All My Sons, a play by Arthur Miller, tells predominantly of the story of the Kellers. This play takes place after World War II, in the year 1947. It is a drama of actions and consequences and morality. This theme of actions and consequences is shown after Joe Keller ships out defective engine parts, which ultimately ends in the death of many pilots including that of his own son, Larry Keller, who kills himself in shame of his father s actions. Joe Keller had two sons, Chris and Larry, who is dead. Chris and his father, Joe, have opposing morals and viewpoints on many of the issues that govern their lives, primarily the issue of the shipment of the defective engine parts. Chriss criticism of Joe and his morals in juxtaposition to his own produces a revelation of Chriss true character and his character flaws. Chriss main criticisms of Joe, his father, chiefly deals with the shipment of the defective engine parts. Joe plays a major role in this play. He is shown as the antagonist, the one who through his bad decisions, ends up killing many innocent pilots who were only defending their country. In All My Sons, Miller complicates the story in that the father becomes flawed morally to such an extent that the outside forces function as reflections or testimonies of the essential inner weakness. N. Rodriguez Page 2 (Martin, 9) As Yorks shows in his essay, through Joes loyalty to his business and his family, Joe betrays the larger loyalties of the global conflict [World War II] (21) by shipping out defective engine parts. Joe tries to defend his actions by saying, Who worked for nothin in that war? When they work for nothin, Ill work for nothinits dollars and cents, nickels and dimes; war and peace, its nickels and dimes, whats clean? Half the Goddamn country is gotta go if I go! (Miller, 67) Joe claims to Chris that almost all the businesses involved in the war, made a profit from it and if that is considered dirty, then nobody is clean. Chris says that is exactly why he is so upset. I know youre no worse than most men but I thought you were better. I never saw you as a man. I saw you as my father. (Miller, 67) Chris expected his father to be better than most men, and is shamed when he learns of what his father has done. Chris says to his father, What the hell do you mean, you did it for me? Dont you have a country? What the hell are you? Youre not even an animal, no animal kills his own, what are you? (Miller, 59) Miller, through the title, tries to make us understand that Joe commits suicide as a final recognition of all those who fought as his sons. (Yorks, 22). Chris is the one who drives his father to see that all the fighting men were actually his sons. While one analyzes Chriss criticism of Joe and his morals, the focus then moves to Chris and his own morals. Though Chris preaches to his father about morality and his loyalty to his country, we see that Chris may be just as dirty as his father. He too has pocketed the profits of the family business, yet he continues to hold himself to be morally superior to Joe. Joe himself asks Chris, Exactly whats the matter? Whats the matter? You got too much money? Is that what bothers you? (Miller, 67) Chris claims all the money that his father has earned is dirty, yet Chris has taken the profits just as his father has. Chris is revealed as suspecting his fathers guilt all along, but as lacking the moral stamina to force the issue. (Clurman, 24). Its true. Im yellow, I was made N. Rodriguez Page 3 yellow in this house because I suspected my father and I did nothing about it. says Chris. (Miller, 66) Flaws in Chriss character are also shown when we examine the love of Chriss life, Annie. It is Chris who, in reaching out for love and a life of his own with Annie, first weakens and destroys the sense of security his father has tried to upkeep for his family. Annie, who has become Chriss fiancée, was previously also Chriss dead brother, Larrys fiancee. One must wonder what kind of morals Chris must have if he wants to marry his deceased brothers fiancee. Chris knows that marrying Annie will destroy his mother, Kate, who still believes that Larry is not dead and will reappear one day. Kate refuses to allow Chris to marry his brothers fiancee because that would acknowledge Larrys death. As Joe tells Chris, From mothers point of view he is not dead and you have no right to take his girl. (Miller, 14) Yet despite the wishes of his parents, Chris still intends on marrying Annie. In an essay written by Wells, it is shown that during and exchange between Chris and George, Chris has always suspected his father. Let me go up and talk to your father. In ten minutes youll have an answer. Or are you afraid of the answer? asks George. Im not afraid. I know the answer replies Chris. (Miller 48) Chris has not allowed himself to admit what he knew because he would not know how to live with it. Chris could not love a guilty father, not out of moral fastidious but out of self-love (Gross, 13) If as George says, Chris has lied to himself about his fathers guilt, it is more to deny what he himself is than what his father is. Chris has always known his father was guilty but could not handle the consequences- the condemnation of his father and also of himself because he too has been polluted. This is exactly what the exposure of his father forces upon him N. Rodriguez Page 4 and his fathers arguments all shatter upon the hard shell of Chris idealism not simply because they are, in fact, evasions and irrelevant half-truths, but because they can not satisfy Chris conscience. (Wells, 6) When Chris says that, I never saw you as a man. I saw you as my father. I cant look you this way. I cant look at myself! (Miller, 67) An unwittingly, illuminating admission: he cannot look at his father as no better than most because he cannot look at himself as no better than most, he had never seen his father as a man because he has not wanted to see himself as one. (Gross, 13) At the conclusion of All My Sons, we see that Chris has come to a realization of what he has become. He has become a man, something he never wanted to see himself or his father as. I could jail him! I could jail him, if I were human any more. But Im like everybody else now. Im practical now. You made me practicalthe cats in that alley were practical, the bums who ran away when we were fighting were practical. Only the dead ones werent practical. But now Im practical, and I spit on myself. Im going away. Im going now. (Miller, 66) Chris has become what he never wanted to be a practical man. The true Chris was always soiled, just as his father by his fathers actions and just like his dead brother, Larry, he could no longer stand himself. Chris tells his mother, You can do better! Once and for all you can know theres a universe of people outside and youre responsible to it, and unless you know that you threw away your son because thats why he died. (Miller, 69) At this moment, a shot is heard and we find out that Joe has committed suicide. Chris starts to apologize to his mother for being so harsh with Joe, but his mother stops him and says, Dont, dear. Dont take it on yourself. Forget now. Live. (Miller 69) Chris has now been freed from his fathers immoral actions and can now live as the man he has become, a practical man. Bibliography Works Cited 1. Clurman, Harold. Thesis and Drama. Modern Critical Interpretations:Arthur Millers All My Sons. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988 2. Gross, Barry. All My Sons and the Larger Context. Critical Essays on Arthur Miller. Ed. James Nagel. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1979. 3. Martin, Robert A. Introduction. Arthur Miller, New Perspectives. Ed. Robert A. Martin. New Jersey:Prentice Hall Inc. 1982. 4. Miller, Arthur. All My Sons. New York: Dramatists Play Service Inc., 1947. 5. Wells, Arvin A. The Living and The Dead in All My Sons. Critical Essays on Arthur Miller. Ed. James Nagel. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1979. 6. Yorks, Samuel A. Joe Keller and His Sons. Modern Critical Interpretations: Arthur Millers All My Sons. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York:Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.
Miller, Arthur. The. Why I Wrote The Crucible. Elements of Literature: Fifth Course. Eds.
Miller, Arthur. Why I Wrote The Crucible. New York: The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 1996. Print.
Arthur Miller, one of America's greatest playwrights, living or dead, is a master of verbal irony. An examination of three strong examples of verbal irony in Millers play, The Crucible, will prove this out. While Miller started the genre of the tragedy of the common man, and is also know for his thoughtful and decisive plot lines, much of his fame, possibly can be attributed to his brilliant use of language generally, and his use of verbal irony in particular.
Arthur Miller’s moderately humble beings as a child growing up in the shadow of New
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. Prentice Hall Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes. Kate Kinsella, et. Al, New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2002. 1233-1334. Print.
father are explained. The most important scene in the play is the scene V in Act I.
... Joe Keller to explore the theme of denial and blame through use of stage directions, pauses and ellipses and the reactions of Keller in different scenes. Arthur Miller explores this theme by portraying Keller as the tragic hero that the audience can relate to. Miller also uses Keller to develop this theme by showing him as a deceptive man who hides his true crimes whilst he disguises himself as an innocent middle-aged man who has done nothing wrong. This façade slowly unravels the weak, vulnerable person Joe Keller really is. At the beginning of the play, Joe Keller is a proud and confident person whereas at the end he becomes vulnerable, defenceless and weak. Miller uses this contrast to show the effects that blame will have on a person once they have accepted their fault. Denial and blame is an extremely important theme that is constantly shown in All My Sons.
Murray, Edward. “The Thematic Structure in Death of a Salesman.” Readings on Arthur Miller: Death of a Salesman. San Diego: Greenhaven Press Inc., 1999.
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. Literature, Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes. Ed. Ellen Bowler, et al. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1999.
Eisinger, Chester E. "Critical Readings: Focus on Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman: The Wrong Dreams." Critical Insights: Death of a Salesman (2010): 93-105.
of the book. New York: Norton, 1994. Costello, Donald P. “Arthur Miller’s Circles of Responsibility: A View From a Bridge and Beyond.” Modern Drama. 36 (1993): 443-453.
Both Joe and Chris Keller constitute as being tragic characters of All My Sons because they both make very tragic mistakes and are driven by the disastrous events that begin before the play.
Different generation gaps may result in different ideas of curfew or bedtime but should not result in diverse ideas on humanity and morality, for these are universal issues that had always been in effect all through time. That is why Keller’s ideals are no more than an excuse to do bad things and then feel that what he has done was the right thing to do for it was “all for his sons”. The end of the play and the climax of finding out Keller was guilty in delivering the broken cylinder heads are a push for Chris to practice his ideals and live on his own as appose to with his parents using his parents money. After this tragic moment for Chris when he finds out that everything he had believe in and protected were lies he started doubting his morals but the readers and the audience knows that he knows where the line of morality is and he would never cross it.
There are many minor characters in Arthur Miller’s play, All My Sons. For instance there is Bert, a eight-year-old boy, who visits Joe Keller twice during the course of the play. there is also Frank and Linda Lubey, neighbors of the Keller’s. This couple bought Ann’s house after she moved out. There is also Dr. Jim Bayliss and his wife Sue, who are friends of the Keller’s. The
3. Once his elder son Larry died in the war, Joe devoted his life to his younger son Chris. “KELLER. …Because what the hell did I work for? That’s only for you, Chris, the whole shootin’-match is for you.” Many businesses are handed down from generation to generation. Joe felt his role in life was to build a business that his son could take over once he got too old to run it. His love and hope for Chris blinded Joe’s ability to make a thoughtful and rational decision regarding faulty parts from his factory. This resulted in the death of the pilots’. Joe completely disregarded the lives that his parts would be affecting because all he cared about was his son. The love that Joe displayed to his son was returned in the love and respect that Chris had for his father. “GEORGE. …But you know him. You know in your heart Joe did it. CHRIS. Lower your voice or I’ll throw you out of here.” George Deever’s confrontation with Chris about his father’s guilt demonstrated Chris’ belief that his father was not guilty of any crime. He refused to believe that his father played a role in shipping the defective parts to the government. This only reinforced the idea that there was a strong father son bond between Joe and Chris.