All My Sons by Arthur Miller

All My Sons by Arthur Miller

The action of the play is set in August 1947, in the mid-west of the

U.S.A. The events occurred between Sunday morning and around two

o'clock the following morning.

Arthur Miller's All My Sons is a perfect example of a literary work

that builds up to, and then reaches, an ending that simultaneously

satisfies the reader's expectations and brings all the play's themes

to a dramatic conclusion. As the past slowly bubbles up into the

present, the reader begins to need certain confrontations - and

certain judgments - to occur. The finale that Miller deftly crafted

for this play is filled with a dramatic irony that leaves the reader

thinking. In the end the wrong has been avenged, and the inner and

outer circles -family and society - have come crashing together.

Even though Miller is slow to establish his main theme in the

exposition, once set, the main themes develop into powerful messages

that hold meaning for all: if one cannot look beyond their personal

circle, they are condemned to an ignorant existence ended by a tragic

moment of realization. Joe Keller goes through this slow, and painful,

process of realization. It has been hard work for Keller to maintain

his blind ignorance toward his crime, and his guilt; however, despite

his efforts, his tainted past is continually creeping into his sacred

inner circle, the only world that Keller allows himself to recognize.

When Keller sees that his inner circle is only a tiny speck in the

greater outer circle - and that those people, whom he thought were

unrelated to him, were actually all his sons - he takes his own life,

an acceptable ending for the reader.

As Miller's play ends, the personal beliefs of each character come

into question. Chris is forced to look at his father, and his father's

guilt, in the harsh light of reality for the first time. 'Father' had

always meant the personification of goodness and infallibility to

Chris. When reality's light illuminates the cracks in Keller's