Customer Reviews

All my sons: Drama in three acts

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Arthur Miller wrote that he liked the fact that this creation of his deals not with a crime that is happening or about to happen, but one that has already happened. He also said that he was trying to emphasize that the consequences of actions are just as real as the actions.

Joe Keller seems to be a decent person trying to make a life for his family. He made his living building parts for airplanes, and he did significant business with the military. His family includes his wife Kate and his son Chris. (His other son Larry died in W.W. II.) Though his wife continues to believe that Larry is still alive. At first, she just seems to have the natural hopes a mother might, but we come to suspect that there are other reasons she can't bring herself to admit Larry is dead. Moving on, Chris is in love with Annie. (Annie is an interesting caught in the middle character. She was in love with the Larry, and her father worked with Joe Keller.) Keller went on trial for selling defective parts to the military that resulted in the deaths of several pilots. Joe Keller got off, but Annie's father went to jail. Though Annie doesn't seem overly concerned about her father. Putting Annie in the middle again, Kate gives Annie grief over the fact that she is planning to marry Chris. (If Annie marries Chris, Kate has to admit that Larry is dead.) Tensions rise when Joe Keller hears that Annie's brother George (a lawyer) has been talking to his father in prison.

In the 2nd act, we meet Annie's brother George, and he clearly objects to Annie marrying Chris. He blames Joe Keller for the imprisonment of his father, and does not want the Keller family to get his sister as well. Joe Keller covers himself well, but we can also tell he is 'working at looking innocent.' Tensions rise when Kate packs Annie's bags. (In other words, Kate wants Annie out of the house.) Chris then suspects that his father did have a part in the shipping of defective parts that caused the deaths of several pilots. Joe Keller admits his guilt. This carries Miller's intentions in his dislike of business over what really matters in life. Though Miller offers a bit of sympathy to Joe. Joe did not expect the parts to make it into the airplanes. He felt they would be discovered before anyone got hurt. This puts Chris into a psychotic frenzy.

In the final act, Annie is willing to forget Joe Keller's guilt if she can marry Chris, but Kate refuses to believe Larry is dead. Now we come to the greatest flaw in the book. Annie produces a letter from Larry shortly before he killed himself. This letter makes Joe Keller's guilt indisputable. I call this a flaw, because Annie's character is not consistent with someone who would have had this knowledge. (Especially her coldness towards her father in prison.) In a crisis of conscience Joe Keller puts the title of the play into the story: "They were all my sons." In a final moment, Chris carries Miller's feelings: "...there's a universe of people outside, and you're responsible to it."

The ending is tragic, but this is usually the case in Miller's stories. Overall, it's a great play that emphasizes that the consequences of actions are just as real as the actions.