Previous Next

Act Three 

Summary: Act Three

Act Three happens in the dead of night, in the early morning hours of the following day. Kate sits on the porch alone, staring at the moon. Jim returns from a house call and tells Kate that he’s always known Joe was guilty. Chris has driven away, alone. Jim tells Kate that Chris does not have the “talent” to live with this kind of truth but that, unlike Larry, Chris will return. When Joe appears, Kate tells him that he should turn himself in, which enrages Joe. He is also upset that Jim is inserting himself into his family. Again, Joe defends himself by claiming that his actions were justified by profits and family. Kate explains that for Chris, integrity is bigger than family, an idea that Joe can’t understand. Joe insists he’ll kill himself if there’s something bigger than family. He also says that Larry would have not acted like this, and that Larry understood money better than Chris does.

Ann appears and tries to convince Kate to be honest with Chris about Larry, freeing the two of them to marry. Kate refuses, they argue, and Joe goes back into the house at Ann’s request. Ann has a letter from Larry that she hadn’t wanted to share, but she now feels that Kate has left her no choice. Chris appears and apologizes to Ann for being a coward and for trusting Joe. Chris announces that he’ll go to Cleveland to start a new life. He will not put his own father in jail, but he can no longer tolerate being in Joe’s presence.

Joe reappears, on the defensive. Chris admits that he feels so angry that he could do Joe physical harm. Joe yells at Chris to throw the family money away if he thinks it’s dirty and claims that what he did for the business was commonplace, that many men profited from the war. Chris agrees but admits that he blindly revered Joe.

The climax of Act Three, and the entire play, is the moment when Ann shares Larry’s letter—and the horrible truth of it—with the rest of his family. In the letter, Larry confesses that he will commit suicide in response to his father’s crime. He read about Joe and Steve being convicted in a U.S. newspaper. Everyone listening becomes distraught. Joe quietly says that he finally understands and will turn himself in. He goes back inside. Kate asks Chris to let things go, but Chris refuses. He sees a bigger picture and believes that they all need to accept consequences and be better people. Suddenly, a gunshot explodes inside the house. Joe has killed himself. Kate tells Chris that it’s not his fault, that he should go on living, and the curtain falls.

Analysis: Act Three

In Act Three, what was formerly hidden is now obscenely exposed. What was not spoken about is discussed again and again. What was whispered in secret is now screamed. It is the act of catharsis, the climax of tragedy. In the case of All My Sons, what was denied as impossible early in the play is inevitably accepted as truth.

Act Three is full of “finallys.” Finally, Chris confronts Joe with not only his long suspicion but also the toll it has taken on his idealism. Chris has been changed by these three years of denial and lies. Finally, Kate embraces her maternal power, rejecting Joe and holding Chris while letting go of an emotional prison that she’s been in for three years. Finally, George and Ann will communicate with Steve and perhaps one day support his parole. Finally, Chris is free from the shackles of guilt and shame. Finally, Ann shares the burden of Larry’s letter and the truth revealed in its words. Miller leaves his audience wondering whether Ann and Chris will survive as a couple. Despite Joe’s death or perhaps because of it, there is hope that they will.

In a surprising irony, Joe reveals that he thinks of Larry as the more dutiful son because he was willing to do whatever was necessary to preserve the family business. However, Larry was even more devastated by his father’s crime than Chris. Joe has misjudged both of his sons’ characters, which is a large part of his downfall.

Often, the dialogue in Act Three becomes poetic in its brevity. For example, Chris says of Joe, “Now if I look at him, all I’m able to do is cry.” Similarly, Joe screams at Chris, “Who worked for nothin’ in that war? . . . Did they ship a gun or truck outa Detroit before they got their price? Is that clean? It’s dollars and cents, nickels and dimes; war and peace[.]” Nothing is held back. Ironically, everything that was hidden in the daylight becomes exposed in the darkness. It’s victory for truth yet personal defeat for nearly all the main characters.

In Greek and Shakespearean tradition, All My Sons moves from seeming order to real chaos. It is an American tragedy, set perfectly and specifically in the post–World War II era and its ensuing culture. Women and men are both present yet unequal. War is glorified yet questioned. Money is worshipped yet dirty. Material success is the goal yet the enemy. Miller captures these dichotomies, and they are still relevant today.

Previous section Act Two Next section Full Book Summary

Take a Study Break