All My Sons Act 2

The main event in this act is the introduction of George Deever, who after visiting his father in prison, now believes that Joe is in fact guilty. This opinion is revealed to be shared by the neighbours, as Sue Bayliss reveals to Ann. The fact that the neighbours believe Joe is guilty yet are still friendly towards him shows his ameanable character and the power and influence he has in the neighbourhood, that no-one ever seems to have considered turning him in. There is a major conflict in this act between George and Chris, as George accuses Joe of condemning his father to prison while Chris still believes his father is innocent. Ann takes the side of Chris, also believing that Joe is innocent.

A mini-tragedy is introduced when it is revealed that George had been in love with Lydia, another neighbour the younger generation grew up with. When George went to war Frank Lubey seduced Lydia and married her in his absence, and George appears to be heartbroken by this and by his father's false imprisonment. Joe briefly manages to convince George that his father lied, by pointing to past examples when Steve failed to confess to his faults. However Kate accidentally reveals Joe was in fact partly responsible when she claims Joe was never been ill, when illness was the excuse Joe used when not going into work the day the engine making process went wrong. Joe's fatal flaw is now revealed when Chris realises his fathers guilt. Joe says he did not mean for the engines to go into real planes, he thought the faults in them would have been realised before they were put into planes and they would be discarded, but he was prepared to take the risk in order to save his business and livelihood and keep supporting his family. Joe fatal flaw is he puts his family, business and own personal wealth above everything else, even the lives of pilots. While supporting his family is a noble ambition his morals are confused, as though he feels guilt he still believes what he did was the lesser of two evils and supporting his family was more important than producing safe engines for pilots. Chris is the foil for Joe, Chris has unwavering high morals and is disgusted by what his father did, storming out of the house in the climax of Act 2.