Arthur Miller was an American playwright, who was born
in New York. Miller's father had owned a garment factory, so Miller had a very
comfortable life, up until the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Since then, Miller
had to work every morning before school in order to help the family out.
Miller's plays deal with social and political issues such as one's response
to the pressures exerted by his family. A recurring theme of his works
is the conflict between one's personal interests and needs versus the
responsibility for the society and moral corruption, which is caused by materialism
and greed.
In Miller's play, "All My Sons", we can see the difference between the values of the main character, Joe Keller, and his son Chris. Joe is a self-made man, who started from nothing and built his own successful plant. The only thing Joe values is his family. He believes there's nothing that is "bigger than the family" and anything should be excused within the family. However, his son, Chris, is an idealist and a former soldier, who believes the responsibility for the society is above all. During World War II, Joe decided to ship defected cylinder parts to the army, which eventually caused the deaths of 21 pilots. Joe excused his war crimes by saying it was for the family and that wanted them to have a comfortable life. Also, he said that if he didn't ship the parts, the army was ready to cancel his contract and his company, which was his biggest achievement in life, would've been ruined. Chris' idealism is phony. Despite the fact that he suspected what his father has done, he still used the tainted money of the factory and kept working with his father after the war. When Chris found out that his father was guilty, he wanted to lock him up in prison. However, he caved under his family's pressure and became a "practical" and down to earth man. He wanted to leave and start a new life.
The information helped me understand better the themes of "All My Sons". I can see that Joe chose to follow his interests and greedy needs over his responsibility to the society. By doing so, he killed 21 men and got away from punishment by lying at court whilst his partner was sent to jail. The materialism had affected his moral judgment, and corrupted his mind. Chris represents the responsibility to the society – he wanted to hand over his own father to the police in order to make his father pay for his mistakes. We can see how the pressure of his family changes his character, and surrenders his moral mind by making him more "practical" and giving up for his values.
To sum up, we can see how Miller's themes are reflected in his play "All My Sons". It all comes down to one instructive lesson – be a better person, take responsibility for your actions and don’t let anyone undermine your values. Always be true to yourself.
(100)
Daphna
