All My Sons - Characters and Roles
Summer Work - English
Joe Keller
Joe Keller, the falsely prosperous father figure in the play is responsible for faulty
machinery, consequently causing many deaths in the war. However, yet to publicly
admit his wrongdoing, he doesn’t seem to show any remorse about the incident to his
family or even outsiders, even though he lost his son in that same war. As the reader, we
automatically think he is, in many ways, the villain, contradicting his good-natured and
loving outlook, a personality that is caring and devoted. This villainous action had a
major impact on others’ lives too - not only those in the war, but his colleagues’, Steve,
who is now in prison and whose children have disowned him. His past mistakes haunt
his family’s future and dent their otherwise good reputation. Like his wife, Kate, Joe is
capable of living in denial and it’s not until the play’s conclusion that he faces his own
guilt. At the end of the play he argues that he committed the crime for his son, Chris, to
have an affluent life living off his business, but Chris doesn’t buy this story and his
loyalties stay lying with his fiance Ann.
Kate Keller
Kate Keller, the ‘deranged’ wife of Joe is portrayed as being mad and stuck in the past,
hinged on the idealism that her son Larry would come back home, even though she
knows he’s dead. She cannot move forward whilst her delusions are still fresh in mind
and her symptoms of grief promptly manifest into something deeper than simple
inability to cope with the loss of her son. Furthermore her outbreaks and chronic self-
denial suggest more complex problems, later confirmed by Dr. Jim Bayliss who
comments on her ‘state.’ In addition to her despair, she bears the burden of her
husband’s secret scandal in which he wrongfully imprisoned one of his employees, who
also happens to be the father of Larry’s and now Chris’s fiance, Ann. Because of this
heavy mental load, she suffers from insomnia and headaches, whilst her husband
presents a nonchalant facade to the world about the incident. Her fantasy for Larry’s
return is linked to her impossible ideology that their situation would improve on his
return so when those who loved him deny his possible appearance, it only consolidates
her issues and that the situation they are in is very much a reality.
Chris Keller
Chris is perhaps the most down-to-earth character in the play, devoted to his family, but
also his country and the war he fought in. He is not blinded by the ‘victory’ of the war
either; surprisingly, he resents his fathers’ business’ success during the war period,
Summer Work - English
Joe Keller
Joe Keller, the falsely prosperous father figure in the play is responsible for faulty
machinery, consequently causing many deaths in the war. However, yet to publicly
admit his wrongdoing, he doesn’t seem to show any remorse about the incident to his
family or even outsiders, even though he lost his son in that same war. As the reader, we
automatically think he is, in many ways, the villain, contradicting his good-natured and
loving outlook, a personality that is caring and devoted. This villainous action had a
major impact on others’ lives too - not only those in the war, but his colleagues’, Steve,
who is now in prison and whose children have disowned him. His past mistakes haunt
his family’s future and dent their otherwise good reputation. Like his wife, Kate, Joe is
capable of living in denial and it’s not until the play’s conclusion that he faces his own
guilt. At the end of the play he argues that he committed the crime for his son, Chris, to
have an affluent life living off his business, but Chris doesn’t buy this story and his
loyalties stay lying with his fiance Ann.
Kate Keller
Kate Keller, the ‘deranged’ wife of Joe is portrayed as being mad and stuck in the past,
hinged on the idealism that her son Larry would come back home, even though she
knows he’s dead. She cannot move forward whilst her delusions are still fresh in mind
and her symptoms of grief promptly manifest into something deeper than simple
inability to cope with the loss of her son. Furthermore her outbreaks and chronic self-
denial suggest more complex problems, later confirmed by Dr. Jim Bayliss who
comments on her ‘state.’ In addition to her despair, she bears the burden of her
husband’s secret scandal in which he wrongfully imprisoned one of his employees, who
also happens to be the father of Larry’s and now Chris’s fiance, Ann. Because of this
heavy mental load, she suffers from insomnia and headaches, whilst her husband
presents a nonchalant facade to the world about the incident. Her fantasy for Larry’s
return is linked to her impossible ideology that their situation would improve on his
return so when those who loved him deny his possible appearance, it only consolidates
her issues and that the situation they are in is very much a reality.
Chris Keller
Chris is perhaps the most down-to-earth character in the play, devoted to his family, but
also his country and the war he fought in. He is not blinded by the ‘victory’ of the war
either; surprisingly, he resents his fathers’ business’ success during the war period,
