Chris Flashcards
That’s all right, just the…
…book section
pg 11
Juxtaposition w Keller ‘It’s more interesting in the want ads’
Narrow responsibility vs wider responsibility
My whole bloody life, time after time after time
Pg 16
taboo lang ‘bloody’- annoyance and frustration
repetition- exhausted, used for his kindness
You have such a talent for ignorning things
Pg 16
Dramatic irony- Chris is acc unaware
Foreshadowing- Keller’s ignorance
I’ve been a good son too long, a good sucker. I’m through with it
pg 17
repetition of ‘good’- impact, pre-planned
KQ:The business doesn’t inspire me… I want it beautful, I want a family, I want some kids, I want to build something I can give myself to.
Pg 17
Verb “inspire” illustrates a genuine desire for fulfilment in his work, rather than blindly following wealth and materialism. Adds a sense of wholesomeness to his character, which which perhaps represents a post-war longing for something more out of life, being frustrated and tired with superficiality of society.
Anaphora- pre-planned, considered speech. Importance of this to Chris
‘Beautiful’ creates a sense of idealism, contrasted with the gritty and harsh verb “grub”, which would suggest hard and difficult labour. Chris is used to explore and illustrates the nature of idealism, in which idealism and hope are separated from blind optimism.
Idealism- aspiration for AD blind him from seeing the reality of the business he is inheriting ( I was made yellow)
Downward convergence- ‘I want it beautiful’- Keller is uneducated
KQ: In the battalion he was known as mother mckeller
Wider responsibility
Changed American
pg 24
Compassionate figure, selfless, philantropic
Mother- proper noun= familial connotation, wider responsibility. To a changed American thehy were all his sons
KQ:So who flew those P-40s, pigs?
Changed American
Chris and Keller
Wider responsiblity
Context- Curtiss-wright manufactures
pg 32
Conflict builds here. Chris’s views of social responsibility are in direct contrast to his father’s views on life.
Tone of sarcam
‘Pigs’- either animalistic imagery= to Joe they were no more than animals
OR idiom= made up, imaginary people, doesnt have the wider capacity to see them as lives
Chris belives they deserve the same consideration as Larry- wider responsibility
Changed American
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
KQ: A kind of… responsibility
Responsibility
Guilt
35
Collective responsibility- juxtaposes Keller’s monologue
Pause-hesitance and remorse= survivors guilt
That rat-race again
35
idiom- belittles business, no value in money for him
Changed American
I… there was no meaning in it here
35
false start- confused at ignorance of society
criticises AD
post-war american- prioirity has changed away from capitalism
Do you think i could forgive him if he’d done that thing?
47
thing- euphemism, naive, foreshadows reaction
accusatory tone- appaled
Remember he was falsely accused once and it put him through hell
47
Remember- imperative verb, accusatory, harsh tone= love/obligation for his father
idiom- evokes pathos, hyperbolises what Keller has gone through
sin- presents K as a vulnerable figure, victimises him
KQ: Dad…Dad, you killed twenty-one men!
You killed them, you murdered them
69
pause- disebelief
‘Dad’- repetition of personal pronoun urgency to appeal to his paternal nature
exclamative- voice of fury
Direct adress- accusatory voice
Killed -> murdered. Shift in tone, increasing rage. Use of violent verb
KQ: [With burning fury] For me!… For me!- I was dying every day and you were killing my boys and you did it for me?
70
Prosodic- Anger, rage
Pause- disbelief
Repetition ‘For me’- doesnt understand the narrow responsibility mindset
‘my boys’- personal pronoun, sense of responisbility
‘I was dying every day’ Metaphor- survivors guilt
KQ: Don’t you have a country? What the hell are you? You’re not even an animal, no animal kills his own, what are you?
70
“Don’t you have a country?” = questioning Joe’s allegiances in a greatly patriotic post-war America, suggesting he doesn’t understand the responsibility we have for one another.
Rep of rhetoricals- increasing fury
Animalistic imagery - dehumanises keller, suggesting a lack of basic morality and intelligence, acts also as a critique for wider society, and the conservative establishment, of which Joe is a product of - the actions of both being abhorrent. In reality, animals often do kill each other, Chris does not fully understand society as a whole, yet knows there are problems.
Link to P-40 pigs- to Joe they were no more than animals
belittles him- lost respect for his father
admonishes his lack of concern for humanity
KQ: I’m yellow. I was made yellow in this house.
80
colour imagery = metaphor for his shame and cowardice
as an excuse to act selfishly in the name of pragmatism, a conservative ideal.
This degradation of himself is the result of him not being able to do the right and him realising that in the real world, he may be unable to uphold his ‘man for man’ ideology and instead, he was doing exactly what he condemned his father for doing, which is running away from his problems
Second yellow- passive, was made complicit
Declarative
Admitance as a coward= strong social responsibility, doesn’t self-exculpate
I’m practical now. You made me practical
80
Repetition of practical- stunted, hung up on it
loss of innocence and collectivity
the imperative verb “made” would suggest an inability to change this, he is forced to be complicit, but in reality he is not.
This is the land of the great big dogs, you don’t love a man here, you eat him!
81
Animalistic imagery- inhumanity of society
Extended metaphor
Exculpates father- familial responsibility
reference to Christianity. Chris sees the world as cruel and inhumane, especially those that profited from the war.
I never saw you as a man. I saw you as my father
82
Emphatic stress on personal pronoun
Man and Father juxtaposition- appeals to paternal ideology and Keller’s familial obligation
You can be better! Once and for all you can know there’s a universe of people outside and you’re responsible to it.’
84
Stichomythia+ exclamative
- tension
proxy for Miller
Adverbial phrase
Didactic play
“Oh Annie, Annie… I’m going to make a fortune for you!”
Prioritising family, and a enthusiasm to make money as a form of protection / a guarantee of the future, seems to echo Joe’s motives elsewhere in the play. Repetition of “Annie” shows he is caught up in his emotion and love for Annie, and there’s where his motivation for love comes from. The personal pronoun “you” further reinforces this idea that motives are selfless. However, he is carried away in this desire. “Fortune” suggests a life of excess, the purity of love has been tainted by materialism, and we seek to express this through money? “Fortune” disrupts monosyllabic rhythms = corrupts his simplistic motives of providing for family.
