Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Bridging – All My Sons
Arthur Miller's life was very comfortable. His father owned a garment
factory. A turning point in his life had occurred, his family lost
everything in the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and Miller's life changed
dramatically. He went from living a wealthy lifestyle to delivering bread every
morning before school to help the family make ends meet. From the information
I'm given about Arthur Miller's life, I can understand the main points and the
central theme in his creation "All My Sons", and why he chooses to
present those main ideas and central theme of the play.
After reading the play "All My Sons" and the information about Arthur Miller I can understand that the issues in the play concentrate on pressure from the family and from the society. I can understand that the main theme he is talking about in his play is the importance of personal and social responsibility and the danger of moral corruption caused by materialism and greed. In the play the importance of personal and social responsibility and the danger of moral corruption caused by materialism and greed are represented by the characters Joe Keller and his son Chris. Joe owned a factory, in times of war he shipped a supply of machine parts to the army. In the play Joe did a terrible thing, he let his factory ship cracked cylinder heads to the army and those cracked cylinder heads caused 21 men to die in the war, their planes crashed.
When that was discovered by his son Chris, who didn't share his father's thoughts, Joe started to make excuses about the motives for his action. Keller believes that he is only answerable to his family and that his war crimes should be excused because he did it to save his family from ruin. Joe was afraid to lose his contract with the army so he decided to ship those cracked cylinder heads rather than to lose his contract. Chris, on the other hand, believes in social responsibility, that we must care about our society and that we are responsible for the well being of all members of the society. The materialism corrupted Joe's mind and caused him to commit a crime, it made him indifferent and made him hurt the people he cares about, his family.
The issue of pressure from the family is presented by the character Kate Keller. Kate Keller is the mother of Chris and the wife of Joe Keller. I think that her role in the entire play is to pressure Chris and his decisions. All through the play she tried to pressure Chris not to marry Ann. Ann was the girlfriend of Chris's brother Larry. Larry was reported missing in war and his girlfriend Ann wanted to continue with her life. Ann and Chris wanted to marry but Kate didn’t want them to marry and believed that they should wait for Larry to come back. In the play she makes excuses and says things to Ann and to Chris so they didn’t marry, she is pressuring them and she decides what will happen.
After reading the play "All My Sons" and the information about Arthur Miller I can understand that the issues in the play concentrate on pressure from the family and from the society. I can understand that the main theme he is talking about in his play is the importance of personal and social responsibility and the danger of moral corruption caused by materialism and greed. In the play the importance of personal and social responsibility and the danger of moral corruption caused by materialism and greed are represented by the characters Joe Keller and his son Chris. Joe owned a factory, in times of war he shipped a supply of machine parts to the army. In the play Joe did a terrible thing, he let his factory ship cracked cylinder heads to the army and those cracked cylinder heads caused 21 men to die in the war, their planes crashed.
When that was discovered by his son Chris, who didn't share his father's thoughts, Joe started to make excuses about the motives for his action. Keller believes that he is only answerable to his family and that his war crimes should be excused because he did it to save his family from ruin. Joe was afraid to lose his contract with the army so he decided to ship those cracked cylinder heads rather than to lose his contract. Chris, on the other hand, believes in social responsibility, that we must care about our society and that we are responsible for the well being of all members of the society. The materialism corrupted Joe's mind and caused him to commit a crime, it made him indifferent and made him hurt the people he cares about, his family.
The issue of pressure from the family is presented by the character Kate Keller. Kate Keller is the mother of Chris and the wife of Joe Keller. I think that her role in the entire play is to pressure Chris and his decisions. All through the play she tried to pressure Chris not to marry Ann. Ann was the girlfriend of Chris's brother Larry. Larry was reported missing in war and his girlfriend Ann wanted to continue with her life. Ann and Chris wanted to marry but Kate didn’t want them to marry and believed that they should wait for Larry to come back. In the play she makes excuses and says things to Ann and to Chris so they didn’t marry, she is pressuring them and she decides what will happen.
Arthur Miller made a wonderful
creation, he managed to bring his own life perspectives and events into
the play. His ideas and thoughts are represented in the play through the
characters. I enjoyed reading the play, I could really connect with the events
and the characters in the play.
(100)
Daphna
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