keller analysed quotes

• 'a man whose judgement must be dregded out of experience and a peasant-like common sense. A man among men.' pg6 


  Backgrounds lacks education - unlike his son Chris.

  Decision making is influenced by life experiences rather than theoretical knowledge or abstract reasoning, judgement rooted in wisdom he has gained over time.

  'a man among men' status, embodies masculinity, relatable and approachable to other men.
• 'well thats what a war does. i had two sons, now i got one. it changled all the tallies.' pg11


  Unlike Mother, Keller has accepted the death of his son.

  Detached short declarative = emotional break from the death, cannot face it?

  Bitter tone.
• 'i ignore what i gotta ignore.' pg16


  Ignorance, abreast of his ignorance.

  Typical behaviour of a post war business man who profited from the tragedies of WWII.

  Burying head in the sand.

  Trait of avoidance + denial.

  Colloquial language.
• 'You got a business here, what the hell is this?' pg 17


  Kellers mind does not spread past the business, he doesn't understand his son.

  His American dream does not align with Chris's.

  Materialism of America.

  Link to religion 'hell' emphasises Kellers dislike of Chris's american dream.
• 'I can afford another bag of potatoes.' pg18


  Wealth - throwing away the potatoes,

  Wastefulness provides an interesting contrast to his crime of saving machine parts (which actually were garbage) and selling them to the military.

  Twisted world view, altered by business + capatalism.
• 'Calm yourself... calm yourself... all right, all right, calm yourself.' pg 22 


  Mother poses a risk to Keller as she knows the truth, his paranoia shines in moments when they are alone together.

  Triadic repitition.

  Feminist lens = silencing women, he believes his wife to be instable due to her maternal insticts / grieving child that he lacks. She has no escape, whilst he can throw himself into business.
• Kellers speach 'listen...but very slow, and with a smile...bigger than ever' pg30


  He retells returning from jail like a performance, soaking up the attention. Minor / fragmented sentances. Gains a pleasure from retelling the moment - as though he had won.

  Wanting the whole neighbourhood to see him return.

  Hubristic language. Came out of it like a celebrity.
• 'Kid, walkin' down the street that day I was guilty as hell. Except I wasn't, and there was a court paper in my pocket to prove I wasn't, I and I walked… past… the porches. Result? Fourteen months later I had one of the best shops in the state again, a respected man again; bigger than ever. ' pg30


  Hubris - his excessive pride shining through.

  Materialism in the value of the piece of paper, what matter to him is the material success, it is the ultimate goal. Doesnt matter what is lost / destroyed in the process. Superlatives.
• 'The beast. I was the beast.' pg30


  Zoomorphism. Looking for sympaphy.
• 'the man was a fool but don't make a murderer out of him.' pg32


  Litotes. In a sense it is self-receptive.

  Serves as a plea to avoid extreme condemnation of his won actions.

  Theme of forgiveness and understanding, in a twisted way due to the incenserity of Joe Keller saying it to protect himself.

  Context = MIller critiques war profiteering.
• 'see it human, see it human.' pg32


  Anaphora - trying to humanise himself through Steve.

  Desperation - twisted moral compass.

  Infantilization.
• 'little man... always scared of loud voices' 'if i could have gone in that day i'd a told him - junk em' '... little man does... alone he was afraid.' pg32


  Infantilizing steve = undermining autonomy to excuse Steves actions. Suggests a lack of accountability + independance, demeaning,

  'scared of loud voices' reinforces fear of authortity rather than challenging them and doing the moral action.

  Heightened emotion = convinced himself.

  Monosyllabic tone creates a sense of certainty in his lies - used for self-preservation. Lying is second nature to Joe.

  Irony
• 'thats a mistake... but it ain't murder.' pg33


  Litotis - soften his own actions.

  Reformulation = he is certain.
• 'its crazy, but it comes to my mind. She dont hold nothin' against me, does she?' pg37


  Shortened interrogatives = increasing paranoia. Threat is rising.

  Makes the audience question why? Miller causes the audience to lose sympaphy with Keller.

  He begins to turn against his loved ones, Miller represents the instability in avoidance and lies.
• 'im going to build you a house, stone, with a driveway from the road. I want you to spread out. Chris, I want you to use what I made for you...[he is close to him now]... i mean, with joy, Chris, without shame... with joy.'

  Sudden need to show affection, rising now that the truth is bubbling at the surface.

  Repitition of 'with joy' forms a meloncholic tone. Last hope.

  Anaphora. Materialism. Guilty conscoius, threatened relationship so is therefore over compensating.
• '[frightened, but angry]' pg40


  First showing of vulnerability. Subtle tension built by Miller.

  So attached to his status + has put everything into the lie that the truth would completely destroy Keller.
• MOTHER: 'he's worried. When he's worries he sleeps.' p41


  Miller could be making / subverting an intertextual references to Shakespear - sleep is for those with peace, yet Keller sleeps for his ignorance whilst MOTHER deals with the distress of not being able to sleep.

  Syntactic parralellism.
• 'there was a court paper in my pocket to prove I wasn't, I and I walked… past… the porches. Result?... a respected man again; bigger than ever. ' pg30



  Hubris - his excessive pride shining through.Materialism in the value of the piece of paper, what matter to him is the material success, it is the ultimate goal. Doesnt matter what is lost / destroyed in the process.

  Superlatives 'bigger than ever' - wider societal desire for material gain, suggests a lack of satisfaction in what one has.

  Miller suggetss capatalism breeds damaging and toxic competition.
• 'a little man makes a mistake and they hang him by the thumbs; the big ones become ambassadors.' pg63


  Juxtaposition of power 'little' 'big'

  Suggests Keller understands hierarchical nature of society yet does not reject it as he seeks becoming the 'big' man.

  ''Hang him...' suggets cruel, physical and emotional punishment: almost medieval form of torture = societal disregard for those without power and status.

  No one can prosper without becoming corrupt
• 'he never flew a p-40, whats the matter with you? whats the matter with you? whats the matter with you?... whats the matter with you! ' pg69


  Repitition, interrogatives lead into exclamative showing his loss of control.

  Disfunctioning, inability to form any other sentance.

  Miller represents how a moral breakdown links to breakdown of a person - the refusal of responsibility.

  Lack of social responsibility in only caring about whether his son was involved.
• 'you're a boy, what could i do! im in business, a man is in business,a hundred and twenty cracked , your out of business ... what could i do... let them take my life away?' pg69


  Fighting to defend himself - selfish as he allowed his partner to go down for it.

  Business orientated - business / peoples life.

  Euphemism for business = 'my life', they are blended.

  Another level of selfishness + inhumanity that horrorifies chris
• 'you wanted money, so i made money. what must i be forgiven? you wanted money, didnt you?' pg76

  See's no wrong with actions.

  Heavy use of 'money' forefront of his mind. Infiltrated with an monetary obsession + outlook on life.

  He feels betrayed, she enjoyed the fruits of his crime: prefer comfortability over morality.
• 'Chris, a man can't be a Jesus in this world!' pg83

  Shift to exclamative = peripeteia

  Miller shows after Keller death that the world would be a better place if people tried to be a little more like Jesus - selfless, truly caring and putting others before themselves.

  Desperation and holding on to himself into the denotation.
• 'Sure, he was my son. But i think to him they were all my sons.' pg83


  He finally understands and owns the larger repercussions of his actions.

  This is a collective, societal story, in the death of 21 pilots others sons have died.

  Magnitude of his crime: horrified.
• 'im his father and he's my son, and if theres something bigger than that i'll put a bullet in my head!' pg 77 


  Prolepsis. There is something bigger than that: the pilots were all his son essentially.

  He cannot stand the guilt and pain, here he is not yet fully aware.

  Suicide = cowardice / selfish act?

  Family theme.
• 'a shot is heard in the house' pg84

  Kellers suicide = cowardice / selfish.
• 'the man was a fool but don't make a murderer out of him' pg 32


  Past tense declarative portraying Kellers hubristic nature, critiqing former partner whilst effectively encapsulating himself as the hero.

  Imperitive emphasises desire to be heard, links to Miller quote about Keller being 'understandable but unacceptable.'

  Justify own actions.
• 'see it human, see it human.' pg32


  Repitition reiterates his desperation to be understood but also delays thought process.

  Morals being human does not justify actions, should have social responsibility.
• 'that happens, thats the business... he's a little man, your father, always scared of loud voices.' pg32


  Nonchalant declarative shows Keller undermining the importance of social responsibiltiy and hold of moralistic views.

  Refers to the ignorance of American society as excuse of business = the norm.

  Semantic field of timidity and cowardice - subconsciously describing himself?
• 'im older than you and i know - a daughter is a daughter and a father is a father.' pg49


  Kellers insecurity showing - fear of loosing Chris like Steeve lost Ann.

  Nature of familial bonds - syntactic patterning suggests the roles are fixed and immutable, regardless of circumstance.

  fathers = protectors and prividers

  implications of unconditional love and responsibility transceding any family conflicts, fighting it so he doesnt loose his family himself.

  Deflection and justification of own actions.
• '[a commanding outburst in his high nervousness]: a father is a father! [as though the outburst has revealed him, he looks about, wanting to retract it]' pg49


  tensions are high for keller, he is losing his stability in role as a father that he committs his life to.

  kellers tight grip on father role justifies his actions

  family,
• Keller exits, “slamming” the door with “hopeless fury”. His inexplicable frustration makes it evident that he has done something to be ashamed of, and that George’s arrival only means that he will have to be a lot more cautious to ensure his secret remains undisclosed.