Dr. Jim Bayliss
Jim Bayliss is a close friend of Chris Keller. He and his wife, Sue,
bought the house formerly owned by Steve Deever and his family; this
makes him a neighbor of the Kellers. Although Jim suspects that Joe is
as guilty as
his former partner is, he likes the Keller family. He even tries to
protect Joe from a confrontation with George Deever.
Sue Bayliss
Sue Bayliss, Jim's wife, reveals that the town knows the truth about Joe
Keller, and unlike her husband, she basically dislikes the family.
However, her animus is largely directed against Chris, not Joe. She
believes that
he knows his father is guilty and has profited from the situation. As a
result, she deems him a phony, and she deeply resents his friendship
with her husband.
Bert
Bert is a neighborhood boy. He plays with Joe in the beginning of the
play, pretending to be a policeman. Bert's gullibility provides a comic
counterpoint to the more serious gullibility of Joe's son, Chris, who
believes
in his father's innocence. Joe has also shown Bert the gun with which,
at the end, he kills himself.
Ann Deever
Ann is the attractive daughter of Steve Deever, Joe's former partner.
She is visiting the Kellers for the first time since her boyfriend,
Larry Keller, was reported missing in action. She has been invited by
Chris; they are
in love, much to the consternation of Kate, Chris's mother. Ann believes
that her father is guilty and has refused to visit him in jail. She is
perhaps blinded by her love for Chris, whom she plans to marry. However,
she carries what is in fact a suicide letter that Larry wrote to her
before his final mission. Deeply shamed by his father's conviction,
Larry disclosed his inability to live with
the fact of his father's crime. When Kate continues to refuse to believe
that Larry is dead and tries to prevent her marriage to Chris, Ann is
forced to show her the letter. With Larry's final thoughts revealed,
Chris is forced to face his father's guilt.
George Deever
George is Steve Deever's son and brother to Ann Deever. He is a lawyer
and a threat to Joe Keller, who fears that he might try to reopen the
case that put Joe and his father in prison. After visiting his father in
jail, he confronts Joe. George is convinced that Joe destroyed his
father and was the real instigator of the crime. When he discovers that
Ann is in love with Chris, he tries to persuade her to leave with him.
Kate's kindness almost placates him, and he even seems ready to accept
Joe's version of what happened; but Kate inadvertently reveals that Joe
was not sick when the defective parts were shipped and thereby confirms
what his father had told George. He storms off before Chris is forced to
face the truth, and Joe commits suicide.
Chris Keller
Chris, at age thirty-two, is Joe and Kate Keller's surviving son. He is
in love with Ann Deever, the former girlfriend of his deceased brother,
Larry. He invites Ann to visit the Keller home so that he might propose
to her.
A veteran of World War II Chris now works for his father, Joe. Since
being exonerated and released from prison, Joe has built a very
successful company. Chris believes that his father is innocent, as he
feels was
proved at the pardon hearing before Joe's release. An idealist, he has a
very strong sense of justice and responsibility, and he bears a residual
guilt for surviving the war when many of his friends died. He also
believes that one should be guided by the noblest principles, and he
tries to encourage his friend, Jim Bayliss, to leave his medical
practice to pursue a higher calling in medical research. His influence
angers Jim's wife, Sue, who believes that Joe is guilty and that Chris
is a hypocrite. Although his love for his father blinds him to the
truth, when Joe's guilt is finally revealed, he believes that he
has no choice but to see to it that his father is returned to prison.
Joe Keller
The Keller family patriarch, Joe is a self-made businessman who started
out as a semiskilled laborer and worked his way up in the business world
to become a successful manufacturer. He owns a factory, where he employs
his surviving son, Chris. Initially, Joe seems like a very genial,
good-natured man, almost like a surrogate grandfather to the
neighborhood kids. He is very outgoing with his neighbors, and has a
disarming tendency to engage in some self-deprecation, noting, among
other things, that he is not well-educated or as articulate as those
around him. It is partly a pose, however, for he actually prides himself
on his business acumen. His business means a great deal to him, almost
as much as his family. Unfortunately, Joe has sacrificed quite a bit for
such success. During the war, he ordered his partner, Steve Deever, to
cover cracks in some airplane engine parts, disguise the welds, and send
them on to be used in fighter planes, causing the death of twenty-one
pilots. Although convicted, Joe put the blame on Steve and got out of
prison. When the truth is revealed about Larry's death, Joe is at first
unwilling to face the responsibility. Finally realizing the consequences
of his actions and his limited course of action, he commits suicide.
Kate Keller
Kate is Joe's wife and the mother of Chris. Although her older son,
Larry, was reported missing in action during World War II, she hopes
that he has survived and will eventually return home. She hopes for this
not only because she loves her son, but also because she knows the truth
about Joe: he ordered his partner Steve to cover the cracks in the
cylinder heads that eventually resulted in the death of several American
fighter pilots. Although Larry never flew a P-40 fighter, Kate believes
that Joe must be held accountable as his murderer. She is finally forced
to face Larry's death when confronted with the letter that he sent to
Ann Deever announcing his impending suicide. Her motives are hidden from
Chris, who earnestly wants her to face the fact of Larry's death and
move on with life. He wants to marry Larry's former girlfriend, Ann
Deever, but he knows he will not be able to obtain his mother's blessing
as long as she continues to hold on to her unrealistic conviction that
Larry is still alive. Kate is a sympathetic character. She is kind and
motherly, but the truth of her husband's guilt tortures her. As
the pressure mounts, she develops physical symptoms of her inner agony.
At the end, after Joe shoots himself, she tells Chris to live—something
she had not been able to do since the death of her other son.
Frank Lubey
Frank Lubey is Lydia's husband. A haberdasher, he is perceived as
flighty and socially inept. Gracious, intelligent, and attractive, Lydia
makes him seem rather silly by comparison. Frank, always missing each
draft
call-up by being a year too old, did not go to war. He married Lydia
when George Deever, her former beau, did not return to his hometown from
the war. Frank's foolishness extends to his belief in astrology, which
would be harmless enough were it not for the fact that he keeps Kate's
hopes of Larry's survival alive with his insistence that Larry's
horoscope could reveal the truth.
Lydia Lubey
Lydia is Frank's wife. She is a charming, very pretty woman of
twenty-seven, described by Miller as a ‘‘robust laughing girl.’’ Before
George went off to war, she was his girlfriend; when he did not return
home after his father was imprisoned, she married Frank, a dull
alternative. When George does come to confront the Kellers with his
father's accusations, he is reminded of everything he lost. He also
knows that Lydia deserved better than she got.
Mother
See Kate Keller
