All My Sons by Arthur Miller || Grade 12 || Optional English || Summary

About the playwright:

·         Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater.

·         His most popular plays include All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), and A View from the Bridge (1955).

 

About this play/drama:

•  It is a three-act play which was written in 1946 and published in 1947 AD. It is a tragic and realistic modern play which shows the post Second World War society. It shows people driven by lust for money who can stoop to any extent to earn money. It deals with the tragic conflict between family loyalties and social responsibilities.

•  Literary period: American realism

•  Setting(Place and Time): at the backyard of Keller family’s house in unnamed town in America after few years of WW II in the month of August.

•  Protagonist: Joe Keller

•  Themes: Failure of American Dream, family obligation, family loyalties vs. social responsibility, war, morality, loss and tragedy, blame and guilt, accumulation of wealth and money, love, hope, bravery and sacrifice etc.

 

Characters:

1.Joe Keller- He is a successful businessman, Kate’s husband and Larry and Chris’ father.

2.Kate Keller-She is Joe’s wife and mother to Larry and Chris. She is a housewife.

3.Larry Keller-He is an elder son of Joe and Kate. He is missing in war. He was a pilot of the fighter plane. He was Ann’s boyfriend.

4.Chris Keller-He is a younger son of Joe and Kate. He went to fight during the WW II. He is handling father’s business. He is in love with his brother’s girlfriend Ann.

5.Steve Deever-He is Joe’s neighbour and business partner. He is father to George and Ann.

6.George Deever-He is Steve’s son. He is a WW II veteran. He is Ann’s brother. Now, he is a lawyer in New York. He was in love with Lydia before the war.

7.Ann Deever- She is Steve’s daughter, George’s sister, and Larry’s girlfriend but now she is in love with Chris. She is 26 years old.

8.Dr. Jim Baylis-He is Keller’s neighbour. He is a 40 year-old doctor.

9.Sue Bayliss- She is Jim’s wife.

10.              Frank Lubey- He is a neighbour of the Kellers. He is an astrologer. He is married to Lydia. He sees Larry’s horoscope in the play.

11.              Lydia Lubey- She is Frank’s wife and George’s former girlfriend.

 

Summary:

All My Sons’ is a three-act play written by an American dramatist, Arthur Miller. This plays deals with the tragic conflict between family loyalties and social responsibility.  

            The protagonist, Joe Keller is a successful businessman who lives with his wife, Kate and younger son, Chris in an unnamed city in America. Their elder son, Larry went missing in World War II. Even after three years, Kate still hopes that her son is alive and will come. Joe Keller had a manufacturing plant in partnership with his neighbour, Steve Deever. Their families were close. Steve’s daughter Ann was Larry’s girlfriend. During the World War II, both Keller boys and Steve’s son, George were sent to the war.

            During the war, Keller’s and Deever’s manufacturing plant supplied airplane parts to the US Army. One morning, Joe told Steve to supply the cracked airplane cylinders by repairing them due to high pressure from the army. Otherwise they(Army) could cancle the contract. Due to the supply of defective (cracked/faulty) airplane cylinders, 21 fighter planes crashed and 21 pilots died. Both Steve and Joe were arrested. Joe told a lie at the court that only Steve was responsible for it and he did not tell him to do so. He was released and Steve was imprisoned.

            This play begins some years after the World War II at the Backyard of Keller’s home. Joe is reading a newspaper sitting with his neighbour Dr. Jim Bayliss. Their neighbour Frank Lubey is seeing Larry’s horoscope to know if the day Larry went missing was favourable or not. The apple tree planted in the memory of Larry has fallen due to the lightening of last night. Kate thinks her son, Larry’s bad luck has gone away after this incident. Chris wants his mother to forget Larry because he wants to marry his elder brother, Larry’s fiancée(girlfriend), Ann. Ann arrives there because Chris and Ann both want to convince Kate for their marriage. Ann’s brother George, who is a lawyer by profession now, directly comes to the Keller’s home to stop the marriage between his sister Ann and Chris. George learnt the truth of the crime from his father, whom he had gone to meet in prison. George confronts the Kellers. He wants to take revenge. Ann sends her brother away from there. She wants to marry Chris no matter what.

            Kate still doesn’t accept the death of Larry. So, she cannot accept the marriage between Chris and Ann. Accepting their marriage means Larry is truly dead. At this stage, Ann opens a suicide letter sent to her by Larry. In the letter, Larry had mentioned that he was going to have a suicide plane crash due to the guilty feeling after knowing about his father’s crime. Kate requests Ann not to show the letter to Chris and Joe but she shows it to Chris. He reads it aloud. After knowing the truth, Chris finally criticizes his father's guilt in supplying those defective parts. He calls him a murderer. Joe tells “They were all my sons” to those 21 pilots. But, Chris says he won't do anything about it. He won't even ask his father to go to prison. Joe Keller goes inside to bring his jacket to go to jail. A gunshot is heard. He has killed himself. Kate tells Chris and Ann to go far away and start a new life.