All My Sons
by Arthur Miller
All My Sons Memory and the Past Quotes
How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Act.Line). Every time a character talks counts as one line, even if what they say turns into a long monologue.
Ann: Haven't they stopped talking about Dad?
Chris: Nobody talks about him any more.
Keller: Gone and forgotten, kid. (1.430-432)
Just as they team up to protect Kate from the reality of Larry's death, Joe and Chris keep the truth from Ann. In fact, the neighbors talk about it all the time.
[On the Rise: Chris is discovered at Right, sawing the broken-off tree, leaving stump standing alone.] (2.1)
In this stage direction that opens Act 2, we see Chris's insistence on wiping out Larry's memory so he can move forward with Ann.
Keller: Goddam, if Larry was alive he wouldn't act like this. He understood the way the world was made. He listened to me. To him the world had a forty-foot front, it ended at the building line. (3.77)
Joe's image of his dead son's worldview is about to be refuted, in a big way, by the reading of his suicide note.