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- All My Sons: Background to the Play
- All My Sons: Act 1
- All My Sons: Act 2
- All My Sons: Act 3
- All My Sons: Character Profiles
- All My Sons: Metaphor Analysis
All My Sons: Theme Analysis
- All My Sons: Top Ten Quotes
- All My Sons: Biography: Arthur Miller
- All My Sons: Essay Q&A
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The major theme of the play is the conflict between self-interest and the wider responsibility that people owe to the society in which they live. This conflict is mostly enacted through the characters of Joe, Chris, and the now-dead Larry. Joe has put all his energies into making money and building up his business. He was determined to keep his factory production line running, even when it caused the deaths of twenty-one pilots through faulty airplane parts. At the end of Act Two, when Chris realizes that Joe is responsible for the pilots’ deaths, Joe says he did it for the business: “What could I do! I’m in business, a man is in business; a hundred and twenty cracked, you’re out of business …” In Joe’s mind, this is not selfish, as he did everything for Chris: “Chris, I did it for you, it was a chance and I took it for you.” Horrified, Chris demands, “Is that as far as your mind can see, the business? … What the hell do you mean, you did it for me?” In Chris’s view, people have a wider responsibility to mankind in general, and to society: “Don’t you have a country? Don’t you live in the world?”| Joe has long convinced himself that Larry was his practical son, with a head for business, and that Chris was the impractical idealist. But he turns out to be wrong. It transpires that Larry found out about Joe’s conviction for causing the deaths of the pilots and could not live with the knowledge, and so committed suicide. Chris, on the other hand, reveals in Act Three that he suspected all along that Joe was guilty of the crime, but adopted a “practical” attitude and did not confront him. There is an implicit contrast between the self-sacrifice of the men who died in the war, some of them as a result of Joe’s factory’s faulty parts, and those who were looking after their own interest, such as Joe. By association with Joe, Chris also becomes stained with corruption, as he took a salary from his father’s firm in spite of his suspicions that the money was tainted with the blood of the dead airmen. Finally, in Act Three, Joe has to confront the implications of his actions. In words that foreshadow his end, he says of Chris, “I’m his father and he’s my son, and if there’s something bigger than that I’ll put a bullet in my head!” As the play shows, there is something bigger than that. So when Joe finally does face up to his crime, he does the only thing he can morally do, which is to extinguish his life. The sense of waste is overwhelming: not just of Joe’s life, but of all the other lives that have been lost or torn apart because of the pursuit of profit: the twenty-one airmen, Steve and the rest of the Deever family, Larry, Chris, and Kate. What is more, Joe’s death is far from a resolution. Psychologists say that there is often an element of revenge in a suicide, with the suicide placing his or her body for maximum dramatic effect on the person who is deemed culpable. In , Joe’s suicide carries a flavor of revenge on those who have pushed him to face his crime: Kate, Chris, and Ann. Accordingly, the curtain falls on Chris weeping with guilt over his father’s death, and there is a sense that his guilt will hang like a shadow over the marriage between him and Ann, if indeed it still takes place. Thus the ramifications of Joe’s crime do not end with his death, but go on indefinitely.
Miller began writing during World War II, though he finished it after the war. He wanted to reflect the pragmatic reality of wartime profiteering that coexisted with idealism and patriotism. He said, “everybody knew that a lot of hanky-panky was going on … A lot of illicit fortunes were being made, a lot of junk was being sold to the armed services, we all knew that. The average person was violating rationing. All the rules were being violated every day but you wanted not to mention it” (from an interview with Miller, quoted by C.W.E. Bigsby in his Introduction to , by Arthur Miller, Penguin Classics, 2000). Speaking in 1999, Miller noted the continuing relevance of his story. He said that even modern audiences recognize the force, if not the justification, of Keller’s defense of his actions, because they understand their own potential for complicity: “The justification that Joe Keller makes is that … you do what you have to do in order to survive,” a defense which is “always understandable and always unacceptable” (quoted by C.W.E. Bigsby in his Introduction to , by Arthur Miller, Penguin Classics, 2000). As Joe points out when he indignantly demands of Chris whether he must go to jail for doing what many others were doing, “Half the Goddam country is gotta go if I go!” (Act Three). Joe is no better or worse than other people. He is an everyman with whom many people can identify, which is why the play has a powerful ability to make readers and the audience question themselves. The more idealistic characters in the play believe that wartime profiteers must be held accountable for their actions. In Act Two, George says of his father Steve: “He’d like to take every man who made money in the war and put him up against a wall.” Chris replies to Joe’s self-justification by reading him Larry’s letter, in which he says, “Every day three or four men never come back and he sits back there doing business.” Then Larry commits suicide, which stands by way of his comment on his father’s stance. As of 2008, the issue of wartime profiteering is at least as contentious as it was when Miller wrote . Critics of the 2003 US-British invasion of Iraq have pointed out that several US-based corporations have made massive profits out of the Iraq war. In many cases, prominent politicians in the George W. Bush administration who were influential in taking the country to war have interests in the corporations that stand to profit from it, leading to accusations of their having a vested interest in its launch and continuance. |
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All My Sons
45 pages • 1 hour read
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Before You Read
Act Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
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Discussion Questions
Greed and Self-Interest
Joe Keller made his money building military aircraft engines during World War II, enriching himself at the cost of other people’s lives. He values his family’s wealth above all else, willingly sending his friend to prison and other men to their deaths to preserve his business. His idealistic son Chris believes in the American Dream and undergoes a crisis of faith when he begins to realize that the ideals he has sacrificed and fought for might be illusory, but his father has always had a more self-interested and practical view of life during war time. According to Joe, the entire country was profiting from the war. Since everyone was so greedy, he insists, he cannot be held accountable for the profits he made by fueling the military-industrial complex.
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Truth & Lies
All My Sons Theme of Lies and Deceit
Everyone is a liar in All My Sons. Joe Keller lies to his sons and his neighbors about a crime that killed 21 American pilots and sent his partner to prison. His wife Kate keeps quiet about it too. Chris, the surviving son and heir to Joe Keller's business, lies to himself about it. He has nothing to fear from the neighborhood, though – turns out everyone knows everyone's lying. There's a friendly neighborhood agreement to keep things cute. It's this complicity that the dead son, Larry, couldn't stand returning to after the sacrifice and bravery of war.
Questions About Lies and Deceit
- Why doesn't Ann bring out Larry's letter at the beginning of her visit? Or in the years prior?
- Is there an honest character in this play?
- Do you think "deceit" and "complicity" are one in the same? Are those characters who play along just as guilty as those who commit crimes?
Chew on This
All My Sons could be read as a study on shades of deceit: outright lie, complicit silence, and self-deception. Kate's wily intelligence combines with Joe's social talent to make the Kellers a crackerjack team of deceivers.
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All My Sons Themes
| (approx. 3 pages at 400 words per page) |
American Dream
In a sense, All My Sons is a critical investigation of the quest to achieve material comfort and an improved social status through hard work and determination. In the Horatio Alger myth, even a disadvantaged, impoverished young man can attain wealth and prestige through personal fortitude, moral integrity, and untiring industry. Joe Keller is that sort of self-made man, one who made his way from blue-collar worker to factory owner. However, Joe sacrifices his integrity to materialism, and he makes a reprehensible decision that sends American pilots to their deaths, something he is finally forced to face.
Atonement and Forgiveness
Paradoxically, Joe Keller's suicide at the end of All My Sons is both an act of atonement and an escape from guilt. It stems from Joe's realization that there can be no real forgiveness for what he had done. The alternative is confession and imprisonment. Death offers...
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| (approx. 3 pages at 400 words per page) |
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‘All My Sons’ by Arthur Miller Essay
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‘All My Sons’ was an Arthur Miller play written in 1947, based on a factual account which the writer’s at the time of mother-in-law outlined in an Ohio newspaper. This play is considered as the Arthur’s first marketable victorious play, which was released at the Coronet theatre in New York. Based on this, the play outlined how a woman informed on her father who had vended defective parts to the American armed forces during the World War II (Miller 6-56).
From this play, moral choices are portrayed by Dr. Jim Bayliss who was a neighborhood doctor. In this case, Jim portrays characters of a good person who usually believes in the responsibility of one man assisting another; but at the same time admitting to the accountability one has towards his family. From his character it can be seen that he is interested in helping people in terms of treatments but not because of money; which can be indicated by his lack of enthusiasm in worrying with a hypochondriac. Additionally, his liability can be seen from the instance where he left his wife for to attend medical research.
However, he ultimately went home since he put his duty to his family to the front of his responsibility to the society. In this case, Dr. Jim portrays his moral choice of responsibility both to his family and the society without the aim of material gain. Additionally, Dr. Jim showed his responsibilities by paying bills for the sick despite the fact that he shares Chris ideals (Miller 6-56).
On the other hand, Chris Keller is portrayed as a family man who is devoted to his parents. In this case it can be argued that he is painful with the achievement of his father’s commerce found during the war, when too many of his companions passed away senselessly. Further, he forwards his distress into romanticism and an approach of social consciousness that is strange to his family settings.
As a result of this, other characters supposed his idealism as cruel, requesting the sacrifices of others that he himself does not make as he thrives contentedly on his father’s dime. From this it can be argued that, Chris Keller’s moral choice is that he does not use others for his own gain and thus he is not happy with his father’s business success, while his friends had died senselessly. In this case, Chris is angry with the way men have been betraying their friends in the battle field and hence portrays the molar choice of not being selfish. Based on this it can be argued that, his hatred for egotism is depicted by his guiltiness in the act of making money out of a deal which is not significant to the men on whose labor it relies (Miller 6-56).
It can be argued that, Dr. Jim’s characters are appealing to the ethics of care theory and principle. In this case, the ethics of care is a moral theory developed by feminists where it highlights the significance of relationships. In this case it can be argued that, Dr. Jim was responsible both to his family and the society. From his characters it is well indicated that, he loved the Joe’s family despite the fact that he knew that Joe was guilty.
Based on this, because of his affiliation with the Keller’s family he attempted to save Joe from a conflict with George Deever. On the other hand, Dr. Jim appeals to the theory of ethics of care from his believe in the responsibility of one person to help another. Additionally, the principle of ethics of care is portrayed with his acknowledgements of ones responsibilities to his family. From this it can be argued that, Jim cares a lot about other people and takes the responsibility of helping them (Miller 6-56).
Additionally, Chris Keller’s characters are appealing to the theory of virtue ethics which stresses the character of the ethical agent, rather than the policies and outcomes. It can also be argued that, Chris is more devoted to his parents and feels guilty whenever he uses others for his own benefits. From this, Chris is not comfortable with his father’s business success; while his friends died senselessly during the war. On the other hand, Chris feels guilty for surviving the war while the others died during the war. Further, Chris believes that one should be directed by the noble principles and hence encourages Dr. Jim to further his research in medicine. It can be argued that, he hates selfishness and hence could not be pleased with the people who sell others out in the battle field (Miller 6-56).
It is of importance to note that, the theory of rational egotism is directly opposite to what Chris believed in. in this case, the theory of rational egotism states that an action is rational in the case that it maximizes one’s interests. Contrary to this, Chris does not believe in selfishness at the expense of others. This can be evident from the way he considers himself guilty for surviving the war while the others died. In another instance, when his father’s guiltiness was revealed; Chris had had him to prison because he did not believe in egotism. It is because Chris believed in moral agent and not selfishness; which made him encourages Dr. Jim to further his medical research studies (Miller 6-56).
On the other hand, Dr. Jim’s characters were against the principles of the theory of utilitarianism. In this case, this theory states that the ethical worth of an action is settled on exclusively by its usefulness in providing contentment and enjoyment as assumed among all conscious beings. In this case, Jim was responsible to his family and also to the whole society in terms of medicines but not for material gain. It can be argued that, Jim could pay hospital bills for the patients unable to pay them and at the same time he protected Joe because of his friendship with the Keller’s family. Based on this it can be seen that, whatever he did was not for material gain but because of his responsible nature (Miller 6-56).
From a personal perspective, Dr. Jim and Chris’s moral choices were right because they were not intending to benefit themselves at the cost of others. It can be argued that, Chris’ hatred for egotism was justifiable during the World War II since he cared for the others who did not survive the bullets. On the other hand, Jim’s acts of responsibility for his family and also the rest of the society showed senses of care and love.
For example in a real life situation, one should not be selfish to the extent that he uses other to get benefits; but should care for every one who they have a common goal with. Still on the same point, Jim portrayed the qualities of a good parent and neighbor in real life situation. When one has a problem he requires some one to help in solving the problem like Joe’s Problems and Jim’s help (Miller 6-56).
Miller, Arthur. “All My Sons”. New York: Dramatists Play Service Inc. (1999): P. 6-56.
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| Theme Analysis |
The play dramatizes a common element of post-Second World War American society: the belief that the acquisition of wealth and material possessions was part of American power, following the defeat of fascism in Europe and Asia. Joe believes that he must acquire wealth in order to please his family and make something of himself in the world. He has very little by way of formal education, and therefore considers himself “self-made.” His shrewdness in business is well known in the community. Joe’s manufacturing business has adapted well, both during and after the war. In wartime, Joe understood that acknowledging any malfunction in parts would cause the government to remove its contract, thus dooming the business. And after the war, Joe does all he can to transition the factory from wartime to peacetime production. Joe therefore uses his wealth as proof of a kind of moral fortitude: the money he has is the money he earned. He wants his son Chris to feel this way, too, but Chris is more conflicted about the source of his money, perhaps because he senses that his father might not have been entirely truthful in his “exoneration” following Steve’s conviction. Larry is mourned by the family not just because he was lost during the war, but because he has lost a chance to benefit from the post-war boom.
Other characters—namely Kate and Sue —warn Annie and Chris that they must make a life for themselves and earn a great deal of money. There is a sense that money can solve all, or nearly all, of one’s problems, that it is the only thing necessary for the establishment of a prosperous future and a happy family. Sue understands that her husband Jim feels his current life is a prison, and that she forces Jim to make money doing a job he hates, rather than allowing him to make less money and feel morally and spiritually fulfilled as a medical researcher. Sue believes, fundamentally, that the accumulation of wealth is more important than Jim’s feeling of personal fulfillment.
Of course, as the play shows, the pursuit of wealth is insufficient in papering over the moral complexities of the war and its aftermath. Money does not bring Larry back; it does not free Steve. In fact, the pursuit of money is what caused Steve’s imprisonment, Larry’s suicide, and, later, Joe’s guilt-induced suicide. If money is the root of happiness in a materialist American culture, it is also the root of the sadness that culture attempts largely to hide.
Wealth and Its Accumulation ThemeTracker
Wealth and Its Accumulation Quotes in All My Sons
I’ve only met you, Ann, but if I may offer you a piece of advice—When you marry, never—even in your mind—never count your husband’s money.
It’s wrong to pity a man like that [Steve]. Father or no father, there’s only one way to look at him. He knowingly shipped out parts that would crash an airplane. And how do you know Larry wasn’t one of them?
. . . you and George . . . go to prison and tell him [Steve] . . . “Dad, Joe wants to bring you into the business when you get out.” You’d have him as a partner? No, no partner. A good job.
And now you’re going to listen to me, George. You had big principles, Eagle Scouts the three of you [Larry, George, Chris] . . . Stop being a philosopher, and look after yourself. Like Joe was just saying—you move back here, he’ll help you get set, and I’ll find you a girl and put a smile on your face.
You, Joe . . . you’re amazingly the same. Say, I ain’t got time to get sick. He hasn’t been laid up in fifteen years. Except my flu during the war.
Joe, Joe . . . it don’t excuse it that you did it for the family. It’s got to excuse it! There’s something bigger than the family to him.
If you can’t get used to it [the Keller family money], then throw it away. You hear me? Take every cent and give it to charity, throw it in the sewer. Does that settle it? . . .
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All My Sons Arthur Miller
All My Sons literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of All My Sons.
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All My Sons Essays
Mother knows worst: kate's role in all my sons anonymous 11th grade, all my sons.
In the play All My Sons by Arthur Miller, Kate Keller - Joe’s wife, and Chris’ as well as Larry’s mother – shows the audience that, at the end of the day, she is still mainly concerned about her own family instead of about paying the rightful...
The Ethical Breach of the Business Man Anonymous College
Arthur Miller’s All My Sons explores the relationship between father and son, and the lengths a man will go to for his family and for himself. The main character, Joe Keller, is a father who believed his greatest achievement was his son, and the...
Off-Stage but Ever-Present: Larry in All My Sons Anonymous 10th Grade
In Arthur Miller’s All My Sons , Larry is the youngest member of the Keller family who passed away in World War II. Although he does not appear on stage for the duration of the play, he is still considered to be one of the most important roles. His...
Ordinary People Create Drama: A Comparison of All My Sons and The Importance of Being Earnest Anonymous 12th Grade
Traditionally, drama has been an outlet for the extraordinary; only fairly recently with more modernist plays have the focus been shifted onto more ordinary lives. Greek tragedy follows the fall of a noble protagonist; by comparison, domestic...
Society, Family, Catharsis: Male Protagonists in ‘All My Sons’ and ‘The Cement Garden’ Abigail Daniels 12th Grade
Ian McEwan’s controversial, macabre bildungsroman, ‘The Cement Garden’, and Arthur Miller’s Ibsen-inspired domestic tragedy, “All My Sons”, both profoundly explore societal and familial demands and expectations laid upon men in these epochs-1946...
Tension and Foreshadowing in Act One of All My Sons Meg Eve Day 11th Grade
Act One of Arthur Miller's All My Sons introduces themes of money and materialism and a reliance on the supernatural as sources of conflict. The tense beginning indicates escalating acrimony in the following act and foreshadows the tragic finale....
COMMENTS
Loss and Memory. Many characters in the play wrestle with the memory of loved ones who are now gone: lost to them or dead. The most prominent "lost" character is Larry, one of Joe and Kate's two sons. Joe believes, ironically, that Larry was more willing to "let slide" some of the small things that help a business to turn a profit.
Discussion of themes and motifs in Arthur Miller's All My Sons. eNotes critical analyses help you gain a deeper understanding of All My Sons so you can excel on your essay or test.
Essays for All My Sons. All My Sons literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of All My Sons. Mother Knows Worst: Kate's Role in All My Sons; The Ethical Breach of the Business Man; Off-Stage but Ever-Present: Larry in All My Sons
All My Sons: Theme Analysis. The major theme of the play is the conflict between self-interest and the wider responsibility that people owe to the society in which they live. This conflict is mostly enacted through the characters of Joe, Chris, and the now-dead Larry. Joe has put all his energies into making money and building up his business.
Essays for All My Sons. All My Sons literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of All My Sons. Mother Knows Worst: Kate's Role in All My Sons; The Ethical Breach of the Business Man; Off-Stage but Ever-Present: Larry in All My Sons
Critical Context. All My Sons is one of Miller's earliest plays to explore what has become one of the playwright's major thematic concerns: the tragic destruction of the common man. Miller's ...
Key Facts about All My Sons. Full Title: All My Sons. When Written: 1946. Where Written: New York City. When Published: 1947. Literary Period: Realism in American drama. Genre: American realist drama. Setting: Suburban United States (intentionally kept non-specific) Climax: Joe goes upstairs to shoot himself, while the rest of the family waits ...
for only $0.70/week. Subscribe. By Arthur Miller. Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Study Guide of "All My Sons" by Arthur Miller. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
All My Sons: Act 1 Summary & Analysis. The play opens in the hedged-in backyard of the Keller home, with Joe Keller, head of the family, father of two boys, husband to Katie Keller, sitting outside reading the paper alongside his friend and neighbor Dr. Jim Bayliss. Keller has two sons: one, Chris, who works with him in the family business, and ...
All My Sons Theme of Lies and Deceit. Everyone is a liar in All My Sons. Joe Keller lies to his sons and his neighbors about a crime that killed 21 American pilots and sent his partner to prison. His wife Kate keeps quiet about it too. Chris, the surviving son and heir to Joe Keller's business, lies to himself about it.
American Dream. In a sense, All My Sons is a critical investigation of the quest to achieve material comfort and an improved social status through hard work and determination. In the Horatio Alger myth, even a disadvantaged, impoverished young man can attain wealth and prestige through personal fortitude, moral integrity, and untiring industry.
Critical Overview. All My Sons was Arthur Miller's first successful play on Broadway. In hindsight, it may seem that the work lacks the great imaginative force of his next play, Death of a ...
All My Sons Analysis Activity Theme Analysis Essay . For this activity, you will be analyzing the major themes from Arthur Miller's play, All My Sons.First, brainstorm a list of themes from this play.
Exclusively available on IvyPanda®. 'All My Sons' was an Arthur Miller play written in 1947, based on a factual account which the writer's at the time of mother-in-law outlined in an Ohio newspaper. This play is considered as the Arthur's first marketable victorious play, which was released at the Coronet theatre in New York.
All My Sons Essay Questions. 1. Several characters in the play believe in forces outside their control that influence the events of their lives. Kate turns to astronomy and God, while Keller argues that the pressures of business forced him to act as he did. Examine the role of personal agency in the play.
A major theme of All My Sons is that of responsibility. Before the play's action begins, Joe Keller ducked moral responsibility by allowing cracked cylinder heads to be shipped out of his ...
Wealth and Its Accumulation Theme Analysis. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in All My Sons, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. The play dramatizes a common element of post-Second World War American society: the belief that the acquisition of wealth and material possessions was part of American power ...
Act One of Arthur Miller's All My Sons introduces themes of money and materialism and a reliance on the supernatural as sources of conflict. The tense beginning indicates escalating acrimony in the following act and foreshadows the tragic finale. It is the first impression the audience has of the story, making it vital to the onstage delivery.
PARAGRAPH THREE. "I know your no worse than most men but I thought you were better. I never saw you as a man I saw you as my father" (almost breaking) PARAGRAPH FOUR. "Sure he was my son but I think to him they were all my sons. And I guess they were , I guess they were". "Forget it now - live ".
Slammed, by Colleen Hoover. If you want to go back to the start, try Hoover's first young adult novel, "Slammed," which she self-published in 2012 while working as a social worker and living ...
All My Sons. Act One of Arthur Miller's All My Sons introduces themes of money and materialism and a reliance on the supernatural as sources of conflict. The tense beginning indicates escalating acrimony in the following act and foreshadows the tragic finale.... All My Sons literature essays are academic essays for citation.
The ending and its implications in Arthur Miller's play All My Sons. In All My Sons, describe Chris's main conflicts with his father, mother, and girlfriend. Ask a question. Explore insightful ...