Joe Keller All My Sons Character Analysis

All My Sons, is a play about personality, and how experiences and expectations drive personal choices throughout people’s lives. No scene shows this better than Keller convincing George of his innocence, and then losing it at all by a slip of tongue from his own wife. This scene is crucial, because it is when Keller finally feels as if he has recaptured control of his life, and everything will go exactly as plan. But his wife’s mistake means he has to deal with a reality he had hoped to avoid. Through rising the spirits of the characters in this scene, and the accidental telling of a closely guarded secret by Keller’s wife, which in turn reveals her subconscious feelings, does Miller make the fall of Joe Keller so great by revealing his expectations, wants, and in the end, his reality. Joe Keller, while not book smart, is no fool within this play, and he can see that George visiting his father will likely create a confrontation between the two. This thought is given even more credence at the revelation of George taking an

An implicit call back to the line, “… see everyone hung before they’ll take blame” (136). Keller’s wants have been subverted by a chance line, or Freudian slip, from his wife. Superficially, Joe and Kate have the same desire, a return to peace and stability within their household, but subconsciously, Kate desires to reveal the truth. This is most likely because she blames Joe for Larry’s death, as indicated in a quote further on into the play, “Your brother’s alive, darling, because if he’s dead, your father killed him” (139). And now, with Kate revealing the truth in front of George, their fragile home life is irreparably destroyed. The expectation Keller clung to and that he hoped he could keep going, ad infinitum, is certainly lost, and now he has to face