How Does Miller’s Writing Reveal the Way Kate Keller and Ann Feel About Larry?

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The play ‘All my Sons” by Arthur Miller focuses on the themes of loss, guilt and the past revealing itself in the present. In this scene, Miller reveals that Kate and Ann feel very differently about Larry. Kate, as Larry’s mother, refuses to believe that he has died and needs other people around her to feel the same to give her feeling credibility, whereas Ann has come to terms with his death and, although expresses sadness and has a nostalgic attitude, feels ready to move forward with her life. Kate is driven by emotions regarding her feelings for Larry and Chris is determined for her to face up to reality. However, her sons death is something she won’t accept due to the implications it might have, displaying that she is trapped in the past. She claims that “some things can never be”, even after Ann repeatedly questions how her he could possibly still be alive after 3 years of absence; “why does your heart tell you he’s still alive?” Furthermore, Miller uses stage directions to describe Kate as having an “overwhelming capacity for love,” this could be seen as the reason for her stubbornness and failure to agree with something that is almost a certainty. Moreover, she uses examples of other soldiers coming home after several years as fuel for her thoughts and as a form of continuously convincing her that her son is alive. Within Kate’s wild beliefs include that desire and need for the people surrounding her to have the same thought on the situation. Hence why she gets so defensive and frustrated when others such as her son and Ann suggest that Larry is dead. For example, Ann answers Kate’s question as to wether she has continued to wait on her previous partner by saying, “you mean am I still waiting for him?...Well, I’m not, Kate.” A statement like this leaves Kate wondering why she would not wait for Larry to come home when in her mind he is definatly coming

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