Irony In Joe Keller's Death

The irony in Joe Keller’s death is vivid in the way how Joe creates a catastrophic disaster with lie after lie that surrounds and drowns his family. Despite Joe claiming that he committed this crime for the wellbeing of his family and to provide them financial security, he loses his morals. All to which backfires not only on him but his entire circle of loved ones. Miller’s work is known of containing a theme strongly influenced by guilt and responsibility, so it is evident that he intends for his audience to realize the importance of the “present-ness of the past and the consequences [choices contain] of choice,” (Otten 159). As denial censors one from the cold hard truth of reality, it also forbids one to obtain closure. De Maupassant demonstrates

Alaska offers us a view of the outer and inner landscapes that shape relationship and the challenging path that must be taken to bridge them,” (Dean 39). While Green first centers Alaska as the obvious suffering individual, the spotlight greatly shifts towards Pudge and the Colonel once her death is announced. It’s in the way Pudge and the Colonel react that emphasizes their vivid suffering; Pudge and the numbing words, “it’s all my fault,” (139), and the Colonel’s auto-blaming works that he repeatedly voices, “I’m so sorry” (159) ricochet in the minds of the Colonel and Pudge. This suffering guilt creates in the Colonel and Pudge resonate with moments shared between the pair after Alaska’s funeral as they realize that they can’t save her and she is gone, (152). Suffering remains very present throughout “Was It a Dream?” and All My Sons as well, if it wasn’t for the suffering and coping mechanisms that the deaths of the narrator’s wife, Alaska Young, and Joe Keller brought upon the characters surrounding these abusers, their progression to closure – or realization – would be inevitably pushed away. The essence these stories capture is the utter heaviness choices have in the future. Experiencing the journey of suffering and consequences is a process that provokes confusion but with confusion, there always comes revelation. Each author portrays a unique form of suffering, proving that the only way out of the turmoil painful consequences bring is to acknowledge the pain suffering