Second term

Final questions
 A) Answer the following questions:

2-What does mum tell Chris. About Steeve and George? what does she
worn Chris about?
She told him that Steeve kept saying in the court that Joe Keller is the one who
told him to ship the parts.
She told him that this family hated them maybe even Ann.
Mum told Chris that if they are going to open the case again she won’t live
through it. She asked Chris to protect them.

What was Sue complaining about?

-that her husband doesn’t support her enough, and she’s the one financing the
family

Why is Keller so eager to give Ann’s father work?

Keller wants to help Steve when he gets out of prison by giving him work. He
does this because he is afraid that Steeve, when he gets released from jail, may
try to prove his own innocence by telling exactly what happened during the war
on the shop floor of Keller’s factory. Keller believes that if he helps Steve by
giving him a job he will win him over and Steve will not try to do anything against
Joe.
Same when Joe offered to help George to have a job in town instead of new York
as Keller has many friends to help him with that

How could Kate comfort George and absorb his anger?

She offered him juice and was extremely nice to him, discussing his future

-Each character in the play has a different experience of blame. Discuss

Joe Keller tries to blame anyone and everyone for crimes during the war, first by
letting his partner go to jail. Later, when he is confronted with the truth, he
blames business practice and the U.S. Army and everyone he can think of--
except himself. When he finally does accept blame, after learning how Larry had
taken the blame and shame on himself, Keller kills himself. Chris, meanwhile,
feels guilty for surviving the war and for having money, but when the crimes are
revealed, he places the blame directly on his father's shoulders. He even blames
his father for his own inability to send him to prison. (He says he has become
“yellow” and his father has made him like that.)These are just a few examples of
the many instances of deflected blame in this story, and this very human impulse
is used to great effect by Miller to demonstrate the true relationships and power
plays between characters as they try to maintain selfrespect as well as personal
and family honour

-What secret is revealed at the end of Act 2?

Kate obliviously told Chris that Joe didn’t send the cylinder heads, if he did
that then he will be the one who killed Larry. This blew the lid on the truth
for Chris that Joe is the one responsible

-“Kate’s slip of tongue changed everything.” Explain.

Kate made a slip of tongue by mentioning the fact that her husband had never
been sick for fifteen years, she said, “He hasn’t been laid up in fifteen years.”
Keller then tried to correct her angrily reminding her of the day of sending the
cracked cylinder heads to the army. George noticed the lie that Joe Keller made
when he said that he was ill when the cracked heads were being sent and
couldn’t go to the factory. Although George’s suspicions about Joe Keller were
removed and he decided to spend the night nicely with the Kellers, now he
started accusing Keller again of deceiving his father and that he was the real
criminal. He asked Ann to come with him as he wouldn’t let her marry the son of
the man who destroyed their life. Kate was pleased to keep her away from Chris
and packed her bag, the matter which infuriated Chris and made him decide to
go ahead with the marriage. This would lead also Chris’s discovery that his father
was the real criminal later.

-Chris’s decision lead to Kate confession. Discuss.

Kate tells Chris that he will never marry Ann, as she is “Larry’s girl.” Chris says
he will marry Ann. Kate tells Chris, “Your brother’s alive, darling, because if he’s
dead, your father killed him. Do you understand me?” This is the possibility that
Kate has been trying to block out with her belief that Larry is alive.

-What excuse did Keller give for his crime?

Keller tried to find himself excuses for his crime saying that if he had refused to
send the cylinder heads to the army, he would be out of business as the army
would tear the contract which meant that he would lose all he had been building
for years. Keller said that he was too old to have another chance to start
business again. He also gave another excuse saying that he thought that the
mechanics would discover the cracks before fitting them into the planes, and that
they would send them back when he would have enough time to make other
good ones instead. He said that he did that all for Chris and Kate, the matter
which wasn’t accepted at all by Chris as he found all that not an excuse to
commit such a crime of causing the death of the twenty-one pilots

-All My Sons is a play about the past actions and consequences.

Discuss.
It is inescapable—to have done a fatal mistake and you think you can get away
with it forever.
Crimes can never be ignored or forgotten, they affect the future.
Most of the dialogue involves various characters discovering various secrets
about the recent history of the Keller family. Miller shows how these past secrets
have affected those who have kept them. The expose of the secrets is presented
as unavoidable--they were going to come out at some point, no matter what, and
it is through Miller's manipulation of the catalysts ( Anne coming to stay and
George’s arrival ) that the truths are all revealed on the same day. Whilst the
revelations are unavoidable, so are their fatal consequences.

-Idealism (moral principles) Vs Materialism (money making/business) is

one of the central conflicts in the play. Discuss.

The characters that represent best the idealistic point of view are Chris, Larry,
George and Ann. Each one of them believes that people should live according to
high moral principles, take responsibility for each other and be honest with
themselves.
Jim used to belong to this group when he did important medical research, but he
was forced to compromise and now he makes a living by treating wealthy
patients who don’t really need medical attention.
Each one of the characters makes a certain compromise except for Larry.
Chris compromises in two instances:
first he works in his family business and takes the money that was made in war.
Second, when he finds out about his father's crime, he doesn't want to bring him
to justice since it won't help the dead anyway.
-All the characters in the play tell lies and these lies have a devastating
effect on their lives.discuss.

To begin with, Kate lies to herself and her family when she tries to find signs that
show Larry is coming back from war. This lie ruins Kate's life and has a
distressing effect on Chris' life, who is unable to marry a woman he loves
because of it.
Joe lies about his involvement in the case with defective airplane parts. He
denies giving a direct order to make the shipment to the army and he lies about
being sick the day this shipment is made. Ultimately, this lie leads to Larry's
suicide and Joe's death when the true cause of Larry's death is revealed.
Ann withholds the truth about Larry's letter. Although she does it for good
reasons, her lie leads to Joe's suicide and eventually ruins any chance of her and
Chris' marriage. Chris lies to Ann when he tells her that the neighbors forgot
about her father being in jail.

. What does Ann believe about Larry's fate?

That he is dead, and she’s the only one holding the proof for that, which is the letter she
carries from him

What favor does Ann ask of Kate and why?

To let her marry Chris and in return she wouldn’t take any action regarding Joe’s
crime
How did Larry die, according to his letter
He crashed his plane by suicide, as he couldn’t take his father’s crime against
the pilots
B) Comment on the following:

- “When George goes home tell her to go with him”.

Said by kate to Chris as she refuses completely the idea of him and Ann being
married

- “We’re going to tell her tonight”

Chris’s promise to Ann to reveal their plan to get married to Kate.

-“My husband, Too hot to drive me to the beach. Men are like little boys...
for the neighbors they’ll always cut the grass”
Said by Sue to Ann as she resents her husband for not taking the responsibility
and not offering to help her

-” You’re not going to marry him.”

“Because his father destroyed your family. “
These words were said by George Deever to his sister Ann in the back yard of
the Keller’s house when he came back after meeting with his dad in prison and
learnt the truth and decided to take Ann away back with him.

-“ Don’t, dear. Don’t take it on yourself. Forget now. Live. “

These words were said by Kate to George trying to melt him and take him to her
side by reminding him of his childhood and how he used to love the family and
how she was like a mother to him.
Kate is very sly, very manipulative. With her magnetic maternal power, she
almost successfully persuades George into forgetting about the whole thing.
-“ He hasn’t been laid up in fifteen years.”
Kate said these words adding to Joe words when he said that he was never sick .
Although having voiced her uneasiness about George's visit and warning Joe to
be cautious, uncharacteristically utters out this statement. It directly contradicts
the lie Joe told years ago about his having the flu and being unable to go to the
factory to supervise the shipment with Steve. When she tries to cover her
mistake and explain herself, George doesn't believe her. The statement is crucial
because it opens the door to Joe's downfall. It is a dramatic turning point in the
drama, showing that the truth will come out no matter how people conceal it.

- “Your brother’s alive, darling, because if he’s dead, your father killed
him.”

These words were said by Kate To Chris. to keep the illusion that her son did not
die. She forbids anyone from facing the truth—not only the truth of his death but
worse yet, the truth of his father's part in causing it. With her exaggerated
feelings, she senses her husband's complicity in Larry's disappearance even
before Ann shares the letter he wrote.

-“Don’t you have a country? Don’t you live in the world?”

Chris said that to Joe Keller in the backyard of the Keller’s garden expressing his
outrageous feelings when he got sure that his father was the real criminal who
caused the death of the 21 pilots. This was the climax of action in the play and
the highest external conflict between. Chris could not believe that his ideal figure
did such a crime and found his idealism put into test. He accused his father of not
belonging to his country or rather to any human society. He accused him of being
less that an animal, as no animal kills its own babies. Chris exclaimed what he
should do to his father. He had to denounce him to the police, and show that he
was really an idealist and honest. That was an external conflict between idealism
represented in Chris and materialism represented in Joe Keller.