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We Analysed All My Sons by Arthur Miller


One of Arthur Miller’s most profound works, All My Sons, has its roots buried within the tragedy stricken war times back in 1947, a few years after the second world war ended. The Keller's are a family who live a life of tension and unrealistic aspirations after losing a son at war. As the Keller's try to live a normal life they are left struggling when they face dealing with the consequences of their actions, these lead to the central tragedies of the play.

 In the story, Joe Miller decided to send out faulty air plane parts for the good of his business and family causing the death of twenty-one pilots during World War II. The play revolves around the events that take place in the absence of Larry, while he does his time in the jail for a crime committed by his business partner and dear friend, Joe Keller, but a situation moulded so intricately turned the tables and Larry ended up bearing the brunt of the repercussions.

As a play, All my sons is driven by conflict,
Chris comes into conflict with his mother Kate, who believes that Ann should be waiting for Larry. Ann’s brother George comes into conflict with Joe, who he accuses of having framed his father, in the end, Joe comes into conflict with everyone as his treacherous behaviour comes into light, his suicide is the resolution of this conflict.

In the first act of All My Sons The memorial apple tree planted for Larry is destroyed during a storm in the early morning hours, suggesting a dark force that has the power to destroy the Keller family.

At the beginning of the play is that self-made Joe, devoted Kate and loving Chris appear to be a perfect family. Their self-deception and guilt is laid bare as the play develops. Their true nature is only revealed once an actual problem arises and they are forced to face reality.

 One of the themes of the pay is the idea of a chain of responsibilities a man has towards his family the society as an individual he is answerable to every substantial element is his life. Joe Keller as not only guilty of having the blood of twenty-one innocent people on his hands but he also was culpable for deceiving his dear friend and keeping his family blindsided. One misconduct leads to a web of lies woven to protect the man, his name in the society and his family.
Another integral aspect of the play is that of Denial. Joe Keller believe he fought so hard to try and prove his pretend innocence that he almost convinced himself and wife Kate that he did nothing wrong and that he is innocent. He lied in the way he did due to his fear of people finding out the truth, especially Chris and also because he was frightened to lose all his power. If Chris was to discover the truth Keller would no longer be able to live with himself. The idea of killing one son and losing another was almost never an option Keller wouldn't even have contemplated on doing. Because he spent so long building his business empire he was terrified to lose not only that. But the love and respect from his only other son.

Two main facts about the Keller family history that are confronted as the events unveil. One is Larry's death, and the other is Keller's responsibility for the shipment of defective parts. Mother denies the first while accepting the second, and Keller accepts the first while denying the second. The result is that both characters live in a state of self-deception, wilfully ignoring one of the truths so that the family can continue to function in acceptable ways. This doesn’t only tamper with their present but also severely damages their future. An entire marriage is destroyed, families fall apart, an engagement is torn to shreds and a man ends up taking his own life out of self loathe

As a son and father both Chris and Joe hold extremely different stances on morality ethics and what is considered as a ones righteous duty. The relationship between Chris and his father seems to allow the audience to understand how the two of these characters think and interact not only with each other but other characters in the play also. Joe Keller is a man who believes he owes nothing to anyone other than himself and family, however as Chris served in the war he believes in a superior responsibility to humanity, he likes to help people, make people feel good about themselves. This illustrates the completely parallel characteristics that Keller and Chris have.

Joe's character mentions only having one son left, but even Chris begins to drift away from his father

Chris and Joe's relationship in all means ended up deteriorated and this in a way is the central tragedy, a father who loses two sons because of his own mistakes and greed.

The play is a reflection on the society we live in, where is everybody does the best to keep their closely knit units together and protect not only themselves but their loved ones as well. Every family that holds a picture perfect image in the society has its side of dark truth as lies making it as regular and as normal as the one next door and it is not until a situation strikes that there’s well-hidden truths come out and uproot the calmness and quietude of what seems to be just another nuclear happy aspect of our society.
 - Simran Gangwani, TYBA- Lierature. 

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Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

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