Joe Keller

60 years old. he owns a business. He is uneducated. He is heavily built. He is married to Kate. They had two children: Chris and Larry. Both sons served in the war (WWII). Larry was pronounced MIA - missing in action. He is very practical and adheres to tradition. He started his life in poverty. He mentioned he was put out to work at the age of 10. He realized the American dream: from machine shop worker he became the boss and the owner of a successful and prosperous plant. He is an uneducated man who relies on common sense when he needs to make decisions. We can see that he lacks education from the way he speaks – he makes many mistakes. He doesn’t see any value in old books and dictionaries. He also makes fun of the modern professions and regards highly traditional professions like a lawyer, a doctor and a businessman. He works very hard to make his business successful. He is a good loving father and husband. He believes that taking care of his family, providing for it are the most important ideals in the world. His family is well off financially. They live comfortably and they can afford a maid. Joe is a likable man. He is liked by his neighbors and children (for example Bert). Joe prefers to avoid confrontation and tries to protect his wife from the bitter reality. For this reason, he never contradicts Kate when she speaks of Larry's soon return from the war. Joe would like Chris to inherit the family business. In order to protect his life's accomplishments, his family and his business, Joe commits a crime: during the war he orders the shipment of defective cylinder heads to the Air force because he is afraid that his contract with the army will be cancelled and his business will be destroyed. The defective parts were installed in the airplanes causing the planes to crush and leading to the death of 21 American pilots. In court, Joe denies giving this order over the phone. He betrays his friend and a business partner, Steve Deever, who is the only one to take the responsibility for this horrible crime. Joe's world view is very narrow and he doesn’t understand the responsibility to those pilots or the society in general. He claims that he didn’t act any differently than other businessmen who made money during the war. Only after reading Larry's letter, he understands that Larry committed suicide because of his crime, he realizes the severity of his crime and shoots himself.

Mother (Kate Keller)

Joe's wife. The mother to Chris and Larry. She is first and foremost a loving mother and a loyal wife. She wants to protect her family integrity at all costs. She seems to be an emotional and irrational woman who looks for meaning in everything. For example, Larry's horoscope and his favorable day, the dream that she had about Larry, the baseball glove she stumbled over in the basement. However, Kate is also cunning and manipulative. For example, she tries to humiliate Ann in Chris' eyes, hoping that he would change his mind about marrying her. She manipulates Chris in order to maintain her illusion that Larry might come home one day. She is an emotionally intelligent woman with sharp instincts. She has lied to protect her husband for years. As a result, Kate is disturbed by this constant need to lie until she accidently reveals the truth in her conversation with George when she mentions that Joe hasn’t been sick for years. She continues to try and support her husband until the very end when she attempts to convince Chris not to take Joe to jail. But, Kate is also a loving and caring mother. After Joe's suicide, she tells Chris that he shouldn’t feel responsible for his father's suicide and he should move on with his life and leave.

Chris Keller

32 years old. He is Joe and Kate's son, Larry's brother. He was drafted and served in south-east Asia during WWII. He was in command of a company of 200 men, almost all of whom were killed in action. He was a good and caring commanding officer. When he comes home from war, he felt ashamed to use his father's money because he thought that the money was stained with blood of the soldiers that were killed. He felt that the only good thing that came out of their death was social responsibility when one man was willing to sacrifice his life to save another man's life. He hoped that after war, people would learn to be more responsible for one another. He felt that he didn't deserve his father's money and Ann's love because he joined the "rat race" for money by working for his father and getting a good salary. Chris is a good son. He respects and loves his parents. He hid his feelings to Ann from his mother in order not to hurt her. He joined his father's business although he didn't really enjoy it. He admired his father's courage to face the neighbors after his release from prison. He truly believed in his father's innocence. Other characters in the play, Jim Bayliss and Ann looked up to Chris. He inspired them to become better people. For example, Chris encouraged Jim to take up medical research instead of treating the elderly patients. Chris wasn't willing to compromise on his beliefs and ideals. He believed Annie's father deserved the punishment he got and he shouldn't be forgiven for causing the death of 21 American pilots. However, Chris' neighbor, Sue accuses Chris of phony idealism: he may not want his name on the family business, but he takes money from it even though this money was made in war. When he discovers Joe's crime, he prefers not to turn him in because it will only hurt him but he wouldn’t be able to "raise the dead." Only after reading

Larry's letter, he is ready to bring his father to justice, but he feels regret and remorse for forcing his father to make this decision when Joe kills himself.

Frank Lubey

32 years old. He is married to Lydia. They have three children. he believes in horoscopes. He gets angry easily. He wasn’t drafted to war. He is eager to please the Kellers, especially Kate. He is a successful businessman. He owns a house next to Kellers’.

Lydia Lubey

She is Frank's wife. They have three children. She is in her late twenties. She is not very bright. She has trouble with electrical appliances. She is robust, not very refine.They have a warm and loving relationship. For example, Frank doesn't get mad at her when she can't figure out how a toaster works. She was supposed to marry George, but after he was drafted, she chose to marry Frank.

Dr. Jim Bayliss

Nearly 40 years old. He is a doctor. He is somewhat sad. He is married to Sue. They have one son. He makes a living by treating elderly patients in their homes. He tries to escape being at home, spending time with his wife, because he is annoyed by his wife's race for money. He spends most of his time at Keller's place. In fact he says that he would like to play golf with Chris or go on a trip around the world with him. Jim's real passion is medical research, but he cannot do it because there isn't a lot of money in it. Instead he needs to provide for his family. Their relationship is cold and distant, it lacks understanding and both seem to be unhappy in their marriage. They live in the house that belonged to the Deevers in the past. He used to have ideals, but he was forced to compromise.

Sue Bayliss

She is around 40. She is married to Jim. She used to be a nurse but now she is a housewife. Jim and Sue have one child (Tommy). He is 8-9 years old. He likes to play with his father's thermometer. She is overweight. She is jealous. She is sarcastic – she insults her husband even though she knows it is one of his patients on the phone. Money is very important to Sue. She pushes her husband to visit more patients and make money to provide for the family. She is very practical and realistic; she is concerned with Jim's making money to provide for the family. She gained power over her husband because she supported him through medical school and he felt he owed it to her. She asked Ann to move away after her marriage to Chris because she was afraid that Chris might influence her husband to go back to medical research.

Ann Deever

She is Steve's daughter. She was Larry's fiancée. She is good-looking. She is in her late twenties. She is single. She came to visit because Chris invited her in his letters. She intended to marry Chris. Her father was Joe's business partner. After her father's trial and conviction, her family moved away to New York, in order to avoid all the rumors insults. She is 26 years old. She is gentle but adamant about what she believes in. from her conversation with Kate, we understand she believes that Larry, her fiancée is dead, and she is ready to move on and marry Chris. After her father was accused of murder, Ann didn't keep in touch with him. She never visited him in jail or had any contact with him. She has known that Larry was dead for a long time because he wrote her a letter in which he told her he was going to commit suicide. Ann didn’t reveal this information to Kellers because she didn’t want to cause them pain. After Joe's crime was revealed, Ann wanted to make a deal with Kate: she was willing to keep quiet about Joe's involvement in the case if Kate told Chris that she knew that Larry was dead, making it possible for Chris to marry Ann. However, the mother refused and Ann showed Larry's letter to Chris as well.

George Deever

He is Ann's brother and Steve's son. He grew up together with Chris larry and Lydia. He was supposed to marry Lydia, but he was drafted and Lydia chose to marry Frank. George moved away after his father was convicted. When he returned from war, he studied law at college. He Looks up to Chris and believes in the same moral principles. At first, he turned his back on his father when he was convicted, but after his visit to jail, George is convinced that Keller was responsible for shipping faulty airplane engines to the army. He is very angry And wishes to stop Ann and Chris' marriage. He respected the Keller family that's why he didn't want to bring up the subject of the case in front of the mother, but he confronted Chris and Joe and accused Joe of setting up his father.