Joe and Chris Keller are father and son; they have very different personalities and interests, which I feel is always a good start for a good relationship. If two people are very alike, they have a personality clash and don't get on. This father-son relationship is the key relationship in the play; this is the relationship that Miller always focuses on. Joe Keller always looks at the "wanted" advertisements in the paper, not interested in the current affairs of the world. He cares about his family but doesn't care a great deal for anyone outside his four walls. Chris, however, is a very different person; he still cares for his family but is also interested in what is going on around the world. After fighting in the war he became a man who cared, not only for himself and his family but also for the people of the world. Although Joe and Chris Keller are very different, they get on well. .
Chris Keller is quite a hard man, but he still respects his father and considers him as a very important person in his life. He has fought in a war and has experienced fellow men giving up their lives for their country and each other and therefore doesn't want any of the "dirty money" as he calls it from his father's business.
Joe Keller, on the other hand is a person who if he thinks he has got away with something which he has done, he wouldn't see the point of turning himself in. He likes his family but unlike Chris, he is unaware of what goes on outside his four walls, his own family. He has no real sense of guilt, I think that Chris feels all the guilt that his father doesn't and because his father loves Chris, he can persuade his father to do the right thing in most circumstances. Joe Keller, I feel relies on his wife, Kate Keller. .
Joe Keller loves his family greatly, but I was a bit surprised that he didn't seem to be that bothered about Larry's disappearance but then again, he could have been trying to stay strong for the sake of Kate and Chris.