All My Sons by Arthur Miller
(a) Explain how Arthur Miller makes this moment in his play All My Sons so dramatic.
Refer to Extract 6 for passage
In his play All My Sons, Arthur Miller makes the moment of George Deever’s arrival highly dramatic through the sense that a crisis looms for the Kellers and is then narrowly avoided. Hostility is reduced to calm and jovial equanimity through Kate Keller’s maternal dominance and controlling nature, and this in turn ensures that the threat posed by George is negated. At first, the interactions between Chris and George are adversarial as Chris repudiates the truth George asserts. Kate Keller resists Chris too, though in a very different way, which is ultimately successful in nullifying George and the threat he represents to the false reality of Joe Keller’s innocence.
The initial interactions in this passage create a hostile atmosphere that arises from the clash between George Deever and Chris Keller. George has arrived to insist that Ann does not marry Chris because Joe’s guilt, or, more particularly, Joe’s dishonesty about his guilt, resulted in their father’s imprisonment and the destruction of their family. Chris insists that George “won’t say anything now.” He intends to marry Ann and, more importantly, has systematically suppressed any doubts about his father’s innocence. Miller has George speak past him to Ann, “you’re coming with me,” he says, and again, “you’re coming with me.” This repetition in his dialogue conveys his tenacity and suggests that he’s unlikely to desist. His challenge to Chris is part of a larger challenge to the false reality in which the Keller’s have been living, a reality in which Joe is innocent. Kate has protected this reality for years and proceeds to do so again now.