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. (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.
The Essay on To what extent do luck and hard work play a part in leaving home successfully and settling in a new place?
Leaving home successfully and settling in a new place, in other words, emigrating, goes far beyond its meaning as it requires not only hard work, but also luck. Hard work is the effort and diligence of a person to obtain success. Luck, on the other hand, means the good fortune or the force that seems to operate for the good or ill in a person’s life. Everybody desires to be in their comfort zone, ...
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 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 fiance, was previously also Chriss dead brother, Larrys fiancee.
The Essay on How Does Arthur Miller Present Joe Keller In All My Sons?
Miller’s portrayal of Joe Keller varies through-out the play, as the protagonist is conveyed as a successful business man, a capitalistic family man, and a tragic hero, responsible for the breaking of his family and own destruction. Keller “is nearing sixty. A man of stolid mind and build, a business man these many years, but with the imprint of the machine-shop worker and boss still upon him.” ...
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 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.
The Essay on Father and Son Relationship, Angela’s Ashes
One of the strongest things in this world is the love that forms between a father and his son. Many boys grow up with the desire to be just like their fathers but for Frank McCourt having an alcoholic father causes him to grow up with the mentality of being the opposite of him. In Angela’s Ashes the interesting relationship between Frank and Malachy creates positive and negative impacts on ...
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..
