All my sons & Greek tragedy terms & Social contract theory

who is Joe Keller?

The dad to Chris and Larry, and the husband to Kate. He is a strong, self-made business leader, respected and popular among his neighbors and family, a personification of the postwar American Dream.

Who is Kate Keller?

Kate is a loving, simple, domesticated mother (to Chris and Larry), as much a part of the mid-twentieth-century American Dream as her successful businessman husband (Joe). She believed Larry was still alive and that Annie was Larry’s girl.

Who is Chris Keller?

Joe and Kate's son and Larry's brother. Chris commanded a company during the war and now works in Joe's business. Chris wants to marry Ann Deever, Larry's former girlfriend, and does not support Kate's denial of Larry's death.

Who is Larry Keller?

Larry was Joe's oldest son. The audience does not learn too many details about Larry; the character dies during the war, and the audience never meets him - no flashbacks, no dream sequences. However, we do hear his final letter to his girlfriend.

Who is Ann Deever?

Chris's fiancée, formerly a girlfriend of Larry's before the war. Annie has not spoken to her father (Steve) since his conviction for his involvement in the manufacturing fiasco.

Who is George Deever?

Ann's older brother: a successful New York lawyer, WWII veteran, and a childhood friend of Chris's. He initially believed in his father's guilt, but upon visiting Steve in jail, realizes his innocence and becomes enraged at the Kellers for deceiving him.

Who is Dr.Jim Bayliss?

A successful doctor, but is frustrated with the stifling domesticity of his life. He wants to become a medical researcher, but continues in his job as it pays the bills. He is a close friend to the Keller family and spends a lot of time in their backyard.

Who is Sue Bayliss?

Jim's wife: needling and dangerous, but affectionate. She too is a friend of the Keller family, but is secretly resentful of what she sees as Chris's bad idealistic influence on Jim. Sue confronts Ann about her resentment of Chris in a particularly volatile scene.

Who is Frank Lubey?

A Keller family friend. He did not serve in the war because he was a year ahead of the draft. He married George Keller's high school sweetheart, Lydia. Frank is writing a horoscope for Larry at Kate's request to find out if the day he went missing was a favourable day.

Who is Lydia Lubey?

Frank Lubey's wife and neighbor to the Keller's. She is George's former girlfriend.

Who is Bert?

A young boy in the neighborhood who plays a game with Joe about locking up criminals in the Keller's basement.

Tragedy:

Greek) A play in which the protagonist, usually a man of importance and outstanding personal qualities, falls to disaster through the combination of a personal failing and circumstances with which he cannot deal. It is a serious drama that typically describing a conflict between the protagonist and a superior force (as destiny) and has a sorrowful or disastrous conclusion that elicits pity or terror.

Tragic Hero Definition:

 The term hero is derived from a Greek word that means a person who faces adversity, or demonstrates courage, in the face of danger. However, sometimes he faces a downfall as well. When a hero confronts his downfall, he is recognized as a tragic hero or protagonist.

What is meant when the tragic hero has hamartia?

a tragic flaw

What is meant when the tragic hero has hubris?

excessive pride

Who is the Tragic Hero in All My Sons?

Joe Keller

Anagnorisis:

Aristotle's term describing the point in the plot (climax), especially of a tragedy, when a character experiences understanding; the point in the play when the protagonist recognizes or verbalizes his or her tragic error or some other character's true identity or discovers the true nature of his or her own situation.

In what scene does Joe Keller experience anagnorisis?

The moment when Joe realizes that he is why Larry is dead.

Peripeteia:

In a tragedy, sudden reversal of fortune from good to bad.

In what scene does peripeteia occur?

When Chris goes into the house and comes out to fall into his mother's arms letting us know that Joe has killed himself. It is a heart wrenching scene in which a family trying to cope with one loss suffers another.

Catastrophe:

The final event of the dramatic action especially of a tragedy, The problem often spirals outwards and causes suffering to the hero and people he/she loves or wants to protect.

What is the play’s catastrophe?

Joe Keller, a manufacturer of war materials, whose substandard and defective airplane parts cause the death of his own son and other fliers during World War II.

Catharsis:

• Purification or purgation of the emotions (as pity and fear) primarily through art; Aristotle's concept that tragedy, by arousing pity and fear (eleos and phobos), regularizes and shapes the emotions, and that therefore tragedy is essential in a civilized society.

• Joe’s death was the only outcome possible for the play remaining characters to move on. The audience, having shared this experience with them, now experiences catharsis.

Dramatic Irony:

Incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result; incongruity between a situation developed in a drama and the accompanying words or actions that is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play —called also tragic irony.

Verbal Irony:

The use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning.

What are the three types of Unities?

• Unity of Time

• Unity of Place

• Unity of Action

Unity of Time: 

The action of the play should represent the passage of no more than one day.

Unity of Place:

The setting of the play should be one location.

Unity of Action:

No action or scene in the play is to be a digression; all actions contribute directly in some way to the plot.