problem when Kate and Lydia enters the scene

• He grows affectionate when he sees Lydia ( an old flame) but he had given up the chance of being with her for his ideals

• Keller comes out and chats with a cold George---finds out that Deever is not a vengeful man who hates all people who profited from war

• George is cunning--- he tries to win George over by recalling Deever’s past---fire incident and faulty stock playing--- Deever--- “a man that never learns to take the blame”

• Keller purposefully incriminates Deever to prove his innocence • Kate’s slow-given assurance about Keller’s flu during the war

again sparks suspicion in George---Keller excuses Kate’s and his behavior to forgetfulness---doesn’t quite convince George

• Frank abruptly comes running in and shows Kate Larry’s horoscope- he claims that Larry couldn’t have died on his “favorable” day---this will jeopardize Chris’s engagement

• George, Chris, Anne, and Kate glower and scream at each other, Kate and George telling Anne to leave, with Chris refusing her absence

• Kate urgently slaps Keller and demands Chris to let go of Anne--- she insists that they wait in time for Larry’s return

• Chris is bewildered and infuriated- Kate finally blows the covers and exposes Keller’s nefarious deed----“ God does not let a son be killed by his father”

• Keller, horrified and devastated, tries in vain to hold onto Chris; Chris is mortified at his father’s guilt and selfishness and leaves his father half-dead and chanting for transparent hope

• Keller rationalizes that he did the business all for his son---to him, the individual is what stands above all else---“the ends justify the means” is consistently his life motto

• Jim appears and chats with the waiting Kate; he politely asks her about what happened, then tells Kate he has always known about the true face of crime

• Jim explains to Kate that Chris will come back, a changed man however, a man who can stand to dote on lies rather and sacrifice his duties as a man to his obligations as a son

• Keller comes out and still thinks that there is some hope left to avoid his due punishment; he fusses over Anne and Jim,

appearing almost mad with conviction

• Keller’s dreams has completely disintegrated; his son has left his side, his wife has acknowledged his fate

• Kate quietly pleads with Keller to admit his crime to Chris, to tell the truth, to say he’s willing to go to prison for what he has done • Keller’s temper fumes again and rants about his dedication to his

family and the roughness of society and reality justification for his actions

• Keller then puts all his faith into deceased Larry, claiming that Larry would never act as Chris has, that he would fully appreciate what his father has done

• Ann exits out of the house and confronts both Keller and Kate--- she does not have the heart to convict Keller, but she wishes for Kate to tell Chris Larry’s dead

• Kate utterly refuses; Ann, with no more options, shows her Larry’s last letter

• Chris returns and tells his mother he’s leaving and never returning---he is “practical”

• Chris surrenders and shouts out to Ann that the world is “a zoo” • Keller enters the scene and grabs for Chris; Chris pushes he

away

• Keller labels his decision as the practical way; Chris does not rebuke but simply states that he thought Keller was better than “other men”

• Keller answers Kate that he’s going to the police station, as he has no hopes of redemption from any of his sons they’re reaching for a goal and ideal that is not part of his world • “All My Sons”--- the nation and humanity

• Keller commits suicide inside the house and Chris and Kate moan Important:

• Joe Keller: though may not be fully at fault for imprecisely

• Wartime racketeering and merciless pursuits of business profits to the exclusion of the human decency are part and parcel of the American capitalist system

• Though insisting that he was thinking for his family---first though was keep his business

• Poor reflection on the profit orientation of the capitalism

• Draws a distinction b/w men who are easily pressured and men who can stand up for themselves and make a difficult choice in a bad situation

• “the little man” who the hero patronizingly defends turns out to be like the hero

• nuclear family was truly the nucleus of a man’s world

• does not understand that actions o f this small cog do have implications far wider than he can see with his own eyes • Keller’s individual or family values: misguided, ignorant and

destruction in raltioan to larger social and culture values

• Kate: prefers to believe that there are forces outside her control —astrology or God’s choice that ultimately dictate life or death more than individual choices do

• Knows about Keller’s guilt

• Forcing her son, Larry, to stay alive in order to allowed herself to continue living with her husband in some acceptable way—

mother’s self deception

• Keller: nothing more important than family

• Chris: man for men; the responsibility for humanity

• “All My Sons”: all people have an obligation to society to value everyone’s son as though they were their own---“universalism”