All My Sons Coursework

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Mark Feeliu

Coursework Assignment on "All my Sons” by Arthur Miller

In 1947, the first successful play of playwright Arthur Miller was performed. All My Sons is a powerful account of a family’s struggle following the widespread effects of World War Two. The play had a particularly huge impact as it was first performed just two years after the war. It opened people’s eyes to the fact that while soldiers were risking their lives on the battlefield, businessmen had been making money from the bloodshed.

The play shows what a huge effect the war had on everyone. Not only were men dying on the battlefield, families were torn apart. The war had sown seeds of distrust and secrecy, causing tension between loved ones and ultimately destroying friendship and loyalty. In fact, in the introduction of All My Sons, we are informed that Arthur Miller’s first idea for the play came when he overhead a woman telling the story of a family, a family who were torn apart when the daughter handed her father into the authorities, after finding out he had been selling defective machinery during the war. It is horrific to think that while others were selflessly risking their lives, businessmen were benefiting. Not only that, but businessmen where lying to save their own necks, regardless of the effects of their crimes.

The play begins with a description of Joe Keller. Not only are we given a physical description “A heavy man of stolid mind and build”  but we are also given an insight into his character and personality, “ When he reads, when he speaks, when he listens, it is with the terrible concentration of the uneducated man for whom there is still wonder in many commonly known things”. This gives us a brief clue as to what the character is like, i.e. how he is perceived. This implies that Keller is a more complex character, not only are we told about his physical appearance but his personality, this also indicates that Keller is an important character.

 While talking to Frank and reading the newspaper Keller says: “You look at a page like this you realize how ignorant you are”. In the stage directions we are told that Keller proceeds to scan the page, softly and in wonder. This shows us that Keller does not think of himself as an intelligent man, but on the other hand I do not believe he truly thinks he is ignorant. I think the reference to his ignorance is not Keller defining his intelligence but rather to comment about how times have changed. I deduced this from the quote: “Well, that shows you; in my day, there was no such thing”, this is also in reference to the page of the newspaper.

When Lydia asks Keller about Annie, Keller replies: “Annie? I don’t suppose she goes around dancing on her toes, but she seems to be over it”. The use of the question mark indicates that Keller is perhaps startled that Lydia has brought up the subject of Annie, a sign that he is feeling guilty. He is then fairly dismissive, saying she’s not going to be ecstatic but she’s over it. He does not go in to much detail; this suggests he wants to get the subject over with. Keller’s surprise over the subject of Annie and Lydia’s question suggests that something has happened of importance which concerns

Annie.  

 Later on, Keller remarks, “Well, that’s what a war does. I had two sons, now I got one. It changed all the tallies.” Keller refers to his sons but does not mention them by name. He also then refers to tallies, as if his sons where statistics or numbers not humans. Keller takes a detached view of his situation, instead of showing a certain amount of expected emotion especially as Larry is dead. Furthermore, the subject of Keller losing a son during the war gives us some information about what has happened prior to the beginning of the play.

Just as we are about to find out a crucial element to the storyline, Arthur Miller introduces a new character, Bert. This increases suspense in the scene. Bert is a young boy of about eight and seemingly has a good relationship with Keller. We now see two contrasting sides of Keller’s personality which are made evident. Firstly, when Bert enters Keller swings him around. This is a fun loving gesture, showing Keller is a nice man who likes to entertain the kids. He uses his experiences in jail to play games with Bert. The whole atmosphere of the scene is warm and friendly, everyone is having a great time. In the stage directions it says: Keller chuckles and winks at Chris, who is enjoying all this. However, just after this direction Bert is embarrassed and pulls away from Keller. It is now that we see a contrasting and totally different side to Keller. As Bert pulls away Keller grabs him by the shirt and pulls him back. This is a violent action and shows Keller’s aggression. Then Chris steps in laughing, saying “Don’t make him do that”. This is a sort of wake up call for Keller, who returns back into character by saying “Okay, Bert. I take your word. Now go out and keep both eyes peeled”. He continues the game as if nothing has happened.

So far, we have been able to start to construct a picture of Joe Keller as a character. We have seen how he interacts with others but also how he refers to his sons. The playwright hints at Keller’s character traits in the way he speaks and acts. From the previous pages we have seen Keller as a gentle man, playing with a young boy and having a laugh with the child and his son, Chris. However, we have also seen other sides of him. When he talks to Lydia he is dismissive about Annie, about the past. This indicates that Keller has something to hide. Also, we have seen a slightly violent and aggressive side to Keller which he quickly covers up, suggesting he is not completely honest or as innocent as he would have us believe.

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Later on in the story, Keller and Chris are arguing over how to convince Mother that Larry is dead. Chris wants to be direct but Keller shies away from the confrontation, saying, “How’re you going to prove it? Can you prove it?” He is trying to avoid having to dredge up the past. Keller then continues to say: “To you it is, and to me. But not to her. You can talk yourself blue in the face, but there’s no body and there’s no grave, so where are you?” This makes me think that Keller is more concerned about ...

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