Joe Flashcards
I dont read the news part any more. It’s more interesting in the want ads
Narrow responsibility- ignorance
Contraction- unedcuated
Juxt Chris
pg 6
She can’t mourn a boy forever
lack of personal pronoun
distance self from events
contrast to mother
different reactions to guilt
pg 11
That’s an arresting gun!
Chekhovs gun
dramatic principle
increases tensions as it is used to foreshadow however audience are unaware of what it is foreshadowing
pg 13
What the hell did I work for then? That’s only for you, Chris. The whole shooting match is for you
DA plea
Narrow responsibility
Self-exculpation- makes family complicit
pg 17
Jail symbol
pg 13
pg 29
The beast i was the beast monologue
30
pauses- dramatises story, enjoys being the centre of attention
exonerated- pre planned, idiolect
mocking tone ‘beast’
animalistic imagery
kid- diminutive
tone of arrogance
Annie, I never believed in crucifying people
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
The major was whippin us monologue
little man
32
Focuses on business and production
- narrow respinsibility
- Representative of the American Dream
You know Larry never flew a P-40
32
ignorance
The man was a fool… but don’t make a murderer out of him
32
highlights Steve’s human fallibility
juxt between ‘fool’ and ‘murderer’
naive vs malicious
It was a madhouse
32
metaphor and idiom
presents the environmemt as chaotic and frantic
Every half hour the Major callin’ for cylinder heads, they were whippin’ us with the telephone
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.
A fine, hairline crack
32
Adjectives, hedge
minimise the severity of the crack
All right, so… so he’s a little man, your father…. but that’s what a little man does
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
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.
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
I want a clean start for you, Chris…
I’m going to build you a house…
38
topic shift to business
Ignorant to Chris’ dreams
ideology of Am Dream
He grips Chris by the back of the neck, and with laughter between his determined jaws
38
Paralinguistics
Closy proximity to initimidate- desperate
only way to show urgency- lacks intellect
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
48
diatribe ab education
taboo lang
gettin- contraction
inescurity
Post-war Americans prioritise education- post WW2 funding for college increased
Gonna- ellision
A daughter is a daughter, and a father is a father
49
Narrow responsibility
Repetition- remind Ann of family duty
A little man makes a mistake and they hang him by the thumbs; the big ones become ambassadors
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.
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
64
Anecdotes- pre planned, adds credibility to human fallibity- self-exculpation
DA Rep ‘You remember that’- manipulation, intimidate
weaken georges argument
There are certain men in the world who rather see everyone else hung before they’ll take the blame
64
Dramatic irony
tone of superiority
[cruelly] Three and a half years you been talking like a maniac
68
Stage direction/ prosodic- Keller’s true nature is revealed, absence of sympathy for mother
[ the beggining of a plea in his voice] He never flew a P-40 x2
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?’
