AMS Superquotes Act 2

‘He’s worried. When he’s worried he sleeps. [pauses. looks into his eyes] We’re dumb, Chris. Dad and I are stupid people. We Don’t know anything. You’ve got to protect us.’ - Mother, p.41

worried - syntactic parallelism for emphasis

manipulative proxemic

modal obligation seeking pathos from Chris

responsibility, transactional parenting, the education of the younger generation makes them indebted to their parents

monclausal sentences - panic, peripeteaic

‘You don’t realise how people can hate, Chris, they can hate so much they’ll tear the world to pieces’ - Mother, p.42

anadiplosis for emphasis

self referential

tear - dynamic, layers, repairable, America, reduction - Steve=little, slow, torture, punishment

apocalyptic, religious

‘But if Chris wants people to put on the hair shirt let him take off his broadcloth.’ - Sue, p.45

fronted conjuction

pentetance vs wealth - hypocrisy

idealism is unrealistic/impossible when everyone is guilty in one way or another

morally performative

‘a father is a father’ - Keller, p.49

repeated refrain

Ann+steve vs Chris+joe

no logical justification for his hamartia

resorting to patriarchal rank

simplicity of capitalism, myopic demand for loyalty

tautology

‘You don’t hate us, George, I know you, you can’t fool me, I diapered you.’ - Mother, p.61

modal impossibility, capitalising on post war defeatism

family structure abuse, George is vulnerable

his mother’s physical absence in the play is symbolic of her emotional absence, justifying his need for Kate

she needs another young man in the house to replace Larry and continue to have a purpose within the household, she is desperate to shelter/protect George in ways she couldn’t with Larry

‘God does not let a son be killed by his father.’ - Mother, p.68

reference to Abraham + Isaac

also reference to Jesus, God puts Jesus on Earth to sacrifice himself for humanity

joe needs to die to redeem America

unmitigated declarative

hypocrisy

secularisation and religious disparity after tragedy

she’s lost her faith so needs to become an avenging angel on Larry’s behalf

‘If you’re going to hang me then I…’ - Keller, p.69

death is the only punishment he values, doesn’t care about the social consequences of his actions or the morality behind them

death is his acceptance of responsibility

martyrdom after repeated reference to sacrifice needing to be a conscious decision, in the war time sacrificing yourself for the preservation of others/the future.

repeated refrain ‘business’ - Keller, p.69

during dramatic monologue trying to justify his actions

embodiment of war profiteering

he views the loss of lives as another transaction - a fair swap

myopic

emphasis to reveal priority

pragmatism

‘I was dying every day and you were killing my boys and you did it for me?’ - Chris, p.70

evidence for Keller that death is the most significant sacrifice a person can make

p. 35 ‘killing themselves for eachother’ community as the greater cause, Miller’s socialist mouthpiece (more nuanced though because Miller highlights the flaws in idealism post war)

‘He asked me here and I’m staying till me tells me to go. [to George]

Till Chris tells me!’ - Ann , p.67

patriarchal dependency anchoring her to Chris despite obvious and inexcusable flaws in the family.

she has chosen stability over morality

ask = optional

go = imperative

trapped, at the complete whim of Chris