Q. 17. Narrate the sequence of circumstances under which Joe Keller leels compelled to commit suicide. (V. Imp.) Or Why does Joe Keller commit suicide?

 

Ans.  Joe Keller committed a serious crime by ordering thedespatch of defective cylinder heads to the Air Force.  But he had escaped the consequences of his crime by telling alie in the court and by passing the blame to his partner, Steve Deever.  Joe Keller's wife, Kate Keller knows this but she does not restrain her husband from doing an unethical act.  Steve Deever's son, George and daughter, Ann, accepted the verdict of the court.  They snapped their ties with their father.  Three and a half years after the court - trial, George comes to know from his father the facts of the case.  He then pays a visit to the Keller family to expose Joe Keller's crime and to get him punished.  George feels very angry with Joe Keller for escaping punishment fora crime.  George gets the truth from Kate Keller who first says that her husband had never fallen ill.  Later she modifies her statement that Joe had suffered from 'flu' once during the war.  She even says that Joe was not able to go to the factory on that particular day on which the defective cylinder heads had been despatched to the Air Force.  Joe had told Steve Deever on telephone to send defective cylinders by getting them repaired.  He had also told Steve Deever