'All My Sons' reading journal, act two

At the beginning of the act, So much more is said about George before he actually appears on-stage, which, just as it did for Annie in act 1, fills me with desperation and curiosity to see him, in particular the comments " George is just a damn fool, Mother" and "There's blood in his eye". These suggest that George will come bringing strong conflict, but Chris thinks this will all be pointless. He thinks that his arguments will have no sense or relevance. Speaking of Chris, we learn something about him, which makes him very comparable to the Mother: He is hedonistic. This is evident the Mother says to him "You think just because you like everybody, they like you!" - he has trapped himself into thinking that everyone around him is good, and that nothing can be bad, much like the Mother's thoughts on Larry returning. Reality is against both of them. A striking phrase, however is "the sicker they get the longer they live". I sense tragedy in this sentence because it suggests that rather than dieing peacefully, a person has to keep on living with pain and suffering, and the strength of this only increases as they get more and more ill. Peaceful rest is not an option.

In my reading journal of act 1, I discussed that the writer had had included many pieces of stage direction and dialogue that provided an opportunity for irony to occur later in the story. Now, I think that I have found an example of this coming to life. Sue says to Ann "Men are like little boys; for the neighbors they'll always cut the grass." to which Ann replies with "People like to do things for the Kellers. Been that way since I can remember." It is the mention of little boys and doing things for the Kellers: When Bert appeared in act 1, although of a jokey nature, He was acting as the police officer of the street for Joe, which was doing something for the Kellers. Where Ann says that things have been like this for as long as she can remember, it is as if this cycle has been going for a long time. Theory was put to life earlier in the play. Next, once more, conflict is present. This time, it is wealth v.s. personality. Ann wants to by with Chris purely because he "relaxes", which poses a sweet, loving nature. However, Sue points out that "And he's got money. That's important" This poses the question, however: What, out of those two options, is more important? Once more, this action takes place in the Keller property: even the neighbours cannot avoid bickering in this territory. Sue does have a method of distancing herself from this, however, by making a comparison between her house and the Keller's: "...Living next door to the Holy Family. It makes me look like a bum..." - she thinks that, because of Kate's (Mother) Religious beliefs, they appear as if they are a better family than her own. However, I would disagree with this because of what I commented on in my journal of act one. Religion has cause Kate to become trapped in her own optimistic (and hedonistic, in the sense that she is pleasing herself only) bubble, away from society. Sue's family, however are aware of what is taking place around them, and they can develop with it, unlike the Kellers, who have "put their lives on hold" as Joe earlier commented.

Elements of Chris' hedonistic nature again crop up, to Ann's displeasure. He comments that Sue is a "great nurse", prompting Ann to criticise and obliterate his personal bubble: "As soon as you know somebody you find a distinction for them... She despises you!". However, is this Chris' way of dealing with loss? to create his own world, in order to escape the tragedy or the reality that surrounds him? Speaking of which, Joe then makes some interesting, yet tragic comments about the real world and how it will affect him - "everybody's gettin' so goddam educated in this country they'll be nobody to take away the garbage". Joe was earlier described as an "uneducated man", so this suggests that the world will continue to develop and progress around him; society will continue to develop and progress around him; humankind will continue to develop and progress around him, so where does that leave him? Tragedy, because of his limited knowledge, I would think that continuing with the path that society takes would be too much for him to interpret. Also, despite his lack of education, it appears that Joe always has good intentions for his family and those close to him; "I could set George up here..." is proof of this. However, tragedy occurs later when his kind gestures are shattered, even worse, not only by George, whose arrival is now upon us. the stage directions that come with his arrival suggests a shaken-up character, clinging on to emotional turbulence ('...afraid to find himself screaming', '...forced appreciation), which suggests that George's presence is one to be cautious of. When he does speak, he speaks of the tragedy that exists in the current society, in particular "outside there doesn't seem to be a law" which suggests that society has become care-free, leaving those who where meant to be dealt with, undealt with, and "On the telephone you can't have responsibility" meaning that advances in technology have lead to a decline in human decency. However, George himself, we learn, almost faced a tragic birth, as revealed by Kate: "The day you were born and the water got shut off..." Society, on that day, appeared to be collapsing, which could partially explain his uneasy presence (I say partially because of his suspicions of the Keller family and there involvement in putting his farther, Steve, in prison).

The overly depressing nature of George's past doesn't end there, however. We learn that George dismissed the idea of marrying Lydia, only now, to regret doing so ("I told you to marry that girl"). Irritatingly, Kate enhances his already tragic presence by adding insult to injury when the stage directions indicate that she is 'in pursuit of this mood' as if she doesn't just want to leave his regrets standing alone; she wants to rub them in the dirt and then on his face. All of this negativity is soon met with a slither of comedy, where Joe says "I wear the pants ans she beats me with the belt", when talking of Kate. We can tell that, is performed on stage, this line would probably trigger a comic response from an audience. However, the subtext of this is fortunately true - Kate is far more dominant and intelligent than Joe, so, tragically, he is forced to feed off of making a joke out of everything around him, which is his form of hedonism.

We have now been intrigued by two characters being talked of while they were offstage (Annie and George) and we are going to be interested even further by the Joe's upcoming comments on Steve, farther to George and Ann who is currently in jail. "he damn near blew us all up with that heater he left burning for two days without water. He wouldn't admit that was his fault, either...rather see everybody hung before they'll take blame", Suggest that he a is weak, cautious character whose actions have inflected tragedies and damage to reputations, but is Joe saying this to try and shift away George's suspicions of him? We soon learn that this was basically completely true. As well as this, it is at this point that my previous comments about opportunities for tragic irony take on another interpretation - there have been so many sayings in this fashion throughout the story, so maybe this is intentionally a philosophical play. With this aside, optimism again has it's silver lining through the cloud when Frank enters 'briskly', carrying Larry's completed horoscope. Chris asks "Can't you pick a better time than this?" but the tragic reality of the situation is that there probably isn't ever a suitable time for this, in the Keller's land of conflict and forced emotion. The horoscope has revealed that November 25th was a "favorable day" for Larry, and that "a man won't die on his favorable day" After he leaves, as expected, conflict resumes. Optimism then appears in it's most violent, turbulent form yet when the stage directions indicate that Kate 'smashes' Joe 'across the face' after yet another bicker about Larry's existence. This is the level to which false hope has dragged her; she won't accept any other viewpoint. I have previously said that the Kellers have their own world of tragedy sealed off from the rest of society. The cause of this, however, is about to be heavily expanded.

Kate states to Chris that "God does not let a son be killed by his farther" giving the clearest indications that the accusations thrown at Joe earlier are true: it was him who caused 21 pilots to be killed because of selling faulty parts, and this may-well have included Larry, despite Joe's claims that "He never flew a P-40". However, it is his reason for selling the false parts in the first place that are truly tragic - "You lay forty years into a business and they knock out in five minutes, what could I do...", choosing the smooth-flow of his business over risking innocent lives, made even worse by the fact that he did it for good and considerate intentions - (to Chris) "I did it for you, it was a chance and I took it for you" - He thought he was doing a nice thing for his family, but the results were catastrophic to the world outside of there family, and Chris interprets this intended act of kindness as being selfish and against humanity - "Don't you have a country? Don't you live in the world?". The tragic ending of this act is clear: conflict surrounds the Kellers, and it doesn't matter if you lie or not.