all my sons higher english essay

‘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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All My Sons

by Arthur Miller

All my sons essay questions.

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. For example, does Keller's suicide reflect a new acceptance of his misdeeds? Does he kill himself out of choice or mainly as a result of external pressures?

Keller argues that no one "worked for nothin' in that war," insisting that if he has to go to jail, then "half the Goddam country" is similarly culpable. Is this an indictment of capitalism or of the wartime mentality? Does he believe this argument, or is it mainly another attempt to deflect blame?

Did Kate (Mother) know that Larry was dead? Did Chris know that his father was guilty? How might the actors and director of the play keep these questions ambiguous or suggest that these facts were known all along? Did Miller possibly intend that the audience never know how much Kate and Chris had suspicions, or is the play better if the audience gradually learns that Kate and Chris knew the truth all along?

Which kinds of facts are better to face immediately, and which kinds are better to deny as long as possible? Consider personal, family, and social values. Use the play for possible anecdotal evidence.

The tone of much of the second and third acts is accusatory, with a strong emphasis on questions and questioning. How do the characters use questions to deflect blame? Or, how does Miller use questions to pace the dialogue and heighten the tension? What counts as evidence of the facts? (Consider the courtroom scenes in The Crucible for comparison.)

How does Miller introduce the past and show the effects of the past on the Kellers without employing flashbacks?

How does Miller manipulate information? The entirety of the first act is exposition, yet the audience is kept guessing and alert through Miller's careful pacing of the revelation of facts. How does our experience of the play change after we have seen it the first time and know all the history? Do successive iterations of reading or watching the play help us pick up on additional details of the themes and characters?

The common theatrical device of "the letter" provides a way for Larry to personally enter the play after his death. What else makes the letter work well in this particular play? Consider, for instance, Miller's careful manipulation of information throughout the play.

How does Miller characterize Larry, who never appears on stage but who is so fundamental to the events and the people? How can we reconcile or add together the various accounts of his character?

If the focus is on the Keller family, what is the point of including the Deever family as more than just a set of foils for the Kellers?

All My Sons Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for All My Sons is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Why is Kate upset by her dream? All my sons

Kate won't accept her son died in the war. Kate recalls a dream she had about Larry, when she heard the wind, she imagined it was Larry flying by in his fighter plane. Kate turns to Joe and admonishes him for planting her son's memorial tree so...

Both Joe and Chris treat Kate with kid gloves, as she continues to grieve for her son, Larry, and continues to wait for his return.

When confessing his love for Ann, Chris tells his father that if he cannot accept their love and desire to marry,...

What was Larry's favourable drink?

I see no evidence of Larry's favorite drink being mentioned in the text. Act and scene?

Study Guide for All My Sons

All My Sons study guide contains a biography of Arthur Miller, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About All My Sons
• All My Sons Summary
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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
• Ordinary People Create Drama: A Comparison of All My Sons and The Importance of Being Earnest
• Society, Family, Catharsis: Male Protagonists in ‘All My Sons’ and ‘The Cement Garden’

Lesson Plan for All My Sons

• About the Author
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All My Sons

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All My Sons , a play in three acts, is set in a small town several years after World War Two, and begins with Jim Bayliss , a doctor, and Joe Keller , head of the Keller family, sitting in Keller’s backyard, reading the paper. A storm the previous night has shorn in half a tree that is revealed to memorialize Larry Keller , one of two Keller children—the son who did not survive the war. Chris , the other Keller son and a junior partner in the family manufacturing business, comes outside and tells his father, Joe, after Jim leaves, that the family cannot continue leading on Kate , Joe’s wife, in the belief that Larry is still living. Frank Lubey , another neighbor of the Keller’s (along with his wife Lydia Lubey ), is using astrology to determine if Larry is alive, and he brings this information to Kate later in the play, but for the most part, Chris believes that all in the town have come to the same conclusion: that, after three years, Larry will not be returning to the small town, that Larry’s plane crash in the war was fatal.

Chris also tells his father that Annie , Larry’s former girlfriend who is visiting the Keller’s from New York, is there because Chris intends to propose marriage to her. Joe has no real problem with the idea in itself, but Joe fears that Kate will not permit it, since Annie is “Larry’s girl,” and to give Annie to Chris would mean that Larry is really dead. Kate comes outside, as does Annie, and a series of strained conversations ensue, in which Chris attempts to demonstrate his affection for Annie, and Kate tries to emphasize that Larry is not dead and Annie is not “Chris’s girl.” Slowly, throughout the first act, it is revealed that Annie’s father, Steve , was a former employee of Joe’s at the manufacturing company during the war, and that Steve apparently OK’d the production of faulty plane parts, which were shipped to American planes, and which caused the death of 21 pilots in plane crashes. Steve went to jail for his negligence, but Joe was released, arguing in court that Steve acted alone, and that Joe did not force him to ship the defective parts.

Joe and Kate worry that Annie has come to stir up trouble in the Keller family regarding Joe’s guilt in the manufacturing affair, and this, too, complicates the possibility of Chris and Annie’s wedding. Chris also tells Annie that he has a hard time navigating the moral complexities of post-war life, and he relates a story from the war, in which a soldier gave him his last pair of dry socks , as an indication of the moral simplicity of battle.

George , Annie’s brother, calls long-distance, from Columbus, where Steve is imprisoned, saying he, too, is going to visit the Keller home that evening. Annie worries that George is coming with revelations about the Joe-Steve manufacturing affair, and Kate tells Joe to prepare himself for George’s questioning. George arrives, in a huff, and though Jim and Chris attempt to calm him, George accuses Joe of knowingly inducing Steve to “take the fall” for the manufacturing failures. George believes Steve’s story, that Joe himself told Steve over the phone to shellac over the defective parts. George believes that Joe feigned sickness that evening to keep from going into the plant, thus retaining distance from the events, which enabled Joe to place the blame entirely on Steve. Joe denies these accusations to George, who leaves the house, but as Annie runs after him, Joe announces to Chris, and in front of Kate, that in fact George’s story is true.

Chris is aghast, not just that this father produced the defective parts, but that Joe lied to put Steve in jail, and proceeded to make a fortune from the factory in the post-war boom. Chris feels complicit in his father’s immorality, and goes for a drive that evening, while Joe and Kate weep on the house’s back porch.

At the play’s end, it is two in the morning the following day, and Chris returns from his drive to find Annie, Joe, and Kate outside. Annie, who wants Kate to believe that Larry is truly dead so that she and Chris can be married, shows to Kate a letter Larry wrote her the day before his death, in which he said his plane would “go missing” in an act of suicide, out of the shame Larry feels for Joe’s and Steve’s guilt. Joe, who for a long time had comforted himself with the idea that he was not responsible for his own son’s death, realizes, when Chris reads the letter aloud, that he has not only killed 21 pilots—he has also killed, indirectly, his own son. Joe remarks that “all the soldiers . . . are his sons,” and goes upstairs, feigning that he will turn himself in to the small town’s jail. But a gunshot is heard; Joe has killed himself in the house, and though Chris tells his mother, outside, that he didn’t intend for this to happen, Kate tells Chris and Annie, calmly, to go far away and start a new family elsewhere, since the guilt that has ravaged the Keller family can bring them nothing but harm. The play ends.

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Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons:” the Trajectory of Tragedy

by Webmanager | Aug 27, 2018

All My Sons is an American tragedy. It’s the story of a post-world War II family caught in a cycle of greed and deception; it’s the story of a terribly flawed patriarch who hides a terrible choice that holds devastating consequences for the family he desperately loves.

From Sophocles to Shakespeare, tragedies have been events for the masses who watch them collectively and process them experientially, perhaps even cathartically. The target market of the Greek tragedy was the aristocracy, but the groundlings of the Elizabethan Age paid a hard-earned penny to arrive in eager droves to see Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear. The unified experience involved a tragic hero with a tragic flaw who left on an epic journey, often begun with an invocation to the gods. At the end there was personal revelation with terrible consequences. And there was death. So what is the appeal of a tragedy?

First Corinthians 10 may shed some light:

10  For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea;   2  and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea;   3  and all ate the same spiritual food;   4  and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.   5  Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.

6  Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved.   7  Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “ The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play .” 8  Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day.   9  Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents.   10  Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.   11  Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.   12  Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.   13  No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. (New American Standard Bible)

  These things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved…these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. The apostle Paul is very specific: Old Testament stories, tragedies in literature older than the Golden Age of Greece, are poignant signposts pointing us to the narrow way; Achan’s horde under the floor, the Golden Calf, David and Bathsheba, Joseph and eleven jealous brothers, Jacob and his deceptions, Lot’s wife and her over-the-shoulder farewell to Sodom and Gomorrah are some of the more dramatic among them.

Joe Keller, the protagonist of All My Sons, could have been a character pulled right off the pages of Genesis and plopped into a 20 th century script. He was laid low in his own wilderness, very much as the Children of Israel were laid low in theirs. The original travelers never made it to the Promised Land. We know from Scripture the nation of Israel learned the hard way at every turn of their journey; so did Joe Keller. Joe Keller could have learned by taking the narrow way, which is in the end, the easy way of choosing the easy yoke of the One who wrote the story.

So, we circle back to the original question: what is the appeal of tragedy? At the end of any tragedy, I find myself left with two reactions. First is the stark revelation of senseless waste; a different moral choice would have sent the characters on a vastly different trajectory involving far less pain and far more nobility. Then, the collective sigh of relief: there but for the grace of God go I.

This is exactly the choice Joe’s son Chris is presented with at the end of the play. Chris and Kate, Joe’s wife, hear an offstage gunshot after Joe understands for the first time the consequences his actions have had. The result? No spoiler: a terrible tragedy. Kate is all too aware of the dilemma her son now finds himself in:

CHRIS: Mother, I didn’t mean to…

KATE: Don’t dear. Don’t take it on yourself. Forget now. Live.

Chris is in danger of making exactly the choice his brother and father did. Kate, in the rarefied air of the final moments of the play, understands this completely, and her love and imperative to her son ultimately pull him from the edge of the abyss.

How this moment is staged is completely up to the director, and it has everything to do with whether this play is merely the audience’s observation of senseless waste or something that challenges us to higher moral ground. As a director, I would, of course, choose the high ground; what my eye already sees is hope. The end result of a well-crafted tragedy has to offer hope for a better world inhabited by people whose trajectory moves us closer down the path toward our Maker.

All My Sons is far more than a cautionary tale. Any piece of literature with a universally true thematic statement is timeless. It tells us our choices matter, and we owe our integrity not only to God, but to the brotherhood of all humanity. That truth speaks to us perhaps even more strongly now than it did to the first audiences of post-war 1947.  We find woven in the pages of All My Sons an object lesson of “instruction to us on whom the ends of the ages have come.”

All My Sons  is CU Theatre Arts upcoming production, October 11-14. For more details:  https://www.calvary.edu/theatre-arts/

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Introduction – Historical, Cultural and Literary Context

Miller: All My Sons

In this fifteen-part course, Professor John McRae (University of Nottingham) explores Arthur Miller's All My Sons. In the first two modules, we think about the historical, cultural and literary context for the play, as well as exploring the themes of capitalism, greed and guilt. In the thirteen modules that follow, we go through the play page-by-page, providing close reading and detailed analysis, with commentary on character, plot, themes, motifs, language and symbolism – as well as certain issues to think about when staging the play, e.g. haptics, proxemics. Note: Page numbers are based on the Penguin Modern Classics version of the play (2000, ed. Christopher Bigsby). Students using a different version of the play may encounter slight differences in both text and page numbers.

In this module, we think about the historical, cultural and literary context of 'All My Sons', focusing in particular on: (i) the immediate post-war period in which it was written, and the difference between Miller and other dramatists writing in this period, e.g. Tennessee Williams; (ii) the importance of the family in tragedy, especially the idea of something from the family's past somehow haunting the present; (iii) the concept of the Aristotelian unities and the extent to which 'All My Sons' fulfils them; (iv) the influence of social realist writers such as Clifford Odets (1906-63), Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) and Upton Sinclair (1878-1968); (v) the extent to which the United States had changed since the end of the First World War, and the different ways that these changes were represented in the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) and Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961), among other writers; (vi) the themes of money and greed in 'All My Sons'; (vii) the setting of the play, and the extent to which the Keller family are the prototypical 1940s American family; (viii) the importance of war as a background to 'All My Sons', and the tradition of plays examining the private lives of men involved in war, e.g. George Bernard Shaw's 'Arms and the Man' (1894); and (ix) the themes of responsibility and blame in the play.

Cite this Lecture

McRae, J. (2022, January 12). Miller: All My Sons - Introduction – Historical, Cultural and Literary Context [Video]. MASSOLIT. https://massolit.io/courses/miller-all-my-sons

McRae, J. "Miller: All My Sons – Introduction – Historical, Cultural and Literary Context." MASSOLIT , uploaded by MASSOLIT, 12 Jan 2022, https://massolit.io/courses/miller-all-my-sons

Prof. John McRae

Nottingham University

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NAT 5 Critical Essay: All My Sons - Arthur Miller (marked 19/20)

Subject: English

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Assessment and revision

Last updated

9 September 2020

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This is a National 5 English A-grade critical essay which examines Arthur Miller’s play All My Sons in relation to the following question:

Choose a play in which the writer creates an interesting character. By referring to appropriate techniques, explain how the writer makes this character interesting.

This essay discusses the depiction of Joe Keller and the theme of self-interest versus social responsibility, and how this is presented through Keller’s characterisation within the play. Evidence from the play has been highlighted in light blue for easier use.

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