"All My Sons" is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1947. It tells the story of the Keller family, who live in a suburb of New York City after World War II. Joe Keller is the head of the household and the owner of a successful business that manufactures airplane parts. However, the family's happiness is shattered when Larry, Joe's oldest son and a pilot in the war, is reported missing in action and later declared dead.
As the play begins, we are introduced to the Keller family and their close friends, the Deever family. Joe Keller is a hardworking man who is deeply devoted to his family, especially his son Chris, who has taken over the family business. Joe's wife, Kate, is a strong-willed and controlling woman who is struggling to come to terms with Larry's death.
As the story unfolds, we learn that Joe's business was involved in a scandal during the war in which faulty airplane parts were shipped to the military, resulting in the deaths of many pilots. Joe's partner, Steve Deever, was sent to prison for the crime, but Joe was able to escape prosecution by claiming that he was unaware of the faulty parts.
The play takes a dramatic turn when Ann Deever, Steve's daughter and Larry's former fiancée, arrives at the Keller home to visit Chris. Ann and Chris have feelings for each other and want to get married, but Kate is against the idea because of the rift between the Keller and Deever families. Kate is also worried that Ann will discover the truth about Joe's involvement in the faulty parts scandal.
As the tension between the characters builds, the play culminates in a confrontation between Joe and Chris, in which Chris confronts his father about the scandal and demands that he take responsibility for his actions. In the end, Joe is unable to face the truth and kills himself, leaving Chris and Ann to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives.
Overall, "All My Sons" is a powerful and poignant play that explores themes of responsibility, guilt, and the destructive nature of lies and deception. It is a thought-provoking and moving examination of the human condition and the impact that our choices can have on those around us.
All My Sons Chapter Summaries
This is the final disgrace for Joe, who shoots himself. Miller captures these dichotomies, and they are still relevant today. See eNotes Ad-Free Start your 48-hour free trial to get access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts. Annie and Chris refuse to believe this. Setting The entire story is acted out in the Keller house which is situated in a small town and is multi-storey with 7 rooms. Kate comes outside again and finally convinces George to stay for dinner and get on the midnight train instead; George seems ready to agree, and, looking at Joe with a kinder eye, says Joe has not changed at all over the years. Ann asks to drop the subject of her father.
All My Sons
The audience sat in silence before the unwinding of All My Sons and gasped when they should have, and I tasted that power which is reserved, I imagine, for playwrights, which is to know that by one's invention a mass of strangers has been publicly transfixed. Larry then went out to fly a mission, during which he broke out of formation and crashed his plane, killing himself. Jim Bayliss, engages in conversation with Joe, too. After a heated argument, Chris breaks in and later proposes to Ann, who accepts. Finally, George and Ann will communicate with Steve and perhaps one day support his parole.
All My Sons by Arthur Miller
The entire play revolves around this past event. Joe, for his part, truly does believe that such an offer is feasibleâin fact, Joe believes this is the only way the family can move on after the whole terrible ordeal, by sticking to the plan, by staying in town. At the beginning of All My Sons, Annie Deever has just come to visit the Kellers. Then she is called inside because her brother George is on the phone, calling from the place where her father is imprisoned. Chris does not believe George, telling him that this is the same story Steve told in court, but George has a new fire in his eyes, and now believes that the Keller family ruined the Deevers.
All My Sons Background
New York: Library of America, 2006, p. Chris returns and says that he is not going to send his father to jail, because that would accomplish nothing and his family practicality has finally overcome his idealism. He sees a bigger picture and believes that they all need to accept consequences and be better people. The death of their eldest son, Larry, during the war has completely shaken Kate. 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.
Play Summary of Arthur Miller's "All My Sons" Act Two
The original travelers never made it to the Promised Land. When Ann joins them in the yard, Jim asks about her father in prison. Angrily, Kate tells Bert that there is no jail at their house. Thus, the ending leaves readers at a very turbid point. At the end of Act One, Ann gets a phone call from her brother, George, who has just visited Steve in prison. A war widow even calls Joe a murderer to his face in a restaurant. This is the final disgrace for Joe, who shoots himself.
