How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Act.Line). Every time a character talks counts as one line, even if what they say turns into a long monologue.
Quote #1
The house is two stories high and had seven rooms. It would have cost perhaps fifteen thousand in the early twenties when it was built. (1.1)
Miller establishes in the setting that the Kellers' financial comfort defines them.
Quote #2
Chris: If I have to grub for money all day long at least at evening I want it beautiful. I want a family, I want some kids, I want to build something I can give myself to. Annie is in the middle of that. (1.219)
Chris hopes he can maintain a balance of making money and building a life he can believe in. His idealism prevents him from acknowledging the reality of the business he's inheriting.
Quote #3
Keller: I can afford another bag of potatoes. (1.238)
Keller threw the potatoes away because he thought they were garbage. This wastefulness provides an interesting contrast to his crime of saving machine parts (which actually were garbage) and selling them to the military.
Quote #4
Keller: I don't know, once upon a time I used to think that when I got money again I would have a maid and my wife would take it easy. Now I got money, and I got a maid, and my wife is workin' for the maid. (1.245)
Keller is a self-made man and is proud of all his financial success.
Quote #5
Keller: Kid, walkin' down the street that day I was guilty as hell. Except I wasn't, and there was a court paper in my pocket to prove I wasn't, I and I walked… past… the porches. Result? Fourteen months later I had one of the best shops in the state again, a respected man again; bigger than ever. (1.446)
What matters to Keller is that he eventually restored his business to prosperity. Material success is the ultimate goal.
Quote #6
Ann: And the money, there's nothing wrong in your money. Your father put hundreds of planes in the air, you should be proud. A man should be paid for that…
Chris: Oh Annie, Annie… I'm going to make a fortune for you! (1.545)
Chris just called his money "loot" from the war. But with Ann's blessing he quickly comes around to a perspective that more closely resembles his father's.
Quote #7
Sue: Research pays twenty-five dollars a week minus laundering the hair shirt. You've got to give up your life to go into it. (2.65)
While Kate and Ann both downplay their interest in economic comfort, Sue is very upfront about it. She openly encourages her husband to pursue money and resents anyone standing in the way of that.
Quote #8
George: I saw your factory on the way from the station. It looks like General Motors. (2.400)
For George, the successful factory is a symbol of the injustice Joe inflicted on his father. Joe gets rich; Steve gets imprisoned.
Quote #9
Keller: I don't know what you mean! You wanted money, so I made money. What must I be forgive? You wanted money, didn't you? (3.61)
Joe feels betrayed by Kate turning on him now. Like her neighbor Sue, she must have at some point encouraged him to make the family comfortable. Both Joe and Kate hide from their own responsibility in this matter.