Joe

Question 1

I dont read the news part any more. It’s more interesting in the want ads

Answer 1

Narrow responsibility- ignorance
Contraction- unedcuated
Juxt Chris
pg 6

Question 2

She can’t mourn a boy forever

Answer 2

lack of personal pronoun
distance self from events
contrast to mother
different reactions to guilt
pg 11

Question 3

That’s an arresting gun!

Answer 3

Chekhovs gun
dramatic principle
increases tensions as it is used to foreshadow however audience are unaware of what it is foreshadowing
pg 13

Question 4

What the hell did I work for then? That’s only for you, Chris. The whole shooting match is for you

Answer 4

DA plea
Narrow responsibility
Self-exculpation- makes family complicit
pg 17

Question 5

Jail symbol

Answer 5

pg 13
pg 29

Question 6

The beast i was the beast monologue

Answer 6

30
pauses- dramatises story, enjoys being the centre of attention
exonerated- pre planned, idiolect
mocking tone ‘beast’
animalistic imagery
kid- diminutive
tone of arrogance

Question 7

Annie, I never believed in crucifying people

Answer 7

not part of his idiolect
pre-planned speech
revels in the story
prioritises his reputation
sets expectation- hopes he isnt crucified if ppl found out
31

Question 8

The major was whippin us monologue
little man

Answer 8

32

Focuses on business and production
- narrow respinsibility
- Representative of the American Dream

Question 9

You know Larry never flew a P-40

Answer 9

32

ignorance

Question 10

The man was a fool… but don’t make a murderer out of him

Answer 10

32
highlights Steve’s human fallibility
juxt between ‘fool’ and ‘murderer’
naive vs malicious

Question 11

It was a madhouse

Answer 11

32
metaphor and idiom
presents the environmemt as chaotic and frantic

Question 12

Every half hour the Major callin’ for cylinder heads, they were whippin’ us with the telephone

Answer 12

32
Major= antagonist, villanises him, character who cannot defend his actions, hegemonic figure

every half hour- hyperbole, exculpate Steve

callin’ whippin’- verbs reflect a leack of agency
image of violence and brutality
intensity of factory
hyperbolic language
rejects culpability as he blames the environment
elision ‘callin, whippin’ uneducated- doesn’t just make steve look like a fool

submission to systems in place rather than challenging them and doing what is moral.

Question 13

A fine, hairline crack

Answer 13

32
Adjectives, hedge
minimise the severity of the crack

Question 14

All right, so… so he’s a little man, your father…. but that’s what a little man does

Answer 14

32
diminuitive
repetition
victimises steve
exagerates his vulnerability
evokes a sense of sympathy
vs hegemonic figure of the major
Steves fragice masculinity
the monosyllabic tone creates a sense of certainty, lying is second nature to Joe? Sense of ease.

but in a post war audience, probably a lack of sympathy

Question 15

Annie, the day the news came about Larry he was in a cell next to mine… Dad. And he cried, Annie… he cried half the night.

Answer 15

33
Annie- diminuitive, remind Annie of past, exploit her vulnerablility

…- pauses, crafts his language

‘Dad’- familial language to exploit Ann’s emotions and make her more susceptible to his narrative

‘cried’- repetition of verb
exaggerates steves vulnerability/ fragility
presents him as a figure who needs protection

Question 16

I want a clean start for you, Chris…
I’m going to build you a house…

Answer 16

38
topic shift to business
Ignorant to Chris’ dreams
ideology of Am Dream

Question 17

He grips Chris by the back of the neck, and with laughter between his determined jaws

Answer 17

38
Paralinguistics
Closy proximity to initimidate- desperate
only way to show urgency- lacks intellect

Question 18

Everybody’s gettin’ so Goddam educated in this country

It’s a tragedy: you stand on the street today and spit, you’re gonna hit a college man

Answer 18

48

diatribe ab education

taboo lang

gettin- contraction

inescurity

Post-war Americans prioritise education- post WW2 funding for college increased

Gonna- ellision

Question 19

A daughter is a daughter, and a father is a father

Answer 19

49

Narrow responsibility

Repetition- remind Ann of family duty

Question 20

A little man makes a mistake and they hang him by the thumbs; the big ones become ambassadors

Answer 20

63

Masculinity- exculpates

Miller uses Joe as a construct to criticise the govt

Joe understand the hierarchical nature os society, and takes issue with it, yet he does not reject it and deconstruct it throughout the play, he seeks to become the “big man”.

“Hang him by his thumbs” suggests cruelty, physical and emotional punishments, almost medieval form of torture = clear disregard for those without power and status.

“Ambassador” suggests furthered political power.

Question 21

I mean like in 1973…

Im just mentioning it. Because this is just another one of a lot of things

Like when he gave Frank that money to invest in oil stock

Answer 21

64

Anecdotes- pre planned, adds credibility to human fallibity- self-exculpation

DA Rep ‘You remember that’- manipulation, intimidate

weaken georges argument

Question 22

There are certain men in the world who rather see everyone else hung before they’ll take the blame

Answer 22

64

Dramatic irony

tone of superiority

Question 23

[cruelly] Three and a half years you been talking like a maniac

Answer 23

68

Stage direction/ prosodic- Keller’s true nature is revealed, absence of sympathy for mother

Question 24

[ the beggining of a plea in his voice] He never flew a P-40 x2

Answer 24

68/69

prosodic- vulnerability

Repetition- filler, not pre-panned

symbolic of his narrow responsibility

Specific plane ‘P-40’ is contextually significant. Curtiss P-40 Warhawk was the third most-produced American fighter of World War II- and it was produced by the Curtiss- Wright who had conspired with army inspection officers to approve defective aircraft engines destined for military use

juxt pg 32 C ‘So who flew those P-40s, pigs?’

Question 25

business…business..business

Answer 25

69

rep ‘business’

Narrow responsibility

Capitalist mindset

Arrogance- hubris

Blinded by his economic status

Question 26

Let them take my life away

Answer 26

69

Irony- did the same to steve

Let- passive verb= still doesnt take responsibility

Question 27

Chris… Chris I did it for you

Answer 27

70

DA- Shift blame- self-exculpation- chris is complicit

Narrow responsibility

Pause- considers speech

Question 28

What happened to my family

Answer 28

75

interrogative

Myopic

Reiterates commitment to family

Desire to fullfill AD

Places blame on family

Wants a sympathetic reaction

Question 29

[almost an outburst]

Answer 29

75

prosodic feature

symbolises physical frustration- sickof emotional turmoil

Question 30

then what do i do? tell me, talk to me, what do i do?

Answer 30

76

imperatives + interrogatives- lost his patriachal purpose

Question 31

He would forgive me! For what?

Answer 31

76

Family intervention fails to catalyse moral redemption- th

Blinded by his ignorance and lust for status

Contradicts his role as ‘family man’- mitigates excuse

Question 32

I spoiled the both of you… Then he’d know how a buck is made in this world. Fogiven! I could live on a quarter a day myself, but i got a family so I …

Answer 32

76

Irony: K’s money is immoral

Narrow responsibility at a cost to society- defkection from soldiers death to family

War profiteering- unpatriotic

Tone of sarcasm and disbelief

Question 33

Im his father and he’s my son and if there’s something bigger than that i’ll put a bullet in my head!

Answer 33

77

Family still comes first despite everything- narrow responsibility

Tone of anger and violence- evoke a reaction

Foreshadowing his moral awakening- significance of Larry’s letter

Question 34

It’s dollars and cents, nickles and dimes, war and peace., its nickles and dimes, whats clean? Half the Goddam country gotta go if i go!

Answer 34

82

taboo lang
Exclamative
nickles and dimes- capitalist mindset

Miller admonishes war profiteering

Question 35

[Pleading] Chris, a man can’t be a Jesus in this world!

Answer 35

83

Biblical allusion- ironic bc jesus took blame
Prosodic- voice of desperation
Doesnt understand ethical crime
DA- blames Chris

Question 36

But to him they were all my sons. And i guess they were, I guess they were

Answer 36

83

Voice of realisation

Acknowledges failure of paternal duties

Reference to soliders as people

Collective responsibility

Saying he should have valued all life equally - valued it to the level he valued his sons

However, there is a lack of introspection, he only talk is about this through the eyes of “him” (Larry), and the hesitation, suggested through the repetition and tentative verbs, the capitalist values are so “imprinted” he is unable to change. Or perhaps he is still in shock over the news of his sons death.

Question 37

“arresting gun” / a “hunting gun” (Act One)
“a shot is heard in the house” (Act Three)

Answer 37

Does Joe take responsibility?

“Arresting gun” = Police as an infallible symbol of justice would suggest consequences are appropriate and fitting. However, is is only an “arresting gun” in the infantile world and childish game with Bert.

In reality = “hunting gun” = Joe killed by a symbol of unfair killing. Final suggestion that he’s the tragic hero, the prey to a predatory and cruel society. Also killed by a symbol of his own wealth.