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All My Sons

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174 views23 pages

All My Sons

Uploaded by

5krzfxfpd8
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Drama written by

Arthur Miller
Born in 1915 in NYC
Father lost his business in Brooklyn
during the Great Depression

Miller is a realist

He writes about normal American life


and his writing style is straight forward,
since his works directly speaks to the
audiences

Miller’s work are based on families,


money, and the American dream
 The American Dream is a phrase that means hope for prosperity
and happiness, it is defined as a set of ideals which are held by all
individuals AND every American.
 Unfortunately, those who seek fortunes and the American dream of
success often hurt those who are not as capable of achieving it
 These ideals include freedom, equality and opportunity.
 The pilots and soldiers were fighting for the American dream of
freedom, and it was Joe Keller’s duty to keep American soldiers
safe. Joe Keller’s greed put that in jeopardy
 Arthur Miller, found the idea for the plot of the play in a

true story, which occurred during the second world war:


a manufacturer knowingly shipped out defective parts
for tanks. These had suffered mechanical failures which
had led to the deaths of many soldiers. The fault was
discovered, and the manufacturer convicted.
 Setting – August, 1947; Midwestern United States

 After World War II


The entire play takes place the Keller’s back yard. This is
important as it is a semi-public private space: it is essentially
private property, but in the USA it is culturally thought of as a
space open to neighbours, and so does not provide true
privacy.

The setting of the play in which


characters move around it
symbolises the involvement of
the wider community in the
Keller’s family crisis
The house itself is an imposing
presence in the play. It represents
the American Dream which, on
the surface, the Keller’s appear to
have achieved.
• About money

• Guilt

• Denayal
Joe Keller
Owner of a business which makes airplane parts.
One night (when Joe is not there) his business partner,
Steve Deever calls him and tells him the machines are making
engine parts with cracks in them.
Joe says to weld over the cracks and send them out! Joe did
not want to lose money. He tells Steve he will take
responsibility for it, but cannot come into work because he has
the flu. Later on that month 21 airplane pilots die due to this!
Joe & Steve are arrested and put into jail. Joe denies he knew
about anything and is set free!
He is referred to as ‘’Keller’’ which is meant by the author as it
truly means ‘’killer’’ through what he did to the pilots
Kate Keller

Joe’s wife. She is a very maternal and loving woman.

She supports Joe & his claim that he knew nothing about the

defective parts.
Larry Keller

Joe & Kate’s son. He is an airplane pilot during World War II.

His plane crashes off the coast of China (November 25, 1943).

He was engaged to Steve’s daughter, Ann.


Chris Keller

Joe & Kate’s son. He is ashamed of his father. He feels guilty

to be making money from his father’s business, which caused

21 innocent soldiers to die., He & Ann want to get married

now!
Steve Deever

Joe’s business partner. He is currently in prison for the

crime he & Joe committed. He resents Joe and thinks he is a

liar!
Ann Deever

Steve’s daughter. She, too, is ashamed of her father and


refuses to speak to him. Before Larry died, he sent Ann a
letter ….

Anne was previously engaged to Larry, Chris’s brother


Now Chris intends to propose to her, hence the invitation.
She is in love with him and has guessed his intention.
They will try to persuade Kate, Joe’s wife, that she should
accept Larry’s death and be happy for them to marry.
George Deever

Steve’s son. Chris’s best friend! He, too, believes

his father is guilty. He does NOT approve of Ann &

Chris getting married.


 Why its called ‘’ALL MY SONS’’

 At the end of the play Joe realises his mistake (and


here's where the title gets a nod)saying his famous
quote :
 "Sure, he was my son. But I think to him they were all
my sons. And I guess they were, I guess they were"
(3.167). Using the metaphor of family, Miller makes a
point about the necessity of a wider social
conscience, one that includes not only ourselves and
our offspring, but also our whole world.
 All My Sons Summary and Analysis of Act I

 All My Sons takes place in a small American town in


August, a few years after World War II. The events
of the play occur on a single set, the back yard of
the Keller home, where a tree has recently been
torn down by a storm. The Kellers are solidly
middle-class and have a working-class
background. They are not rich, but they are
financially comfortable, and there is a sense
throughout the play that they worked hard to reach
this state of stability.
o At curtain rise, Joe Keller and Dr. Jim Bayliss are in the yard.
o Keller is a middle-aged father, uneducated but sensible and
generally unexceptional. Jim, the local doctor, is making small talk
with his neighbor. After some talk about the weather, another
neighbor enters.
o Frank Lubey is younger, pleasant, and profoundly superstitious.
o Through their conversation together, it's clear that Joe Keller was a
man who only cared about how to make money. He said that he only
read the advertisements in the newspapers in order to know what
people wanted. He only cared for the jobs that made money. (Theme
of Money)
o Keller is reading the want ads in the Sunday paper, and he is quietly
impressed by all the different types
of business there are nowadays.
Frank notices the broken tree, and
Keller replies sadly that it fell the
previous night.
o His wife has not yet seen it. Frank refers obliquely to the fact
that the tree was planted in memory of Keller's son Larry,
who would have turned 27 this month.
o Frank knows Larry's birthday because he has been
preparing a horoscope for Larry at the request of Keller's
wife Kate (referred to in the stage directions as "Mother"
throughout).
o She wishes to know if November 25th, the day on which on
which Larry went missing in the war, was a favorable day for
her son. According to those who believe in these things (that
is, Frank and Kate, but not Keller), it would have been fairly
impossible for Larry to die on a favorable day.
 1-Whose horoscope is Frank Lubey making at the beginning of the play?
 (a) Larry's
 (b) Chris's
 (c) Joe's
 (d) Ann's
 2-What type of whether does the paper forecast for the evening?
 (a) Snow
 (b) Rain
 (c) Clear skies
 (d) Overcast
 3-On what day is Larry Keller supposed to have died?
 (a) January 21
 (b) May 1
 (c) November 25
 (d) June 19
 4-What is the only part of the paper that Joe Keller reads?
 (a) The world news
 (b) The sports section
 (c) The want ads
 (d) The obituaries
 5-In what month does the play take place?
 (a) December
 (b) April
 (c) October
 (d) August
 6-. What is different about the Kellers' yard at the beginning of the play
 (a) A tree has fallen
 (b) The hammock is broken
 (c) A large picnic is going on
 (d) It has been mowed

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