An Analysis Of Joe Keller’s Downfall In Arthur Miller’s Play All My Sons

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AN ANALYSIS OF JOE KELLER’S DOWNFALL IN ARTHUR

MILLER’S PLAY ALL MY SONS

A THESIS

BY: BENRI PURBA

REG NO: 080721001

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH SUMATERA

FACULTY OF LETTER

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

MEDAN

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning Psalmen:30 :5 heaven Father thank you for always “lighting a ray of hope for me”

In the name of Jesus Christ, The Almighty God.

Hallelujah, I would like to thank to Jesus Christ, The savior, for the love, blessing and mercy so that the writer able to finish this thesis.”thank you God”

My particularly gratitude must go to. Dra. Swesana Mardia Lubis, M. Hum, my supervisor, and to Drs. Parlindungan Purba,M. Hum my Co-supervisor for the attention and guidance during the process of analyzing and writing this thesis. I appreciate all they have contributed and my God bless them.

Then I would like to thank to Dean of Fakultas Sastra, North Sumatera University. Prof. Bahren Umar Siregar, Ph.D; the head and the secretary of English Department, Dra.Swesana Mardia Lubis, M.Hum and Drs. Parlindungan Purba, M.hum, and all the lectures of English Deparment who have taugh the writer for two years.

My best and deep appreciation and love are due to my beloved father Ramali Purba Tanjung and My Beloved mother Sitinurhalizah br Silalahi for their greatest love all of all, attentions, supports, and prayers, who always guide me to the’right way’ and be patience along this time. This thesis dedicated to them. “thank you and I love you so very much”

I also grateful to my family, brother and sister who always encourage me in finishing my study. My great thank are devoted to Jolly Purba Tanjung, Astri veronica Purba, Fritanti Purba, Oga Amransius Purba Hendra Purba, Dody Purba, Arjuna Purba, Jhon Lenon Purba, Tiarna Purba,” I will always love you”.

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I would like to say thanks too to my friends ‘In Berdikari Street’ family ( Frans Judea Samosir A.K.A Lady Gaga, Ance, Bangga, kak Kerin,Soven,Sara,,Rahman,) “always be truly friends”. I would like to say thanks to all my students and friends in ‘Sipinggan’ Elisabet, Debora , Lastry, Nisa, Despi, Eva, Novia, Siti, Gracella, Lydia, Jantri Ganteng.” I know that you will always make me strong”

I would like to thank you my ‘Bere’ Jimmi, Sanjaya, Kristabolu, Lindung “thank you for being my breath you are all the reason I could do my best my love never end for you all “

At last but not least I would like to thank you my ‘Inang Bunga Sampang’ all nanggi, and family ” thank you so very much for sharing me your unconditional love in my life, and I really love you just as the way you are thank you and I love you all”

Medan, December 15, 2009 Benri Purba

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ABSTRAK

Dalam karya All My Sons ini saya mencoba mengangkat suatu permasalahan tentang kehidupan seorang ayah yang sudah berumur hampir enam puluhan tahun Joe keller sebagai salah satu tokoh utama yang mengalami berbagai penderitaan dan pencobaan akibat dari buah-buah perbuatannya pada masa lalu dan juga akibat dari pemikirinya dimana kesuksesan materi merupakan segala-galanya bagi kehidupannya sehingga ia melakukan segala cara untuk mendapatkan kesuksesaan materi.

Kejatuhan Joe Keller tidak hanya karena ambisi pribadinya dimana dia mengutamakan kesuksesan materi di atas segala-galanya. Tetapi juga karena penolakan yang diberikan oleh anak-anaknya atas kesuksesan yang diperolehnya dengan cara yang tidak wajar. Dimana Joe Keller mengorbankan kehidupan ataupun nyawa orang lain bahkan nyawa anaknya sendiri Larry rela dia korbankan untuk mendapatkan kesuksesan materi.

Untuk menganalisis kejatuhan Joe Keller dalam Play All My Sons karya Arthur Miller penulis menggunakan metode deskriptip dengan menggabungkan perilaku dan perkataan Joe Keller sebagaimana dikemukakan dalam play All My Sons

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………..I ABSTRAK………..III TABLE OF CONTENTS...IV CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

1.1Background of Analysis………1

1.2The Problem of Analysis...4

1.3The Objectivities of Analysis……….4

1.4The scope of Analysis………....5

1.5Methods of Analysis...5

1.6Significance of Analysis……….6

1.7Review of Related Literatures………..6

CHAPTER II AN OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE 2.1 The American Dream Myth………..8

2.2 The Land of Opportunity………..9

2.3 The Ideology of the American Dream……….9

2.4 American Literature and American Play………...10

2.5 American Play………...13

2.6 Elements of Play………...13

2.7 The structure of a play ( Tragedy and Comedy )………..17

2.8 The Nature of Drama………19

2.9 Types of Tragic Drama……….21

2.10. Types of comedy……….23

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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

A. Collecting data………26 B. Data Selecting……….26 C. Data Analyzing...27 CHAPTER IV JOE KELLER DOWNFALL IN ARTHUR MILLE’S PLAY ALL MY SONS

1. Joe Keller’s Self-concept………31 2. Joe Keller Past misdeed……….36 3. The Death of Joe Keller……….40 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

5.1 Conclusion………41 5.2 Suggestion……….41

BIBLIOGRAPHY………...………42

APPENDIXES

Appendix1.The Biography of Arthur Miller

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ABSTRAK

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INTRODUCTION 1.1 The Background of Analysis

There have been various attempts to define what literature is. Wallek and Warren said that “literature is said to be creative ,an art, what an author has been produced.” It means that literature is a product of author’s imagination that imitates the reality in to the art of writing. Besides that ,Taylor states that “literature is said to be the school of life that authors tent to comment on the conduct of the society and of individuals in the society.” So ,Taylor means that literature may become tool of valuing people in their behavior both collectively and individually. Literature is like mirror in which people or individuals can see their face and judge what are in them. In general literature has some different kinds. Each of them has its own characteristics though they have much in common such as they have characters, theme , setting and style. Peck and Coyle devide literature into three genres or types; they are : poetry, drama, and novel . Poetry etymologically the work poetry derived from the Greek word poesis means to make or construct and poietis means the maker .usually the maker of a poem called poet. usually poem is a piece of writing in verse form, and the beauty ,the power and the effect of a poem rarely depend on styles technique form and also the essential elements like rhyme, rhythm ,form and also the choice of words to create a poem.

A poem usually have some aspects such as: feeling, sense, tone and intention. Sense is the subject matter of the poem. What is a poem about . Feeling is the attitude of the writer toward the subject matter, by reading a certain poem carefully we could understand what does the writer think about the subject matter feel of it and his opinion about it. Tone is the attitude of the writer toward the reader weather he writer

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in a good mood , pessimist, or optimist, sad or happy. We understand it by giving our intention to the words that poets used in their poem.

The author of the novel is the creator of the story He invents the characters, the happening, the action, the events, ect. The novelist usually tells his story through his characters or his media. All characters must act and behave according to the novelist. Novelist arranges everything who is to be the chief characters or hero and who is the heroine, and who will act minor actions.

A novel is like mirror it reflects all the lives of people in other people in other places, the way how they live their lives, how they love or hate, how they struggle for their ideals or better way of life. Usually a novel have several aspects such as: the plot, the characters portrayals, the theme or themes, the tone, the background, the symbolism, and the language.

The plot is the sequence of the events in the novel. the plot is like a chain, all the events are linked together. The events are the links. If one of the links drops down the chain falls apart. If one of the events is missing the story will not go or the story misses some of its part and the reader will not be satisfied. The characters is the actor of the novel and deal with how their appearances, their characters, their habits, their way of lifeas portrayal in a novel. The theme is the attitude r the philosophical point of view of a novelist or the creator of a novel. Tone is the general or prevailing

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characters of morals, sentiment, the tone maybe sad, joyful, sentimental, humours, satirical, bitter,humours, passionate.

Play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, in tended for theatrical performances rather than reading. A play usually have some aspects or elements such as: characters, plot,theme, dialogue, convention. Most plays contain major characters and minor characters, The delineation and development of major characters is essential to the play The distinction between heroes or heroines and villains, between good guys and bad guys, between virtue and vice is useful in dealing with certain types of plays, but in many modern plays.

Another common term in drama is protagonist. Etymologically, it means the first contestant. The plot is usually structured with acts and scenes. The plot usually called the body of a play. The theme is the attitude r the philosophical point of view of a playwright or the creator of the play. Dialogue provides the substance of a play. Each Dialogue provides the substance of a play contributes to its effect as a whole. This thesis deals with play as the main source of analysis. It is Arthur Miller’s All My Son. In this thesis I want to analysis the character as one main aspect in a play.i have read this play several times and it is inspires me to do this analysis. In analysis this play I intend to analysis the downfall of one major character in that play named Joe Keller. This analysis is focused on backdrop of Joe Keller’s downfall such as the failure of Keller to understand the American Dream Myth.

I chose this plays as the object of my analysis because I want to inform some statements caused the downfall of Joe Keller as the reflection to social life that is happen in our present life , especially it describes some cases that influence family life and society influences itself and how materialism can destroy all our dream.

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1.2 Problem of the Analysis

The thesis analysis has been focused on how the hero Joe Keller ,fails to understand American Dream Myth in his life. He has been betrayed by his own myopic worldview of the life that Keller sees himself as answerable only to himself and his family, not to society as a whole. It is also refers to his past misdeeds and Keller’s self define as an uneducated man, taking pride in his commercial success without traditional book learning. Also how a capitalist system and materialism that encourage individuals to value their business sense over their moral sense. Joe Keller’s blame attitude He tries to blame anyone and everyone for crimes during the wartime first by letting his partner go to jail. Based on those assumptions above, I come to state my problem analysis as follows:

1. How far the materialism can effect and destroy human life as portrayal in Joe Keller’s life.

2. How far self define influence and effect one’s life as portrayal in Joe keller’s life.

3. How past misdeed effect present and shape the future of life as portrayal in Joe Keller’s life.

1.3 Objective of the Analysis

In analyzing the Joe Keller’s downfall as portrayed in Arthur miller’s play All My Sons, I have some purpose as follows are:

1.To explain how far the materialism can effect and destroy human life as portrayal in Joe Keller’s life.

2. To explain how far self define influence and effect one’s life as portrayal in Joe keller’s life.

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3. To explain how past misdeed effect present and shape the future of life as portrayal in Joe Keller’s life.

1.4 Scope of the Analysis

I restrict my analysis in this thesis into three aspect of manifesting American Dream Myth trough the leading character that is Joe Keller. Firstly the causes of Joe Keller downfall ,the second is about Joe Keller’s self define and his myopic worldview. And the third is about Joe Keller’s past misdeed that influence his own life and his family.

These three aspect are confined to the way of thinking which believes that by the myopic perspective on his world stem a devotion to his family and his claim that there is nothing greater than the family and his self define and past misdeed .these aspects are related to Joe Keller’s Downfall which is then formulated as the scope of the analysis .

1.5 Method of the Analysis

In analyzing this play I am using descriptive approach which describes the downfall of Joe Keller as portrayed in Arthur Miller’s Play All My Son. The main source or primary data of the analysis is Arthur miller’s play All My Son. I mean by the data here is the quotations I selected from the play. Thus , the first step of the method procedure is reading the play several times. After having understood the story , I come to find out the idea which is related to American Dream Myth.

The selection of the data is important in order to get relevancy with the analysis. So the selected quotations are interoperated to get the actual meaning. After that I analyze the data for the truth of the analysis.In doing the research , I focused on books and references to get information for the data analyze. Since the data are documented

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in written form , the method of my analysis is known as documentation method of analysis. In other word this kind of research known with library research.

1.6 Significances of the Analysis

This thesis entitled Joe Keller’s downfall as portrayed in Arthur Miller’s play All My Sons. The significance of this analysis contains theoretical and practical use. Theoretically ,this analysis is meant to add a`study of literature trough play as one genre of literature, particularly American literature which is represented by Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. I hope this play may give information about American play for students of literature in general, and for students literature in particular.

Practically, the student of English literature may get knowledge of literature especially trough Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. And this analysis also may be reference for further analysis in literary work especially drama.

1.7 Review of Related Literatures

In analyzing this play, I deals with books which has close relation to the title itself. Thus I state them as the importance to the analysis:

1.Thomas E. Porter , Myth and Modern American Drama (1969)

Explain the dramatic Milieu and the American drama in the introduction. It clarifies how the concept of American dream myth comes into the central idea of literature especially drama. It is further added that such kind of myth has become central to literature.This book offer idea which help me to do further analysis in my thesis. It is related to an understanding of how the myth becomes the product of adaptation to American culture. It is said that because the myth represents experience that offers attitude of American to reach success.American dream myth which is manifested in slogan such as “work hard, good performance, beauty and unique appearance can be materialized in achieving succeed. Yet , it is true culturally but not

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realistic factually.for some evidence, the myth can betray the dream for success in term of failure or downfall.

2. Jean Gould .modern American playwright (1966)

The name of some modern American play wrights include in this book, and of them is Arthur miller in this book background of playwright’s life and lists of his works presented here.

3.Jhon Gassner. Best American plays Third Edition (1987)

This book contains all American best play and here I found the play of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons and also contain another his best play such as The Death of Salesman .from this one I take it and devote as the other chapter of the analysis.

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CHAPTER II

THEORITICAL REVIEW OF LITERATURE 2.1.The American Dream Myth

American Dream Myth is the mythology of American people to attain their goals or their dream itself or it can be defined as having the freedom that allows all citizen to achieve goals in their life through hard work. American Dream has three kinds of dream which is conceiving of American people such as,(1)individual freedom of choice in life styles,(2) equal access to economic abundance,(3)the pursuit of shared objectives mutually advantageous to the individual and society.(Truslow. Adam ,1931:404). American dream is also that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer for every man with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement.

American dream is also that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyman with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement. As the interrelated persistent of myths in America called “ American land of plenty, American as land of opportunity, and American as land of destiny”.Richard M.Dorson in his book entitle Handbook Of American Folklore (1983:57) states that ”the basic myth of American myth is America the land of opportunity this vision has been expressed in analogues metaphors such as The Promised Land, The Earthly Paradise, Manifest Destiny, The Garden of Eden, Land of The free and home of the Brave”.

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2.2 The Land of Opportunity

In generally America is regarded as the land of opportunity. Anyone in America can grow up to be President, or be a US Congressman or a US senator. All it takes is a little hard work. They playing field is level. There is no reason that any one of the people in this room could not one day be sitting in the halls of Congress, in the Oval Office or on the bench of the US Supreme Court and this mean that live in America everyone has the same opportunity in everything to get success all the thing that must be done is work hard.

American Dream Myth is supposed to be a culture product of American people. It deal with social behavior covering a dream of success, better attitudes, moral values, that penetrate pattern of living socially and personally. Thus myth is to be cultural spirit that encourages one to face living. Myth is spoken mouth to mouth in the form of saying or proverbs. It summarizes the essence of worth living to achieve. American people believe that dream myth which can be applied into their life in social life such as profile or treasure.

2.3 The Ideology of the American Dream

The content of each individual version of American dream they all include the belief in the opportunity to achieve some form of quantitative or qualitative success. It will be helpful to define the different ways in which success can be measured. Jenifer Hochchild states that definition of success involve measurement as well as content. She classifies success into following three categories which have important normative behavioral consequences:

1. Absolute success: “in this case achieving the American dream implies reaching some threshold of well being higher than where on e began but not necessarily dazzling.

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2. Competitive success : ‘’achieving victory over someone else. My success implies your failure.

3. Relative success: “here achieving the American dream consist in becoming better off than some comparison point whether one’s childhood, people in the old country, one’s neighbors, a character from a book another race or gender-anything or anyone that one measure oneself against. Relative success implies no threshold of well-being and it may or may not entail continually changing the comparison group as one achieves a given level of accomplishment.

The American dream ideology is its emphasis on individual people’s behavior rather than on economic processes, environmental constraints or political structures as the causal explanation for social ordering which help American cope with or even to recognize that the fact of dream myth.

The most widely accepted cultural attitudes are expressed in social ideograms like democracy, law and order, frontier, success. The use of these ideograms implies the existence of a complex of inter-related images and emotions working in the psyche in a way that defies scientific analysis. the tradition of Anglo-Saxon parliamentary history of republican experience add the images of the land of the free, equal opportunity, freedom of choice, free enterprise, right of individual and the forth.

2.4 American Literature and American Play

In general literature has some different kinds. Each of them has its own characteristics though they have much in common such as they have characters, theme , setting and style. Peck and Coyle devide literature into three genres or types; they are : poetry, drama, and novel .

Poetry etymologically the work poetry derived from the Greek word poesis means to make or construct and poietis means the maker .usually the maker of a poem

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called poet. usually poem is a piece of writing in verse form, and the beauty ,the power and the effect of a poem rarely depend on styles technique form and also the essential elements like rhyme, rhythm ,form and also the choice of words to create a poem.

Novel is a narrative kind of fictitious writing. A novel is an extended fictional prose narrative dealing with human characters and action of a period of time. What is old in a novel might have happened. The happenings and actions or even the events need not necessarily to be true and factual. They might all the same be true to every day life. The author of the novel is the creator of the story He invents the characters, the happening, the action, the events, ect. The novelist usually tells his story through his characters or his media. All characters must act and behave according to the novelist.

Novelist arranges everything who is to be the chief characters or hero and who is the heroine, and who will act minor actions. A novel is like mirror it reflects all the lives of people in other people in other places, the way how they live their lives, how they love or hate, how they struggle for their ideals or better way of life. Usually a novel have several aspects such as: the plot, the characters portrayals, the theme or themes, the tone, the background, the symbolism, and the language.

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Etymologically, it means the first contestant. The plot is usually structured with acts and scenes. The plot usually called the body of a play. The theme is the attitude r the philosophical point of view of a playwright or the creator of the play. Dialogue provides the substance of a play. Each Dialogue provides the substance of a play contributes to its effect as a whole.

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2.5 American Play

Play is one genre of literary works, it is the art of representing for the pleasure of others events that happened in our real life or that we imagine happening. The basic elements of play are characters, represented by players or the actor of a play; action described by gesture and movement; though, implied by dialogue and action; spectacle, represented by scenery and costume; and finally audience, who respond to this complex mixture.

When we are in the theater we see the actors, hear the lines, are aware of the setting, and sense the theatrical community of which we are a part. even when reading a play, we should imagine actors speaking lines and visualize a setting in which those lines are spoken. Play is an experience in which we participate on many levels simultaneously. On one we may believe that what we see in a play is really happening in our daily life; on another level, we know it is only make-believe. On one level we may be amused, but on another we realize that serious statement about our society are being made. Usually play called as mirror of life mean that we can see our life reflected by one play.

2.6 Elements of Play

All plays share or consist of some basic elements with which playwrights and producers work: plots , characters, settings, dialogue, movement, and themes. In addition , many modern plays pay close attention to lighting, costuming and props. When we respond to a play, we observe the elements of drama in action together, and the total experience is rich, complex and subtle. Occasionally, we respond primarily to an individual elements for instance we focused on the theme or characterization but this is rare. Our awareness of elements of drama is most useful when we are thinking analytically about a play and the way it affects us.

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1.Plot

Plot is a term for the action of a play. Plot implies that the action has a shape and form that will ultimately prove satisfying to the audience. Generally a carefully plotted play start with exposition, and explanation of what happened before the play began and of how the characters arrived at their present situation. The play than continues using suspense to built tension in the audience and in the characters and to the further the pattern of rising action. The audience wonders what is going to happen, sees the characters in motion, and than watches as certain questions implied by the drama are answered one by one. The action achieves its greatest tension as it move to point of climax, when a revelation is experienced, usually by the main characters. Once the climax has been reach,the plot continues sometimes very briefly, in a pattern of falling action as the drama reaches its conclusion and the characters understand their circumstances and themselves better than they did at the beginning of the play. The function of plot is to give action a form that helps us understand elements of the play in relation to one another. Plays can have several interrelated plots or only one and it is depend on conflict between characters in a play.

2.Characterization

Most plays contain major characters and minor characters, The delineation and development of major characters is essential to the play The distinction between heroes or heroines and villains, between good guys and bad guys, between virtue and vice is useful in dealing with certain types of plays, but in many modern plays. Another common term in drama is protagonist. Etymologically, it means the first contestant.

3.Setting

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which the action occurs. Second it refers to the scenery, the physical element that appear on stage to vivify the author stage direction. So setting is one of the most important part of a play it is deal with time and place where the actor or characters do act. Time can deal with the action done in the morning, noon or night. Than place mean an action hold on in a room, house, in the garden or in the other places.

4.Dialogue

Plays depend for their unfolding on dialogue. The dialogue is the verbal exchanges between the characters. Since there is no description or commentary on the action, as there is in most novels, the dialogue must tell the whole story. Good playwrights have developed ways of revealing characters, advancing action, and introducing themes by a highly efficient use of dialogue.

Dialogue is spoken by one character to another, who then responds, but sometimes a character delivers a soliloquy , in which he or she speaks alone onstage , as if speaking to himself or herself. Ordinarily such speeches take on special importance because they are thought to be especially true. Characters when they speak to each other, may well wish to deceive, but when they to themselves they have no reason to say anything but the truth.

5.Music

Music is an occasional play elements. Sometimes the kind of the music will support the theme or expose the situation that occur in a play. And it can gives more intention of the audience about the play or the act that acted by character onstage. 6.Movement

We as the reader or witnesses are energized by the movement of the characters in a play. As we read, stage direction inform us where the characters are, when they move, how they move and even what the significance of their movement is. In

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modern plays the author may give many direction for the action; in earlier play stage direction are few and often supplemented by those of a modern editor. In performance the movement that you see may have been invented by the director although the text of a play often requires certain action. In some kind of drama such as musical comedy and choruses of Greek Drama, part of the action may be danced.

7.Theme

The theme of a play is its message, its central concern in short what it is about. It is by no mean a simple thing to decide what the theme of a play is and many plays contain several rather than just a single theme. Often the search for a theme tempts us to oversimplify and to reduce a complex play to a relatively simple catchphrase.

Sometimes playwright anxious about readers and viewers missing a careful reader or viewers missing their thematic intentions and reveal them in one or two speeches. Usually a careful reader or viewer has already divined the theme, and the speeches are intrusive. The theme also called as the attitude or the philosophical point of view of a playwright or the creator of the play.

In every play ,the elements of drama will work differently , sometimes giving us the feeling that character is dominant over theme, or plot over character, or setting over both. Ordinarily characters, plot and theme are the most important elements of a play, while setting dialogue, music and movement come next. But in the best play each has its importance and each balances the others.

2.7 The structure of a play ( Tragedy and Comedy )

The dramatic story revolves round some conflict and some clash of opposed individuals or passions or interest. In a tragedy this conflict terminates in a catastrophe, while in a comedy it leads to happy conclusion. The presentation of the growth, development and conclusion of the dramatic conflict has called for the

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division of the plot into some well defined parts. The different parts the plot or of what we generally call the dramatic structure are known as exposition ( Initial incident ), complication ( rising action), and catastrophe (in a tragedy )or conclusion ( in a comedy). The structure in the form of diagram which resembles a pyramidal structure is shown below (Sinha, 1977:56).

The five fold structure has called forth the very common and once almost the universal division of a play into five acts. There are many plays including Shakespeare’s which do not conform to this five fold structure.

Exposition covers that part of the play in which the conflict originates. It covers usually the first act of a play, and its main business is to impart to the audience all such information as in necessary for the proper understanding of the play is going to witness. It introduces them to the dramatis personae ,shows them their characters. It is intended to excite heir curiosity and leaves them expectant. The situation as presented by the exposition is not one of conflict, but it threatens conflict.

The greatness of a play depends much on the skillful management of the Exposition

Complication

Crisis

Denouement

Conclusion Or Catastrophe

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in dramatic way, and such as unless the uses a prologue, habitually used by Eupirides and Seneca. It must conceal from the auditors as the fact that they are being informed and must tell them what he wants them to know in such a way as to eliminate all appearance of effort and artifice. Good exposition should be in the form of dialogue which seems natural in the circumstances.

The exposition is followed by complication or the rise of the action to its crisis. The conflict which is hinted in the exposition takes a definite shape in this part. complication requires to be handled very skillfully. Every event in it should not only appear to grow naturally out of what preceded it, but also mark a fresh stage in the development of the plot. Moreover , the proper relations between characters and action should be maintained. During the complication the dramatist should hint at those elements in the conflict which are to come into prominence at thecrisis.

The crisis marks the turning point in the conflict. It comprises that part of the play in which one of the contending forces obtains such controlling power that henceforth its ultimate success is assured. It is laid down as a rule of the crisis that it should be the natural and logical outcome of all that has gone before. Crisis is an event which is to determine the whole course of the action itself. The crisis is generally placed in the middle of the action or a little beyond the middle.

The crisis is followed by the denouement which comprises that the portion of the play in which the dramatic conflict is to be brought to its conclusion. In comedy the interest is often sought to be kept up by the employment of various unexpected obstacles which cheek the happy course of thing and in a tragedy is by suggestions that way of escape for the hero and heroine may yet open up, and the fate of escape for the hero and heroine may yet open up, and the fate that awaits them averted. The last part of the dramatic structure is catastrophe in a tragedy or solution in a

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comedy. With catastrophe all our doubts and uncertainties are gone and we are left poised on the crest of certainty and finality. Like crisis the catastrophe or solution is the natural and logical outcome of what has gone before.

2.8 The Nature of Drama.

Drama derives from a Greek word meaning to do , to act. Theatre drives from a Greek word meaning to see, to view. These two ideas are doing and seeing or complementary and define the area of the study of the drama in its largest sense, the sense that includes both the play and the performance of it. Those root ideas lie behind a number of common pairings that repeatedly appear in dramatic criticism : play and performances, script, and production, text and staging, author and actor, creation and interpretation, theory and practice. In short, the root ideas contain the essence and range of whole field of the study of the drama.

A well known definition is by the seventeenth century that the playwright and critic, Jhon Dryen, states : “ a play ought to be or a just and lively image of human nature, reproducing the passions and humours, and the change of fortune to which it is subject for the delight and instruction of mankind.” As the different meaning between drama and the art of theater ( Tennyson, 1967:1-3); A drama is the imitation of a complete action, adapted to the sympathetic attention of man ,developed in a succession of continuously interesting related incident, acted and expressed by means of speech and the symbols in actualities and conditions of life.

The art of theatre is neither acting nor the play, it is not scene nor dance, but it contains of all the elements of which these things are composed: action which is the very spirit of acting: words which are the body of the play: line color which are the very best of scene: rhythm which is the very essence of dance.

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both to the root meaning of the word drama and to the first and in many ways most satisfying of all the theorist and critics of the drama as the Greek philosopher Aristotle who in the fourth century which set forth his idea on the drama in the poetics.

Action

Readers of Aristotle generally agree that the essence of Aristotle’s definition of the drama lies in his concept of “imitated human action “. Aristotle wrote the tragedy “ is the imitation of an action in the form of action “. Bt this His clearly was referring to what any beginning students would think of as action : the actual movement and speech of persons performing a play, their “ acting out” situations on the stage. Indeed if the specialist were asked to define drama he would probably offer a definition resting largely on this kind of action, perhaps phrased somewhat like the following: “ Drama is a story that people act out on a stage before spectators.” Such a fundamental view of action should not to be lost sight even at first it seems too obvious to need mention. In the poetics, Aristotle concedes that the human action which is “ imitated” may be action that never actually occurred in the form which we see it. The action as an indispensable elements of all drama; first as the movement, dialogue, and gesture of action of the stage; and second as the pattern of events that their movements depict and make manifest to the audience, a pattern based on human life. This much should be clear.

Drama must center on an action by its nature, drama presents that action. We now come to another indispensable element in the definition of the drama as the idea of imitation (Tennyson,1967: 3-6).

Imitation

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presented, means more than purely literal copying. In such a case , the “ imitation “ must be imaginative and the most fantastic events and surrounding can still be accepted as “ human action “. This kind of interpreting of “ imitation” and action also opens the door to the important element of thought drama.

In the ingredients of the drama is one way of approaching these means of realizing the drama is to examine the component parts of the play. Aristotle cited six elements as essential to a play : plot, thought, character, diction, music and spectacle ( Tennyson, 1967: 6).

2.9 Types of Tragic Drama

A. Greek Tragedy ( Classical Tragedy ).

The Greek tragedy originated in the religious festivals in honour of Dionysus, the wine God, and such the underlying spirit which informs the Greek tragedies is essentially that of religious ceremony. The fate of the Greek heroes is predestined, and there was no escape from the decree of fate. They may fight hard to undo this decree, but all their fight no vail.

The subject of the Greek tragedies were drawn from the sacred myths which were already known to the audience. The treatment of the subjects familiar to the audience eliminated surprise as a dramatic effect, and gave great scope for what is known as the dramatic irony. The Greek tragedies are marked by the conspicuous absence of the scenes of horror and violence. The scenes of violence, murders and battle take place of the stage, and are reported to the audience by the minor characters such as messengers or heralds (Sinha, 1977:94-95).

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B. Romantic Tragedy

Romantic tragedy is primarily the tragedy of character. In this type of tragedy it is the hero himself who, by some guilty act or some error in judgment or some defect in his character. It creates events which bring about ultimate ruin, the catastrophe which overtake the tragic hero is the inevitable rebound of his own act or error. As romantic tragedy sanction the use of subplots and subordinate incident and characters. In the romantic tragedy the scenes of violence, horror, murder, bloodshed and battles are freely exhibited on stage ( Sinha,1977:96 )

C. The Tragedy of Revenge and Blood

Tragedy is generally associated with revenge, murder, and bloodshed. In a tragedy of revenge and blood, plenty of bloodshed, murders, suicides, and cruel deeds, and the action of the play moves round the motive of revenge. In revenge tragedy the ghost of the murdered man appears before its near and dear one to tell him about the necessity of taking revenge. The hero of this type of tragedy is the revenge incarnate; to avenge himself on the death of his near and dear on is his sole concern, and obsesses him mind so much as to obliterate all other consideration moral or physical (Sinha,1977:97).

D. Heroic Drama (of 17th century).

Heroic drama is a term which is applied to the tragedies of the restoration period. The heroes of heroic tragedies are all persons of gigantic proportions, endowed with superhuman powers and with superhuman ideals; the heroines are all paragon of beauty and constancy. The heroic tragedy proper employed few characters, admitted no comic element and excluded all classes of society except the nobility (sinha,1977 : 100).

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E. Domestic Tragedy

Domestic tragedy is as the very title implies in the tragedy of the ordinary domestic life. It presents the vicissitudes of things below of the things which belong to the everyday homely life. It is not concerned with the fates or fortunes of kings of princes or persons of great public importance rather it treats of private woe. The suffering and pitfalls of ordinary men women specially of middle class persons. The domestic tragedy it’s soon gave way to the fight flown action and speech of the heroic or pseudo-classical tragedy ( Sinha,1977: 102-103)

2.10. Types of comedy A . The Romantic Comedy

The term of romantic comedy is applied to the type of comedy which was cultivated by Elizabethan dramatist with Shakespeare at their head. The romantic comedy is characterized by the combination of stories and interest apparently unlike and incompatible as the combination which is scrupulously eschewed in the classical comedy. In it tragic and the comic, the pathetic and the humorous are freely combined, and the different worlds and the different segments of human existence are brought together.

The romantic comedy is not concerned with the problems afflicting the society. It deals broadly with the larger and eternal issues of human life in issues which do not change with the change of time and place that the romantic playwright mirror life for the sake off life by the creative impulsive which aims at amusement and entertainment. It deals with higher love allied romantic passion which have nothing to do with sex ( Sinha,1977:111-113).

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B. The Comedy of Humors ( Comedy of Satire).

In the comedy of humors the fact that the characters are types and eccentrics is constantly thrust upon the attention of the audience, whereas in the Shakespearean comedy as there is rather an attempt to conceal the presence of the types under a semblance of personality.

The comedy of humor has nothing to do with humor which abounds in Shakespeare. It depends generally on wit and satire which are natural resultant of the exaggeration of the types “this lack of humors in the so called comedy of humors marks”. That the unities of time, place and action are observed in the comedy of humors (Sinha, 1977:115-6)

C. The Comedy of Manners

The comedy of manners is the glory of the restoration period. It is founded mainly upon the native dramatic tradition which flourished before the closing of the theatres in 1642.The comedy of manners its theme because it presents the habits, manners, convention, and follies of a particular section of society, the gay, elegant, and carefree aristocracy. It deals with young nobles, well dressed, and bewigged, straining after wit, quick to take offence, ready to take the meanest shifts in their intrigues with young ladies decked with face parches and rouge, well versed in the art of coquetry.

The comedy of manners has been styled of artificial and rightly. It presents superficial habits and manners, deals with the surfaces of human existences and particular section of society which lived the most artificial life and from the dictionary of whose life the words serious, seriousness. It scene never could have traveled to the mythical land of Shakespearean or its restoration comedians. One of the characteristic features of

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manners comedy is its gay, vivacious, sparkling wit which both delights and bores. Wet abounds in the hard crips repartee and continental flashing of verbal rapier thrust. The comedy manners has been branded as licentious and rightly. While going through a manners comedy we often come across licentious and vulgar suggestion and hints which our sense of morality and decency (Shinha, 1977:117-20).

D. The Sentimental Comedy

In the sentimental comedy the appeal is sought to be made to our emotions, particularly to the emotion of pity and sympathy and not to be the intellect as is commonly done in comedy. In it the innocent and the virtuous are made to suffer and an attempt is thereby made to elicit our sympathy and pity for them. Thus the insensibility on the part of the audience which comic playwrights exploit in order to produce the truly comical effect is thrown overboard in the sentimental comedy (Sinha, 1977:120-22).

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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

In doing this thesis, I use the library research by collecting the data from some books and many other resources, that can be related to the subject matter being analyzed. I use the Arthur Miller’s play All My Sons as the main source of the data. This play contents the important information for the subject matter that is being analyzed.

In analyzing the downfall of Joe Keller as the main character in All My Sons Play I follow the procedures as follows:

A. Data Collecting

In this first step I read the play carefully so that I really understand it without worrying over the meaning of a view difficult word. While reading the play I collect and underline the important things or information from the play such as the information about the downfall of Joe Keller as one of the main character of that play. From related books and references I also do the same thing, mark the information which has parallel analogies with the play.

B. Data Selecting

The second step is to select all the information that has been collected and in this steps I try to choose the most important data or the most related data with the problem of this analysis. And then I select and use only the very significant data are used in the process of doing this thesis. And in the processing data selecting I I reads the data several times that I get more understanding about the data that really related to my analysis.

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C. Data Analyzing

The last steps is all the data are being analyzed to achieve, what has been planned in the objective of this thesis and finally a conclusion can be drawn from this thesis. In analyzing these data I try to get more understanding the problem of the analysis and I try to focus that all the data that I analyze are really related with the problem of the analysis that a good conclusion can be drawn.

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CHAPTER IV

JOE KELLER’S DOWNFALL IN ARTHUR MILLER’S PLAY ALL MY SONS

All my sons is one of the most success American modern tragedies play written by Arthur Miller. This play have some major theme as here below. Arthur Miller stated that the issue of relatedness is the main one in All My Sons. The play introduces questions that involve an individual's obligation to society, personal responsibility, and the distinction between private and public matters.

Keller can live with his actions during the war because he sees himself as answerable only to himself and his family, not to society as a whole. Miller criticizes Keller's myopic worldview, which allows him to discount his crimes because they were done "for the family." The principal contention is that Keller is wrong in his claim that there is nothing greater than the family, since there is a whole world to which Keller is connected. To cut yourself off from your relationships with society at large is to invite tragedy of a nature both public (regarding the pilots) and private (regarding the suicides).

The reverse side of Miller's relatedness argument is his downplaying of the family as the nucleus of society. Somehow people are to feel a more general caring for others that is not drawn off by family obligations. What, then, is the place of the family in the larger social system. Discussions of the family serve mostly to contrast characters' opinions about an individual's responsibilities to the family versus society at large. The family is also presented as a unit that can be corrupted and damaged by the actions and denials of its individuals, a small-scale example of the way individual actions can corrupt society.

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All My Sons is a play about the past. It is inescapable--but how exactly does it affect the present and shape the future. This play also talks about Can crimes ever be ignored or forgotten from our life. Most of the dialogue involves various characters discovering various secrets about the recent history of the Keller family. Miller shows how these past secrets have affected those who have kept them. The revelation of the secrets is presented as unavoidable they were going to come out at some point, no matter what, and it is through Miller's manipulation of the catalysts that the truths are all revealed on the same day. While the revelations are unavoidable, so are their fatal consequences.

This play also talks about denial and self-deception how do we deceive ourselves and others. We select things to focus on in life, but do we also need to deny certain things in order to live well. What toll does denial take on the psyche, the family, and society. Two main facts about the Keller family history must be confronted. One is Larry's death, and the other is Keller's responsibility for the shipment of defective parts. Mother denies the first while accepting the second, and Keller accepts the first while denying the second. The result is that both characters live in a state of self-deception, willfully ignoring one of the truths so that the family can continue to function in acceptable ways.

Idealism is another kind of theme that found in All My Sons Play. Chris is described by other characters as an idealist, although we do not see this trait in action aside from his angry response to the wartime profiteering. Yet the others define him by his idealism, setting him apart as a man of scruples. Chris decides that he must abandon these scruples to the cause of practicality when he is faced with the prospect of sending his father to jail. By reading this play we will know is idealism sustainable

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in a fallen, complex world. If ideals must be sacrificed, is there any supervening ideal or principle to help us decide which ideals should be sacrificed in which circumstances.

Business is the other topics that told in this play. Keller argues that his actions during the war were defensible ass requirements of good business practice. He also frequently defines himself as an uneducated man, taking pride in his commercial success without traditional book learning. Yet, his sound business sense actually leads to his downfall.

This failure is connected with Miller's leftist politics and the play's overall criticisms (shared by some conservatives) of a capitalist system that encourages individuals to value their business sense over their moral sense. How could rules that govern business be exempt from the moral norms and laws governing the rest of society.

The other theme that we can found in this play is blame. Each character in the play has a different experience of blame. Joe Keller tries to blame anyone and everyone for crimes during the war, first by letting his partner go to jail. Later, when he is confronted with the truth, he blames business practice and the U.S. Army and everyone he can think of except himself. When he finally does accept blame, after learning how Larry had taken the blame and shame on himself, Keller kills himself. Chris, meanwhile, feels guilty for surviving the war and for having money, but when the crimes are revealed, he places the blame squarely on his father's shoulders.

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He even blames his father for his own inability to send his father to prison. These are just a few examples of the many instances of deflected blame in this story, and this very human impulse is used to great effect by Miller to demonstrate the true relationships and power plays between characters as they try to maintain self-respect as well as personal and family honor.

Joe Keller is one of the major characters in All My Sons play by Arthur Miller. Joe Keller has two sons they are Larry Keller and Chris Keller. Joe Keller is middle age father he is nearing sixty and he has better life with his lovely wife named Kate. In the beginning of this play Joe Keller introduced as an uneducated man. When Joe Keller reads, speaks, and when he listens it is with the terrible concentration.

Joe Keller lives in a beautiful marvelous house and regarded as a happy rich family by people around them. But in the end of the story of this play Joe Keller kills himself. Joe Keller’s life destroyed by his self-center that material success is everything in his life, even Joe Keller thinks that the material success more important than others life even the life of one of his son named Larry. Joe Keller kills his son to gets material success and this is Joe Keller’s big past misdeed, to gets material success.

In This thesis I focus on what are the causes of Joe Keller meets his downfall. After read this play several times I focus on three aspects that affects Joe Keller downfall they are; Joe Keller self-concept that material success is almost everything in his life, Past misdeed experience, and the death of Joe Keller. In this thesis I am going to analyze these three aspects.

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1. Joe Keller self concept.

One of the most influential thing that lead Joe Keller meets his downfall is his self concept that Joe Keller self concept regards that material success is the most important thing in his life. He believes that material success is the most important thing in his life even more important than other life and he thinks that material success also more important than the life of his one son named Larry. And Joe Keller traps by this self-concept.

“…the stage is hedged on R. and L. by tall, closely planted poplars which lend the yard a secluded atmosphere. Upstage is filled with the back to the house and its open, unroofed porch which extend into the yard some six feet. The house is two stories high and has seven rooms. It would have cost perhaps fifteen thousand in the early twenties when it was built. Now it is nicely painted, looks tight and comparable and the yard is green with sod, here and there plants whose season is gone…”(Miller, 1988:285).

This prolog of the play gives us the information about the condition of Joe Keller’s house. From this prolog we know that Joe Keller is a rich man and he has a beautiful and marvelous house that need and spends a lot of money to build it. From this Prolog I conclude that Joe Keller is a success man to have a good material success Joe Keller lives in a good material success.

“… Keller is nearing sixty. A heavy man of stolid mind and build, a business man these many years, but with the imprint of the machine-shop worker and boss still upon him. When he reads, when he speaks, when he listens, it is with the terrible concentration of the uneducated man for whom there is still wonder in many commonly known things, a man whose judgments must be dredged out of experience and a peasant-like common sense. A man among man…”(Miller,1988:285).

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This prolog gives me another information about Joe Keller’s self concept that Joe Keller as a businessman for many years and he regards himself as an uneducated man for he has trouble in reads, speaks, listen and he is judged as un-experience man. Although as an un-educated businessman Joe Keller finally able to lives in a good material success such as has a beautiful and marvelous houses, has a great business. Joe Keller always thinks that everything in his life is material success or the most important in his life is material, and to get material success Joe Keller kills one of his son named Larry.

“…CHRIS. All right, then, Dad. KELLER (thinking Chris has retreat). Give it some more thought.

CHRIS. I’ve given it three years of thought. I’d hoped that if I waited, Mother Would forget Larry and then we’d have a

regular wedding and everything happy. But if that can’t happen here, then I’ll Have to get out.

KELLER. What the hell is this?

CHRIS. I’ll get out. I’ll get married and live some place else. Maybe in New York.

KELLER. Are you crazy?

CHRIS: I’ve been a good son too long, and good sucker. I’m through with it.

KELLER. You’ve got a business here, what the hell is this? CHRIS. The business! The business doesn’t inspire me. KELLER. Must you be inspired?

CHRIS. Yes . I like it an hour a day. If I have to grub for money all day long at Least at evening I want it beautiful. I Want a family, I want some kids, I want To build something I can give myself to. Annie is in the middle of that. Now … Where do I find it?

KELLER. You mean…(goes to him)

Tell me something, you mean you’d leave the business? CHRIS. Yes . on this I would.

KELLER (pause). Well … you don’t want to think like that. CHRIS. Then help me stay here.

KELLER. All right , but … but don’t think like that. Because what the hell did I work for? That’s only for you Chris, the whole shootin’ match is for you! CHRIS. I know that, Dad. Just you help

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KELLER (puts a fist up to Chris’ jaw). But don’t think that way, you hear me?

CHRIS. I am thinking that way. ”(Miller,1988:288).

From this dialogues above I know that Chris want to marry with Ann but mother do not allow him to marry Ann because Kate still believe that Larry still lives anywhere around the world and Ann is Larry’s girl. Chris realizes that as long as mother still believes that Larry lives anywhere mother never allows him to merry Ann. This makes Chris to get out and he will marry and lives some places else with Ann. When Chris said that he will get out , marry Ann and lives some Places with Ann, Keller so frustrated and get angry of Chris because Keller realizes that if Chris get out and leave the house no one of Keller’s sons will own the business and his beautiful, marvelous houses.

And from this dialogues I get information that Joe Keller have great business and have great material success but he is so sad when Chris told him that Chris will leave the house and he doesn’t interested in doing his father business. Joe Keller was refused by his only one son Chris Keller and this is lead Joe Keller to meets his downfall.

“…KELLER .it couldn’t be, heh. You know. CHRIS. Dad, you Amaze me…

KELLER ( breaking in). All right, forget

it, forget it.(with great force, moving about) I want a clean start for you, CHRIS.

I want a new sign over the plant- CHRIS- Topher Keller, incorporated.

CHRIS (a little uneasily).J.O. Keller is Good enough. KELLER. We’ll talk about it. I’m going

to build you a house, stone, with a drive- way 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.

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KELLER (with deep emotion)… say it to me.

CHRIS. Why?

KELLER. Because sometimes I think You’re…ashamed of the money. CHRIS. No don’t feel that.

KELLER. because it’s good money, there’s nothing wrong with that money.

CHRIS (a little frightened).Dad, you don’t have to tell me this. ”(Miller,1988:297).

From this dialogues I conclude that Joe Keller wants to use the name of his son Christopher Keller as the owner of his father business but Chris shows that doesn’t like that business even he refuse for put his name as the owner of the his father business. And from this dialogues also tells us that Chris feel guilty about the money that earn by his father, Joe Keller. Sometimes Chris Keller feels shames about that money because he knows that the money is unclear or dirty money. And this is make Keller more Frustrated. That has only one son Chris not loves his father business and money.

The dialogues above tells us that Joe Keller was refused by his son. Joe Keller want that all the money and the business that he has would given to Chris as the only one of his son. But finally Chris refuses it even Chris doesn’t like if his father put his name as the owner of the business even when his father promise to Chris that Joe Keller wants to build a house for his son Chris said the he doesn’t it, and he doesn’t need it. Joe Keller says to Chris that all that he have done all these time, build the business and gets a lot of money is only for his family and the only one son. But this is the causes of Joe Keller’s downfall because all his dream destroys by his son.

CHRIS. Then why didn’t you tell them? KELLER. It was too late. The paper it Was all over the front page, twenty-one Went down, it was too late. They come with handcuffs into the shop, what could

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I did it for you, it was a chance and I Took it for you. I’m sixty-one years old, When would I have another chance to Make something for you? Sixty-one years Old you don’t get another chance, do ya? CHRIS. You even knew the wouldn’t Hold up in the air.

KELLER. I didn’t say that…

CHRIS. But you were going to warn Them not use them…

KELLER. But that don’t mean …

CHRIS. It means you knew they’d crash. KELLER. I was afraid maybe…

CHRIS. Then you thought they’d crash. KELLER. I was afraid maybe…

CHRIS. You were afraid maybe! God in Heaven, what kind of a man are you? Kids Were hanging in the air by those heads. You knew that!

KELLER. For you a business for you! CHRIS (with burning fury). For me! Where do you live, where have you come From? For me!- I was dying every day And you were killing my boys and you did it for me? What the hell do you think I was thinking of, the Goddam business? Is that as far as your mind can see, the business? What is that, the world- the business?

What the hell do you mean, you did it for me? Don’t you have a country?

Don’t you live in the world? What the Hell are you? You’re not even an animal, No animal kills his own what are you? What must I do to you? I ought to tear The tongue out of your mouth, what must I do? ( with his fist he pounds down upon his father’s shoulders.

He stumbles away, covering his face as he weeps) What must I do, Jesus God, what must I do, KELLER. Chris…my Chris…”(Miller,1988:297).

From the dialogues above we that Joe Keller so shocks when he knows that Chris so angry with him when Chris Keller knows that his father kills twenty-one person and also knows that his father is the causes of the death of Larry. And Chris can not forgives his father past misdeed. And this is the center of the downfall Joe

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Keller that his dream destroyed by his son. Joe Keller self –concept that material is everything in his life destroyed by his son Chris Keller that he never forgives his father for kills twenty-one person and Larry and Chris Keller not agree with his father that Joe did that past misdeed to get good business and gets a lot of money for family and for Chris from this dialogues we may see that Chris Keller hates his father so much for his past misdeed.

2.Joe Keller Past misdeed

The other thing that causes the downfall of Joe Keller is his past misdeed. Joe Keller traps by his past misdeed. Joe Keller did the wrong thing to get material success and get a lot of money with dirty way that he kills his son and twenty-one person.

CHRIS. Then why didn’t you tell them? KELLER. It was too late. The paper,it Was all over the front page, twenty-one Went down, it was too late. They come with handcuffs into the shop, what could I do? ( he sits on bench) Chris … Chris, I did it for you, it was a chance and I Took it for you. I’m sixty-one years old, When would I have another chance to Make something for you? Sixty-one years Old you don’t get another chance, do ya? CHRIS. You even knew the wouldn’t Hold up in the air.

KELLER. I didn’t say that…

CHRIS. But you were going to warn Them not use them…

KELLER. But that don’t mean …

CHRIS. It means you knew they’d crash. KELLER. I was afraid maybe…

CHRIS. Then you thought they’d crash. KELLER. I was afraid maybe…

CHRIS. You were afraid maybe! God in Heaven, what kind of a man are you? Kids Were hanging in the air by those heads. You knew that!

KELLER. For you a business for you! CHRIS (with burning fury). For me!

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From? For me!- I was dying every day And you were killing my boys and you did it for me? What the hell do you think I was thinking of, the Goddam business? Is that as far as your mind can see, the business? What is that, the world- the business?

What the hell do you mean, you did it for me? Don’t you have a country?

He stumbles away, covering his face as he weeps) What must I do, Jesus God, what must I do, KELLER. Chris…my Chris…”(Miller,1988:297).

These dialogues talk about Joe Keller past misdeed where he is the causes of twenty-one person dead include his son Larry in a crash in this crash causes by Joe Keller. Joe Keller kill his son and other people to get money in his past misdeed and this is makes his life tragically. And with this past misdeed Joe Keller so frustrated in his daily life. He tells lies to his wife Kate Keller and he afraid of people surround him knowing his secret past misdeed. And he always tries to avoid the relation between him and his partner in business Steve and Steve family.

When Ann and George the son and the daughter of Steve come to Joe Keller hoses he being afraid of if the coming of them is to open the case again, the case here is that the main actor the causes of twenty-one person died in a crash is Joe Keller not Steve but this past misdeed always traps Joe Keller for being afraid of the people surround him especially afraid of his wife Kate because Kate never accept that Larry is died after tree year never coming home after the war.

She always believes that Larry will come home and Keller more afraid when he knows that Kate asks Frank to makes a horoscope for Larry. And when Larry tree blew down by the wind it is also as a good sign for Kate that Larry is still possible

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lives anywhere. Here below is the data that talks about the afraid of Joe Keller for his Past misdeed.

”FRANK (noticing tree). Hey ,what happen To your tree?

KELLER. Ain’t that awful? The wind Must’ve got it last night. You heard the Wind, didn’t you?

FRANK (stuck) you know?-it’s Funny.

KELLER. What?

FRANK. Larry was born in August. He’d Been twenty-seven this month. And his tree blows down

KELLER( touched). I’m surprised you remember his birthday, Frank. That’s nice. FRANK. Well I’m working on his

Horoscope.

KELLER. How can you make him a Horoscope? That’s for the future, ain’t it? FRANK. Well, what I’m doing is this, See. Larry was reported missing on No- vember 25th right?

KELLER. Yeah?

FRANK. Well, then we assume that if He was killed it was on November 25th. Now what Kate wants…

KELLER. Oh, Kate asked you to make a horoscope? FRANK. Yeah, what she wants to find

Out is whether November 25th. Was a fa- Vorable day for Larry./

KELLER. What is that favorable day? FRANK. Well, a favorable day for a person is a fortune day, according to his stars. In other words it would be practically impossible for him to have died on his favorable day.

KELLER. Well was that his favorable Day?-November 25th ?

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3. The Death of Joe Keller

The other thing that influence the downfall of Joe Keller is his un-responsible character. Joe Keller avoids to takes responsibility for his past misdeed. In the last play his son Chris wants to Jails his father for his past misdeed Chris want his father take the risk of his father past misdeed, and he says that he will go and leaves the family and he never wants the business and the money that earn by his father during those years, and Chris hates his father so much even Joe Keller wants to talk to Chris, he not allows him, and Chris said that he will hurt his father if his father force him to have a talk with him. Being rejected by the family and especially his son Chris make Joe Keller so frustrated and at the end of the Play told that Joe Keller end his life. Here below are the dialogues that explain to me about this situation.

…”( Keller enters from house. Chris see him, Goes down near arbor).

KELLER. What’s the matter with you? I Want to talk to you!

CHRIS (pulling violently away from him) Don’t do that Dad. I’m going to

hurt you if you do that. There’s nothing to say if you do that. There’s nothing to say, so say it quick.

KELLER. Exactly what’s the matter? What’s the matter? You got too much Money? Is that what bothers you? CHRIS ( with an edge of sarcasm). It Bothers me.

KELLER. If you can’t get used to it, then Throw it away. You hear me? Take every Cent and give it to charity, throw it in the sewer. Does that settle it? In the sewer, that’s all. You think I’m kidding? I’m tellin’ you what to do, if it’s dirty then burn it. It’s your money, that not my money. I’m a dead man, I’m old dead man,

Nothing’s mine. well talk to me! What do you want to do.

CHRIS. It’s not what I want to do. It’s what you want to do.

KELLER. What should I want to do?

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If you want me to go say, so! Is

That where I belong?- then tell me so!...” Miller,1988:315).

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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION 5.1 Conclusion

After reading the play and doing the analysis about the Downfall of Joe Keller as one of the main Character in Arthur Miller’s Play All My Son I come to my conclusion about the causes of Joe Keller’s. The downfall of Joe Keller is that he is un-responsible man for his past misdeed. Joe Keller always avoids to takes the responsibility for his past misdeed. He chooses to kills himself than go to jail and take responsibility. And another thing that causes Joe Keller’s Downfall is that he traps by his self-concept that money or material success are the most important thing in his life. Joe Keller thinks that material success or money more important than others life even Joe Keller kills one of his son Larry to get money and material success. But finally he realizes that money is not everything in this life. Because he was so frustrated when another son of him named Chris rejected all the money and business that earn by his father Joe Keller. Chris refuses the money and the business want to go-out life the family and all the material success that earn by his father. And the other conclusion that I want to drawn after doing this analysis is that one past misdeed that done by someone must be paid.

5.2 Suggestion

Learning about drama is an interesting subject. I believe the best suggestion for the readers, especially English literature students is to analyze this subject more deeply. Causes I think that we can learn from drama how we will live this life causes drama is like a mirror in our life that gives us inspiration to be better in our real life. I realize that I have limited knowledge in this field concerned so I need some correction and suggestion, I would openly accept it.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abearian, et al. 1982. Literature and Human Experience. New York: Martin’s Press.

Warren, A and Wellek, R. 1962. Theory Of Literature.3rd Edition. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc.

Gassiver,Jhon.1968. Best American Play.3rd Series. New York: Crown Publisher, Inc.

Girgus B. Sam 1981.The American Self Myth, Ideology, and Popular Culture. Mexico: The University of New Mexico press.

George, Barbara.2002. The American Tradition in Literature Volume 2nd Tenth Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill companies, Inc.

George, Barbara.2002. The American Tradition in Literature Volume 1st Tenth Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill companies, Inc.

W.Corrigan,Robert.1981. Comedy: Meaning and Form 2nd Edition. New York: Harper and Row, Publisher, Inc.

Lauter, Paul. 1994. The Heath Anthology of American Literature 1st Volume 2nd Edition. Canada: D.C. Heath and Company.

Trilling, Lionel.1967. The Experience of Literature.USA: Columbia University Press.

Y. Miller, Jhordan. 1961. American Dramatic Literature. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.

Xj, Kennedy 1961. An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. . New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.

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APPENDIX I

SUMMARY OF PLAY ALL MY SON BY ARTHUR MILLER

World War II. The events of the play occur on a single set, the back yard of the Keller home, where a tree has recently been torn down by a storm. The Kellers are solidly middle-class and have a working-class background. They are not rich, but they are financially comfortable, and there is a sense throughout the play that they worked hard to reach this state of stability.

At curtain rise, middle-aged father, uneducated but sensible and generally unexceptional. Jim, the local doctor, is making small talk with his neighbor. After some talk about the weather, another neighbor enters. superstitious.

Keller is reading the want ads in the Sunday paper, and he is quietly impressed by all the different types of business there are nowadays. Frank notices the broken tree, and Keller replies sadly that it fell the previous night. His wife has not yet seen it. Frank refers obliquely to the fact that the tree was planted in memory of Keller's son Larry, who would have turned 27 this month. Frank knows Larry's birthday because he has been preparing a horoscope for Larry at the request of Keller's wife Kate (referred to in the stage directions as "Mother" throughout). She wishes to know if November 25th, the day on which Larry went missing in the war, was a favorable day for her son. According to those who believe in these things (that is, Frank and

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Kate, but not Keller), it would have been fairly impossible for Larry to die on a favorable day.

Keller mentions that a girl named Annie is upstairs sleeping, and the mention of her makes Jim and Frank excited. Jim is new to the neighborhood, so he has never met Annie, and Frank is eager to see an old acquaintance. stops by to tell Jim that a patient is on the phone. Jim implies that the patient in question is a hypochondriac, and Sue suggests that he should be happy to take his doctor's fee whether the patient is really sick or not. Sue mentions that Annie should stop by later to see what they have done to the house she used to live in, and they exit.

Frank exits. Lydia lingers for a moment to ask if Annie is still unmarried (she is). Lydia finds that hard to believe, and Keller replies bitterly that it is because of the war that Annie is single and that he has one son instead of two. She exits.

his father. They wonder what Mother will say about the broken tree. A little boy named Keller is the police inspector and Bert has been deputized to arrest other children in the town. After being told that there is a jail in the basement of the house, Bert leaves to continue his patrol.

Chris and Keller resume conversation about the tree. Early that morning, during the storm, Chris saw his mother standing outside beside the tree when it cracked. She had been crying very hard and wandering around at night, like she did shortly after Larry died. Although Larry has been missing for several years, Mother

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Keller wants to do. Keller rejoins that Chris cannot tell him to go to jail, because Keller clearly does not belong there. Besides, no one worked for free during the war. Wartime is profit time, and if he has to go to jail then half the country has to go with him. Chris understands but had thought Keller was better than the average, being his father. Chris feels unable to look at Keller or himself.

Ann gives Chris the letter, though Mother tries to stop him, or at least stop him from telling Keller what is in the letter. But Chris reads the letter aloud. Larry's letter is from the day he died. He had just seen the papers and heard about his father and the planes crashing. Larry felt full of guilt and anger, and wrote that he could not face anybody. He wrote that he was about to go out on a mission and that he would be reported missing. The letter implies suicide. Larry's letter to Ann adds that he loves her but that she must not wait for him.

Keller is quiet. He understands. He calls for the car and is ready to go upstairs to get a jacket. Mother tries to stop him, saying that Larry would not have sent him to jail. But Keller says that this is exactly what Larry is saying in the letter. "I think to him they were all my sons"--all the pilots who died. He goes upstairs. Mother turns to Chris and pleads with him not to take Keller to jail, but Chris says that nobody could stop Keller now. Mother says that the war is over--all these things are over--he cannot take away her husband. Chris responds that Keller should not just feel sorry; Larry died not just for that. She asks what more could be done, and Chris gives her a way to become better: "Once and for all you can know there's a universe of people outside and you're responsible to it, and unless you know that, you threw away your son because that's why he died."

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A gunshot is heard in the house. Chris runs inside and tells Ann to find the doctor. Mother stays outside and moans her husband's name. Chris comes out in tears and says, "Mother, I didn't mean to-" But she interrupts him and tells him not to take the blame for his father's suicide. "Forget now. Live."

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APPENDIX II

BIOGRAPHY OF ARTHUR MILLER

Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include awards-winning plays such as All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, and The Crucible. Miller was often in the public eye, particularly during the late 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s, a period during which he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and was married to Marilyn Monroe.

Arthur Miller Early life

Arthur Miller was the second of three children of Isidore and Augusta Miller, who were Polish-Jewish immigrants. His father, an illiterate but wealthy businessman, owned a women's clothing store employing 400 people. The family, including his younger sister Joan, lived on East 110th Street in Manhattan and owned a summer house in Far Rockaway, Queens. They employed a chauffeur. In the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the family lost almost everything and moved to Gravesend, Brooklyn. As a teenager, Miller delivered bread every morning before school to help the family make ends meet. After graduating in 1932 from Abraham Lincoln High School, he worked at several menial jobs to pay for his college tuition.

At the University of Michigan, Miller first majored in journalism and worked as a reporter and night editor for the student paper, the Michigan Daily. It was during this time that he wrote his first work, No Villain. Miller switched his major to English, and subsequently won the Avery Hopwood Award for No Villain. He was

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playwriting. Miller retained strong ties to his alma mater throughout the rest of his life, establishing the university's Arthur Miller Award in 1985 and Arthur Miller Award for Dramatic Writing in 1999, and lending his name to the Arthur Miller Theatre In 1937, Miller wrote Honors at Dawn, which also received the Avery Hopwood Award.

In 1938, Miller received a BA in English. After graduation, he joined the Federal Theater Project, a New Deal agency established to provide jobs in the theater. He chose the theater project although he had an offer to work as a scriptwriter for 20th Century Fox. However, Congress, worried about possible Communist infiltration, closed the project in 1939.Miller began working in the Brooklyn Navy Yard while continuing to write radio plays, some of which were broadcast on CBS.

On August 5, 1940, he married his college sweetheart, Mary Slattery, the Catholic daughter of an insurance salesman. The couple had two children, Jane and Robert. Miller was exempted from military service during World War II because of a high-school American football injury to his left kneecap. Robert, a writer and film director, produced the 1996 movie version of The Crucible.

Arthur Miller Early Career

In 1940 Miller wrote The Man Who Had All the Luck, which was produced in New Jersey in 1940 and won the Theater Guild's National Award. The play closed after the four performances and disastrous reviews. In his book Trinity of Passion, author Alan M. Wald conjectures that Miller was "a member of a writer's unit of the Communist Party around 1946", using the pseudonym Matt Wayne, and editing a drama column in the magazine The New Masses. In 1946 Miller's play All My Sons, the writing of which had commenced in 1941, was a success on Broadway (earning

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him his first Tony Award, for Best Author) and his reputation as a playwright was established.

In 1948 Miller built a small studio in Roxbury, Connecticut, a town that was to be his long time home. There, in less than a day, he wrote Act I of Death of a Salesman. Within six weeks, he completed the rest of the play, one of the classics of world theater. Death of a Salesman premiered on Broadway on February 10, 1949 at the Morosco Theatre, directed by Elia Kazan, and starring Lee J. Cobb as Willy Loman, Mildred Dunnock as Linda, Arthur Kennedy as Biff, and Cameron Mitchell as Happy. The play was commercially successful and critically acclaimed, winning a Tony Award for Best Author, the New York Drama Circle Critics' Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was the first play to win all three of these major awards. The play was performed 742 times.

In 1952, Kazan appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC); fearful of being blacklisted from Hollywood, Kazan named eight members of the Group Theatre, including Clifford Odets, Paula Strasberg, Lillian Hellman, Joe Bromberg, and John Garfield, who in recent years had been fellow members of the Communist Party. After speaking with Kazan about his testimony Miller traveled to Salem, Massachusetts to research the witch trials of 1692.[9] The Crucible, an allegorical play in which Miller likened the situation with the House Un-American Activities Committee to the witch hunt in Salem, opened at the Beck Theatre on Broadway on January 22, 1953. Though widely considered only somewhat successful at the time of its initial release, today The Crucible is Miller's most frequently produced work throughout the world and was adapted into an opera by Robert Ward which won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1962.

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Miller and Kazan remained close friends throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s, but after Kazan's testimony to HUAC, the pair's friendship ended, and they did not speak to each other for the next ten years. HUAC took an interest in Miller himself not long after The Crucible opened, denying him a passport to attend the play's London opening in 1954. Kazan defended his own actions through his film On the Waterfront, in which a dockworker heroically testifies against a corrupt union boss.

Miller's experience with HUAC affected him throughout his life. In the late 1970s he became very interested in the highly publicized Barbara Gibbons murder case, in which Gibbons' son Peter Reilly was convicted of his mother's murder based on what many felt was a coerced confession and little other evidence. City Confidential, an A&E Network program about the murder, postulated that part of the reason Miller took such an active interest (including supporting Reilly's defense and using his own celebrity to bring attention to Reilly's plight) was because he had felt similarly persecuted in his run-in with the HUAC. He sympathized with Reilly, whom he firmly believed to be innocent and to have been railroaded by the Connecticut State Police and the Attorney General who had initially prosecuted the case.

In 1956 a one-act version of Miller's verse drama, A View From The Bridge, opened on Broadway in a joint bill with one of Miller's lesser-known plays, A Memory of Two Mondays. The following year, Miller returned to A View from the Bridge, revising it into a two-act prose version, which Peter Brook produced in London. In June 1956 Miller left his first wife Mary Slattery, and on June 29, he married Marilyn Monroe. Miller and Monroe had first met in April 1951, when they had a brief affair, and had remained in contact since then.

An Analysis Of Joe Keller’s Downfall In Arthur Miller’s Play All My Sons