Mother can be perceived as being superstitious when she states that she has ‘got such a funny pain on the top of’ her head. This strange symptom may be a premonition, a sure sigh that Larry is returning home. Mother’s manipulation is manifested when she uses blackmail in order to highlight her point-blank refusal of Larry’s death-‘Because if he’s not coming back, then I’ll kill myself!’ This emphatic threat distinctly marks her absolute denial of Larry’s death and shows that she is irrational and insistent.
Her obsession with Larry is a perennial theme of this play. The fact that it ‘is Larry’s birthday’ in the month that the play is set, the fact that ‘his tree blows down, Annie come. Everything seems to be coming back’ clearly demonstrates something dramatic is going to happen. ‘Everything that has happened seems to be coming back’ is proleptic as this can be a metaphor for the past turmoil and emotional epiphany that the main protagonists endured. Furthermore, this is insinuating the idea that the false pleasantness will enfold into a catastrophe that will ultimately catalyse the self-destruction of the Keller family.
Mother is highly manipulative when she praises Ann for maintaining her faith in Larry after such as long time-‘faithful as a rock. In my worst moments I think of her waiting and I know again that I am right.’ Here, Mother is blatantly denying the truth to herself as well her family. As a consequence, this makes Mother seem cowardly as she does not face up to the atrocious wrongdoings committed by her husband. Moreover, Mother is a symbol of weak willed, passive America who did not acknowledge and face up to the reality of the insidious corruption that enveloped the whole nation during the 1940s and 1950s period and act of obliterating humanity in dropping atomic bomb on Nagasaki in Japan. Both America and Mother are disturbed and sick at heart as they ignored everything in order to fabricate a falsely secure image to barricade herself and her family. The only way that mother can deal with her guilt is by obsessing about Larry and be perpetually in denial.
During the interlude in which Keller plays detective with Bert, Mother is uproared and immediately orders Keller to stop talking about jail-‘I want you to stop that jail business.’ The repetition of ‘there’s no jail her!’ evidently illustrates how paranoid she is. Miller has included this interlude to raise suspicion in the audience’s minds. From the stage direction-‘She is shaken. Her speech is bitten off, extremely urgent,’ the audience can recognises that she is very scared of bringing up the past. This implies that she knows the full extent of Keller’s wrongdoings and therefore knows that he is guilty.
Mother’s vindictive, two-faced nature is reflected in the speech where she criticizes Ann by saying-‘You gained a little weight.’ Mother is portrayed as being extremely manipulative as she sets Ann up in Larry’s room. His old room is described like a shrine as ‘the shoes are all shined’ and all of his clothes are ‘hang up.’ Mother here is portrayed as putting Larry on a pedestal. This further confirms her belief that Larry will return.
Again and again, she shifts the conversation back towards Larry when the conversation approaches dangerously towards the revelation of the truth. Her incessant persuasion directed at Ann in wanting her to conjure up the old feelings towards Larry can be also expressing her manipulative and forceful nature-‘You-remember him, he’s still in your thoughts.’ This makes her very dominant and pivotal in development of the plot. Her obsession with the belief that Larry is alive is further augmented when she says ‘Deep, deep in your heart you’re always waiting for him.’ Her manipulation is shown as she desperately tries to persuade Ann to agree with her preposterous belief.
When Ann asks Mother why she still firmly believes that Larry is not dead, Mother’s reply is very short and succinct-‘Because he has to be.’ She extends her point by saying –‘Because certain things have to be, and certain things can never be, ‘ as ‘there’s God, so certain things can never happen.’ What is implied in this important speech is that Mother thinks that a father can never kill his son therefore Keller cannot have killed Larry.
Mother’s use of emphatic, vociferous exclamations-‘What you father did had nothing to do with Larry. Nothing,’ ‘As long as you’re here!’ ‘ Put that out of your head!’ These fierce exclamations show how paranoid Mother is, as she feels great guilt; on the other hand, this could simply indicate the sheer loyalty she has for her husband. In keeping up with the burdening and laborious task of hiding truth for more than 3 years, Mother has remained perpetually loyal to her family and to Keller. As a result, this can be interpreted as her sincere ‘overwhelming capacity for love.’ Being the keybearer of the locked dark secret makes Mother a pivotal character who is omnipotent and fully in control.
Mother’s refusal to allow Chris to marry Ann is evident when she proclaims –‘He’s not going to marry her.’ This firm and absolute statement shows how adamant she is. If Mother approved of Ann and Chris’s love, then she would have to accept Larry’s death and ultimately the soul destroying truth that Keller killed twenty one pilots as well as her own beloved son. As a consequence, this strengthens the importance of Mother’s role in this play.
At the end of Act One, having heard the news that George is on his way, Mother is transformed into a state of high anxiety and fear-‘Suddenly he takes an airplane from New York to see him. An airplane.’ The repetition of ‘airplane’ puts emphasis on George’s urgency in visiting Steve in prison, consequently speed travel hints that Steve had something colossal and of immense importance to impart to his son. The further application of –‘Be smart’ directed at Keller is used by Mother as a warning as she knows that George will inevitably confront Keller and dig up the terrible truth before ‘there’d be nothing left but’ Steve’s smell. The use of short snappy sentences are employed here by Miller for effect as it generates immense tension thus producing an atmosphere of uncertainty, chaos and consternation. The stage direction-‘Mother sits in a chair downstairs, stiffly staring, seeing’ ends the first act on an ominous striking note. The powerful use of alliteration here indicates Mother is envisaging the unthinkable; Keller killing his own son.
The audience sees Mother’s vulnerability when she says solemnly-‘We’re dumb, Chris. Dad and I are stupid people.’ This implies that Keller and mother alike are naïve and cowardly as they escape from their problems rather than dealing with them directly.
At the end of the play, Mother declares-‘Forget now. Live.’ This simple, ambivalent and dramatic sentence acts as a release for Ann and Chris as the death of Keller enables them to start afresh and provides hope for their future. This gives Mother huge authority over Ann and Chris as she allows them to start a new life devoid of burdens and destructive lies. Additionally, the death of Keller represents America eventually taking part in the War effort and contributing to WW2 by helping the Allies to fight the Germans.
In portraying Mother’s obstinate denial, Miller is bringing across the message that she and America alike have to share moral responsibility for the crimes that they have committed and that they need to act morally and truthfully in order to rid of the corruption of the American society. All in all, Miller has created an extremely manipulative woman in the form of Mother, who is crucial and central in the development of the plot of the play.
