Team George or Team Chris? – Someone has to be right!

During the second half of the play, George Deever—Ann’s brother and Steve’s son—arrives to confront the Keller family about Joe’s “pull[ing] a fast one” during his appeal hearing (Miller 38). He and Chris battle over the particulars of the case, citing evidence from the court and their experience with Joe and Steve as fathers and as neighbors. They seem to resolve their heated debate when George relents and agrees to join the Kellers for a night out; however, many questions remain for the viewer.

Read pages 44-48 in All My Sons; then, create an argument in which you defend Joe as the victim of Steve’s attempt to deflect blame from himself or accuse Joe of being the guilty person who has deflected blame onto Steve.

  • Focus_____/5 points

ΟBegin with a clear, specific thesis statement that is written in the authoritative third person. Eliminate usage of the first person pronoun “I.”

ΟMaintain a singular controlling point throughout extended paragraph

ΟConclude argument with a strong statement reinforcing your thesis.

  • Content and Quotation Integration_____/15 points

ΟAnalysis: Supports thesis with at least six complete sentences that demonstrate logic, insight, and a strong familiarity with Chris and George’s discussion as well as other parts of the text.

ΟQuotation Selection: Uses a quotation of clear significance, honing portion to approximately 2-3 lines of text maximum. Demonstrates an awareness of quote to analysis balance.

ΟQuotation Integration: Smoothly integrates a quotation, using proper punctuation and citation techniques.

ΟUses the following formula to integrate one quote directly from the text to support your argument

  • When ______says, “______,” it shows ______(Author’s Last Name 54). This is significant because ______.
  • Conventions
  • Demonstrates an awareness of grammar, usage, punctuation, etc. _____/5 points

Total _____/25 points

Sample Quotation Integration:

When Mother says, “She’s faithful as a rock[…]I think of her waiting and I know again that I’m right,”it shows how important it is for her to believe that Ann has not moved on from Larry(Miller 19). This is significant because Mother has created a scenario that does not reflect the reality of the situation; in fact, Ann has moved on, accepting Larry’s death and looking to get married to someone else. Her surprise that the clothing in the closet belongs to Larry and not Chris reinforces her understanding that “Nobody comes back after three years. It’s insane”(Miller 13).