Previous

Some consider Ann the truth-bearer in All My Sons, for her appearance at the Keller home precipitates all the action and revelation in the drama. Ann comes armed with Larry’s suicide note but does not share its contents until the end. A young, attractive, intelligent, independent woman, Ann is the opposite of Kate in many ways. Like her brother, George, Ann has rejected her father, and she determines to live in the light of truth. She loves Chris and wants to make a life with him. Ann hopes to be able to gently expose some truth about Larry and Joe, but she can’t break through Kate’s delusionary wall. When she finally does, the family collapses.

If Joe Keller represents America’s sordid past—the era up to and including World War II—Ann Deever may represent America’s future, the 1950s and 1960s. She overtly acknowledges several difficult truths, including Larry’s death, Joe’s guilt, and her relationship with her imprisoned father, Steve. She faces these realities head-on, unswervingly, and tries her best to bring others into the light, which eventually she does.

Notably, Ann confronts Kate, her future mother-in-law who is twice her age, and never backs down. Each time they argue, Kate changes the subject or retreats to the interior of the set. Of the two, Ann is the younger, stronger woman who moved to New York and got a job after her family’s tragedy. She is the only character without a fatal flaw. Ann wants the best for the others and for herself, meaning one could argue she is the play’s heroine.

Previous section Chris Keller

Take a Study Break