7. At various points in the play, certain characters try to manipulate other characters. Explain how the following characters manipulate each other and why.

Mother and Keller in the end of act 1 understand that it's not a coincidence that Ann and George come at the same time after not visiting them for years: they want to reopen the case and release Steve from jail and put Keller in.

In order to prevent George from opening the case up - Mother manipulates him by making him feel warm, nostalgic and welcome, which she does by, for example, making him grape juice, talking about the day he was born and talking about Lydia.

Keller tries to manipulate him, for the same reason as Mother, by for example telling him that Steve is guilty, which he proves by using following Steve's PATTERN OF BEHAVIOUR - Steve is a little man and he is guilty, for example: he let Frank invest money in a stock which failed and they lost money; he left the heater on in the factory once and the whole factory was nearly burned down.

Mother tries to manipulate Chris because she doesn't want him to marry Ann, which she does by commenting on her appearance ("I think her nose got longer") and packing her things when George comes because she wants her to leave and prevent the planned marriage (although they haven't told her yet - she senses it).