tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75339498147672865192016-02-24T10:48:55.926-08:00Bryan Thomasnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7533949814767286519.post-64008799356357525152014-07-30T05:50:00.001-07:002014-07-30T05:50:19.753-07:00I had to write an analysis outline for “All My Sons” by Arthur Miller. Can't say it was the greatest thing I've ever done but here it is in all its glory.<br /><br /><b>A. Exposition: </b><br /><br />➀ In the third act Joe stands in grass w\Kate and exposes his childhood.&nbsp; Joe was put out when he was ten to earn his keep.&nbsp; <br /><br />➁ 1st act.&nbsp; Learn about the tree.&nbsp; We learn it was a memorial for Larry; we lean it falls over on his birthday.&nbsp; <br /><br />➂ 1st act.&nbsp; Learn Chris wants to marry Annie, despite not seeing her for 5 yrs.&nbsp; Chris tells this to Joe.<br /><br /><b>B.&nbsp; POA.&nbsp;</b> Morning after the tree fell down and three years after Larry has been gone.&nbsp; Joe comes on stage to sit in chair reading the paper.&nbsp; The neighbor, Dr. Bailey, talks with Joe.&nbsp; Chris comes out of house and asks for book section.&nbsp; <br /><br /><b>C.&nbsp; Main Conflict--</b>concerns Larry’s death and Joe’s denial of a coverup at the plant.&nbsp; <br /><b><br />D. Crisis--</b>George exposes what he knows: Defective cylinder heads at plant.&nbsp; Joe was home.&nbsp; Steve was at plant.&nbsp; Steve calls Joe telling him the problem.&nbsp; Joe tells Steve over phone: weld ‘em up and ship ‘em out.&nbsp; Chris and Ann are in this scene.&nbsp; George also tries to take Ann back home with him since George does not want her to marry Chris.<br /><br /><b>E.&nbsp; Climax-- </b>The truth is exposed.&nbsp; Joe tells Chris what really happened--the truth.&nbsp; Chris freaks out.&nbsp; Drives away.&nbsp; Comes back late at night.&nbsp; After Ann shows Kate the letter that Larry wrote before he killed himself.&nbsp; Ann then shows Chris the note.&nbsp; Then Joe is shown the note.&nbsp; By now Joe’s hope to have one son that understands him and how business works is still good, until he reads the note.&nbsp; He then calls an end to it all.&nbsp; Goes into house and shoots himself.<br /><br /><b>2.&nbsp; Modern Tragedy.</b><br /><br />➀&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Protagonist is an ordinary person.&nbsp; I kind of disagree on this one.&nbsp; Aristotle Vs. Miller.&nbsp; .&nbsp; Didn’t Miller write a definition of tragedy that said certain ordinary individuals are capable of being a tragic hero?&nbsp;&nbsp; Why would Joe had a elevated stature then?&nbsp; He had a business, which included wealth, and he made the money for the household, since it is know his wife only wanted money to shop with.&nbsp; Joe, about three years ago, could also be considered head of the household; however, now Kate seems to assume this position.&nbsp;&nbsp; Materialistically he is ordinary: regular house, one car, cheap clothes, mismatched lawn furniture, and he reads the want ads.&nbsp; <br /><br />➁&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Serious tone.&nbsp; There was no comedy here.&nbsp; The tree falling over on Larry’s birthday makes this play start out like a melodrama, not a tragedy.&nbsp; <br /><br />➂&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Totally committed to a goal.&nbsp; Joe’s goal was to make sure his business flourished, so his son could take it over.&nbsp; He wanted the best for his son.<br /><br />➃&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Incite an emotional response toward the audience.&nbsp; Subjective--see number nine<br /><br />➄&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Protagonist falls, but not in terms of a societal position.&nbsp; Joe loses what means most to him.&nbsp; Both of his sons.&nbsp; Only Larry dies, but Joe can’t live with the idea that Larry killed himself because of Joe’s business tactics.&nbsp; <br /><br />➅&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Language is written in that of ordinary people.&nbsp; It is in English; there are no sophisticated French or German words mixed in, except for Chris.&nbsp; He says something in French, but Joe says neither.&nbsp; The Joe speaks w\out a big vocabulary, suggesting he is ordinary and uneducated.&nbsp; <br /><br />➆&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Protagonist will still have tragic flaw.&nbsp; He took his deceitful flaw w\him to the grave.<br /><br />➇&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Plot has to go by cause--Climactic structure:<br /><br /><b>A.</b>&nbsp; Plot begins three years after Larry has been dead.&nbsp; Three years ago was around the time that Joe was involved in a little problem at the plant.&nbsp; It is three years from this date that we learn the story.<br /><b><br />B.</b>&nbsp; There is less than three days in this play.&nbsp; I remember two nights.&nbsp; Night tree falls over.&nbsp; Night that Chris comes back home.&nbsp; There is only about a 48 hour span within the entire play.&nbsp; <br /><br /><b>C.&nbsp;</b> There are three solid one scene acts.<br /><br /><b>D</b>. The play occurs in the back yard.&nbsp; <br /><br /><b>E.</b>&nbsp; Limited Characters that appear on screen: Ann, Joe, Frank, Wife of Frank--can’t remember her name, Chris, Kate, George, Dr. Bailey and his wife.&nbsp; Mentioned characters but not seen: Larry, Steve.<br /><br /><b>➈&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Catharsis.</b>&nbsp; Joe dies at the end.&nbsp; Do we feel cleansed?&nbsp; I cheated.&nbsp; I looked around the room to see if people seemed to look like they felt better after this.&nbsp; Many had large smiles on their faces when it was over.&nbsp; It looked like they were purged, but I am not sure about myself.&nbsp; <br /><br /><h3>3.&nbsp; Theme&nbsp; </h3><br /><b>A.&nbsp; Big.</b>&nbsp; Has to do w/state of nature.&nbsp; Social contract.&nbsp; Hobbes.&nbsp; Locke. How we are suppose to behave in certain situations?&nbsp; Free and equal, fighting, and every man or woman for oneself--state of nature; in the play this is the business aspect.&nbsp; Or civilized and give up our freedom to be in groups w\one leader--social contract. We have certain obligations to other individuals.&nbsp; Certain ideas that are fundamental so we don’t act like primitive humans beings.&nbsp; These ideas make us feel part of a group.&nbsp; This is the social contract that is within us, even though we don’t normally say that “I’m engaging in social contract when I’m near you.”&nbsp; We just do it most of the time without thought.<br /><br /><b>B.</b> I chose this theme because I did not want to write some trite theme down.&nbsp; <br /><br /><b>C.&nbsp; Example.&nbsp;</b> Joe does not engage in this, when the plant problem occurs.&nbsp; He is in a state of nature&nbsp; He puts business in front of living a civilized&nbsp; reality. He does this to stay on top with no regard for anyone but himself, although he does say that he kept his business for his sons. I think deep down within him he was keeping his business tactics and more business is more power.&nbsp; More power is equal to money.&nbsp; Joe’s business tactics are exactly what Hobbes wrote in Leviathan: “the life of man [in the state of nature is] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” (13).&nbsp; The exception is that Joe is one step ahead, understanding state of nature and social contract.&nbsp; He uses his business tactics to pass this dire life on to Steve, who ends up in jail.&nbsp; Jail seems to fit this description too. This is a state of nature and Hobbes says that “in that condition called war, and such a war as is every man against himself” (13).&nbsp; Joe makes it through the troubled water, doing what it takes to balance these two conditions of life, but he is still inflicted with guilt.&nbsp; And when the guilt becomes to strong for him, he splatters his brain cells on the walls.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br /><br />George starts with state of nature but changes to social contract.&nbsp; He changes his mind about the Keller family, when they make him feel at home, treating him nice, asking him for dinner, even though he tried to wreak more havoc on them.&nbsp; George conforms. Follows the social situation.&nbsp; He goes from the free mind that could beat the snot out of somebody to a civilized person that is part of a group.&nbsp; The family was nice to George while he lived next door to them, and they are nice to him in the present too; he has little choice, but to be nice back.--Reciprocity.&nbsp; He feels part of a group.&nbsp; <br /><br /><b>D.&nbsp; Today’s world.&nbsp; </b>Most people balance the two ideas, and most people engage in this stuff not knowing they are doing either.&nbsp; However, the calculated aspect of business often holds a state of nature attitude, because each person wants to become wealthy.&nbsp; These people will do whatever it takes to acquire this wealth, too.&nbsp; I think it has to do with the idea that some people can’t think abstractly, since what these people chase is something, not nothing.&nbsp; Something is material; nothing is abstract ideas and feelings.&nbsp; The abstract ideas and feelings some people don’t want, because these things can’t be piled up in a corner of the room to prove how successful one is to another human being.&nbsp; Example: Joe Vs Sam.&nbsp; Joe has a sixty foot boat; Sam has a sixty-one foot boat.&nbsp; Who is above who?&nbsp; It is a way of measurement.&nbsp; <br /><br /><h3>Competition.&nbsp; </h3><br /><b>4.&nbsp; Extras</b><br /><br />One simile I remember: “it is like we are at a railroad station waiting for a train that is never coming in.”&nbsp; Regards to Larry.&nbsp; <br /><br />Seems to me Chris is picking to marry Ann for other reasons than love.&nbsp; Example: “I love you a great deal.” Chris says.&nbsp; For someone who is supposedly educated those are some pretty choice words.&nbsp; Perhaps there is a psychological reason why he wants to marry his brother’s wife.&nbsp; Chris is handed everything and he has grown accustomed to that.&nbsp; I think this because he does not want his father’s money, not wanting to owe or be subordinate.&nbsp; Chris gets the idea that he would be able to move on, instead of living at home.&nbsp; Annie gets the idea that she will be taken care the rest of her life.&nbsp; The typical idea that men are suppose to take care of women with money; hence the idea that Chris doesn’t want Dad’s money; he doesn’t want to be subordinate.&nbsp; The only thing is that Annie says Dad’s money is ok; who is she looking out for?&nbsp; Chris then says that he will make lots of money for them.&nbsp;&nbsp; Chris seems like a person who wants to be well-liked, until he decides to marry Annie.&nbsp; <br /><br />Kate is also believes in Astrology--fate.&nbsp; Fate always loses because people make choices to do certain things.&nbsp; Kate is torn; she will wait forever for her son to come back.&nbsp; She expects the same out of everybody else, too.&nbsp; Why will she wait?&nbsp; Mother/child relationship, nothing more powerful.&nbsp; Larry exited Kate’s body, and that is why she can’t let go.&nbsp; I think that Annie has an easier time letting go, even after she received Larry’s note because of that unconditional love.&nbsp; The reason I say this is ‘cause people fall in and out of love every single day, but it is not always unconditional love.&nbsp; There is a question that goes up there with theme: What causes us to love?&nbsp; How do we know we are in love, especially when we like a person who offers us gratification and has an attribute we like--Is that love?&nbsp; Maybe Annie was never in love.&nbsp; She was just following society: marry a guy who can support you, marry a guy who has good attributes--physical, emotional, spiritual--marry a guy who gratifies you--good sex.&nbsp; The question still remains: What and how do we know what love is? <br />There are social ideas about the values of men and women.&nbsp; Who is suppose to make the money?&nbsp; Man?&nbsp; Woman?&nbsp; This is exposed in a scene that the neighbor lady tells Ann to marry a guy that can make a lot of money. Getting truly technical with this and keeping this view, is not Joe justified to do what he did, since he is the one making the money?&nbsp; The reason:&nbsp; he is the man.&nbsp; The man is supposed to be cold and calculated in the traditional sense, and the woman more toward emotions; therefore, his actions seem justified.&nbsp; <br /><br />Joe wants to be well-liked in his old age.&nbsp; He tries to keep Chris in line; he doesn’t want Chris to upset Kate with the idea that Larry is dead, and Chris wants to marry Annie.&nbsp; Joe is also very nice to the neighbor kid, Dr. Bailey, and Frank, even though not everybody puts him in high regard.&nbsp; <br /><br /><b>B.&nbsp; Important Scenes.</b><br /><br />When George came over and caused an uproar.&nbsp; The only problem was he conformed.&nbsp; The lone ranger bursted in there alone, causing an uproar.&nbsp; George then conformed, going to dinner with them.&nbsp; He said: “never felt at home anywhere but here.”&nbsp; Why would he be like Annie and defy his father, dining with the man who put his father in jail?&nbsp; He felt as a group--part of something; there is that social contract idea.&nbsp;&nbsp; Oh yeah, before I forget George wore his father’s hat; his father’s spirit was in that hat, because it was dads.&nbsp; When he conforms the hat is no longer on.&nbsp; <br /><br />A lot changes when Kate lets something slip: “Joe was never sick.”&nbsp; Joe corrects her, saying he was sick in bed the week that the problem at the plant occurred.&nbsp; This was important; I have mentioned it earlier, too.&nbsp; <br /><br />***<br /><br />Zimmerman, Sidney E., and Peter Woll.&nbsp; American Government.&nbsp; New York: McGraw-Hill, 1989.Bryan Thomashttps://plus.google.com/111370841935244998223noreply@blogger.com0