Script Analysis Elements: All My Sons (Chris) Lauren Hunkele

1. Defining Character:
a. What does the character think?
i. Chris cares about his family but doesnt delude himself like his
mother does or use that priority as an excuse for his actions
like his father does. He wants to marry Ann but finds it difficult
to do as the play continues because his mother is so against it
and makes him feel guilty for stealing his brothers girl. He is
introduced in the stage directions as thirty-two. Like his
father, solidly built, a listener. A man capable of immense
affection and loyalty. He has a cup of coffee in one hand, part of
a doughnut in the other.
b. What does the character say about him/herself?
i. He knows he isnt incredibly well-educated: I like to keep
abreast of my ignorance.
ii. I dont know why it is, but every time I reach out for
something I want, I have to pull back because other people will
suffer.
iii. Im not fast with women.
iv. I know her best. (about Annie)
v. I like [the business] an hour a day I want a family, I want
some kids, I want to build something that I can give myself to.
vi. Im a pretty tough guy.
vii. I wanted to see her myself. (about Annie)
viii. I love you. I have no imagination I want you to be ready for
me. I dont want to win you away from anything.
ix. I supposed I have been [ashamed]. But its going from me.
x. I felt wrong to be alive I didnt want to take any of it. And I
guess that included you.
xi. Im relaxed.
xii. Yes, they crossed my mind. Anything can cross your mind!
xiii. Then I dont belong here Im his brother and hes dead, and
Im marrying his girl.
xiv. Im yellow. I was made yellow in this house because I
suspected my father and I did nothing about it, but if I know
that night when I came home what I know now, hed be in the
district attorneys office by this time, and Id have brought him
there. Now if I look at him, all Im able to do is cry.
xv. Im like everybody else now. Im practical now. You made me
practical.
xvi. I spit on myself.
xvii. I never saw you as a man. I saw you as my father. I cant look
at you this way, I cant look at myself!
c. What do other characters say about him/her?
i. Keller: From Mothers point of view he is not dead and you
have no right to take his girl.
 ii. Keller: I dont understand you, do I?
iii. Mother: Hes not going to marry her.
iv. Mother: Dont be so damned smart! Now stop it! There are a
few things you dont know.
v. Keller: Look at him, hes blushin
vi. Ann: Youre the only one I know who loves his parents.
vii. Ann: Youve been kind of embarrassed ever since I got here.
viii. Keller: I want you to use what I made for you. I mean, with joy,
Chris, without shame with joy.
ix. Mother: You dont realize how people can hate
x. Annie: Whenever I need somebody to tell me the truth Ive
always thought of Chris. When he tells you something you
know its so. He relaxes me.
xi. Sue: And hes got money.
xii. Sue: My husband is unhappy with Chris around.
xiii. Sue: Chris makes people want to be better than its possible to
be.
xiv. Sue: Everytime he has a session with Chris he feels as though
hes compromising by not giving up everything for research. As
though Chris or anybody else isnt compromising.
xv. Sue: Hes driving my husband crazy with that phony idealism
of his and Im at the end of my rope on it!
xvi. George: his father destroyed your family.
xvii. George: You know in your heart Joe did it.
xviii. Mother: The trouble with you kids is you think too much.
xix. Mother: when the weather gets bad he cant stand on his
feet.
xx. Mother: he was crying like a child before.
xxi. Mother: I always had the feeling that in the back of his head,
Chris almost knew. I didnt think it would be such a shock.
xxii. Jim: Chris would never know how to live with a thing like that.
It takes a certain talent for lying. You have it, and I do. But not
him.
xxiii. Jim: Hell come back he probably just wanted to be alone to
watch his star go out.
xxiv. Jim: Chris is a good son. Hell come back.
xxv. Mother: The night he gets in your bed, his heart will dry up. To
his dying day hell wait for his brother!
xxvi. Keller: You know I dont belong there.
xxvii. Mother: Are you trying to kill [Joe]?
2. State of being and change of state:
a. What is the characters state of being at the beginning of the play?
i. At the beginning of the play, Chris is sure of his game plan. Hes
going to propose to Annie, and theyll get married. Hell find a
way to convince his mother, but theyll get married.
 b. Look for the arc in the playdoes a change of polar attitude take
place? If so, where in the playthe climax? The dnouement?
Somewhere else?
i. His attitude change happens definitively when he finds out that
his father knowingly shipped out faulty cylinders that
eventually caused 21 deaths. He views his father in a different
way, and this changes how he feels about Ann because he
begins to doubt his other feelings and whether theyre rooted
in truth. The argument he has with Joe is the climax of the play.
c. What is the characters state of being at the end of the play?
i. Chris is filled with much more doubt and feels he needs time to
himself far away from them all, including Ann. His father kills
himself, so Chris is even more shaken by that because he feels
that he should clear his conscience by turning himself in. He
goes from certain to unsure.
3. Identify the given circumstances of the play:
a. What is the special world of the play? Detail these elements.
i. The only location is the outside of the house. Theres a porch
with a rocking chair in front of the door leading inside. Theres
a driveway and a line of poplar trees, one knocked down.
Theres a fence looking into the next yard.
b. Is there one location? Two locations? Many?
i. There is one location: the outside of the house where Chris
grew up.
c. Where does the character fit in to the special world?
i. Chris grew up here and hasnt returned for about three years.
He is able to fall back into place in terms of the familiarity of
the physical location but not in terms of his family and that
dynamic. He has a lower tolerance for his family or a higher
sense of justice than he had when he last saw his family.
d. Does the main location or setting belong to the character or is this
character a visitor to the setting?
i. I would say that even though he hasnt been here for a while,
he still belongs in the setting. Its his childhood home. Its
familiar to him, and it still has all the people he would expect to
see there with the exception of Larry. The family dynamic is
different than he likely remembers, but even if someone else
moved in and rearranged everything, I think it would be hard
to truly be a visitor in your childhood home.
4. Dialogue texture:
a. How descriptive is the dialogueis it Dragnet or Disneyland? Facts or
flowers?
i. Even on Chriss longer lines, I would say his dialogue is
Dragnet. He is blunt and doesnt do much to sugarcoat his
words for the sake of others. Its descriptive in the sense that it
 always gets across exactly what is necessary, but he doesnt
use unnecessary words.
b. Does the dialogue contain notable alliteration or other forms of
rhetorical style?
i. No.
5. Dialogue tempo:
a. What is the pace and rhythm of the dialogue? Is it quick and clipped or
long-winded and luxurious?
6. Scripted actions in the play:
a. How does the playwright describe the movement of the character?
Examples would be aggressive or threatening movements, weak or
tentative movements/gestures.
7. What is the characters social status compared to other characters in the
play?
a. Is this an alpha or omega character?
i. Chris likes to think hes an alpha, but I dont think he is. He
likes to think his actions arent affected by others opinions, but
they are. He feels guilty for being with Ann because of his
mothers delusions even though he knows theyre wrong.
b. How does the character respond to conflict?
i. Chris doesnt shy away from confrontation. He always holds
back for a moment at the beginning of an argument whether
its with his mother or his father, but it doesnt take much to
get him to spit out whatevers on his mind. Its usually pretty
much the same as whatever he said to someone else about the
character with whom hes arguing. This shows his high level of
integrity.
c. What is the economic status of the character?
i. Chris isnt especially rich but isnt especially poor, either. He is
in a somewhat comfortable middle-class position.
8. How does the character tick?
a. Is the character predominantly an emotion-based or an intellectual
character?
i. It could go either way, but I think Chris is emotion-based. Even
at the beginning when he makes logical statements along the
lines of, Its been three and a half years. Larry isnt coming
back, they are only said to push the narrative his emotions
want, the one that allows him to marry Annie. Later in the play,
he becomes solely emotion-based as the intellectual/logical
things on which he stands begin to crumble.
9. Scene structure:
a. How does the structure of the play affect the overall feel of the piece?
Are there long, drawn out encounters between characters, or are
there numerous scenes (some long, some short) which build in the
storytelling?
 i. There are three very long scenes. Each of these have several
French scenes within them as characters enter and exit
regularly. This affects the overall feel of the piece because its
very realistic. It gives the audience a very specific place to sit
and watch, and we see the people go in and out on their
separate errands. They stay near the porch and talk through
their problems. One right after the other, we see how different
characters feel about something, and theres still dramatic
irony without a blackout or a scene change.
b. Is the structure a linear timeline, or is the story told from varying
points of view at varying points in time?
i. The structure is linear. It is all in the same location, and the
scenes are all pretty close together in time: a day, that night,
and late that night. We have to piece together what likely
happened in between, but these gaps make it more realistic
because we skip over the meaningless small talk dinner
conversations. We just hear about Larry and everyones stance
on him, something they wouldnt be constantly discussing,
especially three and a half years following his death.
10. What can you find out about the history of this play?
a. All My Sons opened at the Coronet Theatre on Broadway on January
29, 1947. It received Broadway revivals in 1987 and 2008. There was
a film made in 1948. Its set immediately after World War II.