| Title | : | All My Sons |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0141185465 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780141185460 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 112 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1947 |
| Awards | : | New York Drama Critics' Circle Award Best American Play (1947) |
Winner of the Drama Critics' Award for Best New Play in 1947, All My Sons established Arthur Miller as a leading voice in the American theater. All My Sons introduced themes that thread through Miller's work as a whole: the relationship between fathers and sons, and the conflict between business and personal ethics.
All My Sons Reviews
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*Read for class
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Ya en esta obra primeriza se nota sobradamente el talento del autor para el diálogo, la atmósfera y el ritmo que te mantiene pegado al texto hasta que baja el telón. Bien es cierto que aquí no encontraremos un complejo dibujo de personajes ni sutilezas ni matices. Nada corre por debajo, todo está expuesto, todo es sencillo y extremo, todo muy catártico.
El tema, como siempre en Miller, es moral: la banalidad del mal. Ese mal cotidiano capaz de destruir vidas sin que ello perturbe la conciencia del culpable que se escuda tras cualquier fin superior. En este caso es la familia y al lado o delante o detrás están la lealtad y los principios, su falta o su exageración, no hay término medio; y la superstición, que viene a suplir a la religión en la necesidad de confiar en un ente superior que saque las castañas del fuego o compense de alguna manera la pobre existencia.
Y el final… pues yo, que soy muy vengativo y rencoroso, disfruto mucho con estos finales justicieros, aunque vengan desencadenados por un "deus ex machina " quizá un poco chirriante. -
“Sure, [Larry] was my son. But I think to him [the pilots killed] were all my sons. And I guess they were, I guess they were”—Joe Keller
I think that Arthur Miller wrote four great plays: The Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, After the Fall, and this play, All My Sons. This one takes place in 1947, right after the war. Joe Keller’s son Larry was a WWII pilot and has been missing in action for three years, the war has been over for two, and some people are beginning to acknowledge that he might never come home. This painful MIA limbo is important the play, a certain kind of “not knowing,” but there’s another kind of “not knowing” that is even more central to the play, a truth that needs to be known and faced.
Neighbors Joe Keller and Herbert Deever were partners in a machine shop during the war and felt pressured, as many companies were by the US government in the ramping up of the war effort, to produce more and more products at an increasingly fast rate. As a result of succumbing to this pressure, they turned out defective airplane parts, and tried to patch the cracks, but sent the parts out anyway, causing the deaths of several pilots. Deever was sent to prison for this crime, but Keller avoided charges and went on to make a lot of money in business. The “not knowing” here is about whether Keller was actually culpable as well as his partner. And we get to answer that question. To complicate things, another son, Chris, who works in Joe’s business, is in love with his MIA brother Larry’s girlfriend, Ann Deever, Herbert’s daughter, and is coming to visit the Kellers with Chris. Ann has always blamed her father for the crime, but also believed that Joe Keller was innocent. But is he?
Ann’s brother visits their father one day in prison and then comes to the Keller household, where he knows his sister plans to announce her engagement to Chris, and a confrontation ensues that proved to be one of the great moments in American theater. The play is great on the subject of what a father is willing to do for a son, and for its exploration of business/capitalist ethics, which Miller would also explore through Death of a Salesman. In the early fifties his critique of the American Dream was perceived as anti-American and he was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee (or the McCarthy Trials).
Hmm. It looks to me like patriotism to highlight the ways an American business might sell out its own military--and pilots--in cooperation with some corrupt military inspectors, but maybe that’s just me. I recall the Vietnam War-era phrase, “Our country, right or wrong,” and I’m hearing that sentiment again today in this country from time to time. But I like what Miller has Chris say to his father, who asks his son what he should do:
“You can be better! Once and for all you can know there's a universe of people outside and you're responsible to it, and unless you know that you threw away your son.”
I have seen 2-3 productions of it over the years, and I would see it again. Great dialogue, great complex characters, and great themes. -
40th book of 2021. No artist for this review, instead, photographs from different productions.
My parents went to see a recording of a production of this play not so long ago. I can't remember why I didn't go with them, though I remember them coming home and fondly telling me about it. I only remember this because I was standing in the doorway of their bedroom as they told me about it, and it was in the middle of my mother's decoration of the room. The carpet had gone, exposing the old floorboards beneath. I preferred it that way. I'm usually against hard-floors in bedrooms, but the floorboards in their large street-facing bedroom looked wonderful. It's a Victorian terrace with high ceilings, across their bedroom is a fireplace and a mantlepiece, littered with small trinkets my brother and I brought home for them from numerous school-trips and foreign countries. All this matched perfectly with those ancient boards. Now, a new carpet lies over them again, and I feign my love for it.
I'm not a huge lover of the theatre on the whole. I've always had a theory that (in the creative world) people have certain fields of interest, but never all of them. For example: I'm a great lover of art, music and literature, but not so much the theatre. I have a friend who loves literature, theatre, and music, but cares less about traditional art. I've never come across anyone who loves literature, theatre, music, dance, art, etc. all at once. Not yet. But having said, I thought this was a very fine play. It is interesting and filled with tension, and I actually found myself reading expectantly towards the end to discover the truth, as I had forgotten what my parents had told me about the ending. The characters are good and I can imagine it being very entertaining in the theatre. Miller is obviously a big name in the field and I've been meaning to get around to him. Other than that, I only want to share some quotes and some photographs and that's all.CHRIS: The cats in that alley are practical, the bums who ran away when we were fighting were practical. Only the dead ones weren't practical.
(The original Broadway production, with Beth Miller, Arthur Kennedy, Karl Malden, et al.)CHRIS: It takes a little time to toss that off. Because they weren't just men. For instance, one time it'd been raining several days and this kid came to me, and gave me his last pair of dry socks. Put them in my pocket. That's only a little thing... but... that's the kind of guys I had. They didn't die; they killed themselves for each other. I mean that exactly; a little more selfish and they'd've been here today. And I got an idea—watching them go down. Everything was being destroyed, see, but it seemed to me that one new thing was made. A kind of... responsibility. Man for man. You understand me?—To show that, to bring that on to the earth again like some kind of a monument and everyone would feel it standing there, behind him, and it would make a difference to him.
(Burt Lancaster and Edward G. Robinson in the 1948 film, directed by Irving Reis.)JIM: Oh, no, he'll come back. We all come back, Kate. These private little revolutions always die. The compromise is always made. In a peculiar way. Frank is right—every man does have a star. The star of one's honesty. And you spend your life groping for it, but once it's out it never lights again.
(Apollo Theatre Revival: Zoë Wanamaker, David Suchet, et al.)MOTHER [going upstage with him]: You don't realise how people can hate, Chris, they can hate so much they'll tear the world to pieces...
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In the space of two acts, I went from giving this a potential 3 star rating to a 5. Arthur Miller sure knows how to write a play, and the shocks just kept on coming with this one!
Going into this short three act play, I didn't think this would be one that would stick with me like 'The Crucible' did. Act 1 introduced a lot of characters at once, and I found it quite difficult to remember who was who. I found myself constantly flicking back to the character list, just to try to keep myself right. However, with the arrival of Ann, the characters on stage at the same time narrowed, and that was when the plot and character relationships really began to come to the forefront.
I loved the witty dialogue between Joe Keller, his son Chris, and Chris's wife-to-be Ann. It shone out of the page, and seemed very real to me, a loving father joking about a young, budding couple. He came across as a very genuine character, who cared for those around him. Chris and Ann's relationship was enjoyable to read as well, and you could really feel the turmoil of the later events of the play taking its toll on them as well as the other characters around them.
I did not expect any of the twists in this play at all, and they just kept on coming in Acts 2 and 3. I actually found myself staring wide-eyed at the page, and closed the book over with an audible 'Oh my god.' It's been a while since I read a play like that. The final moments of the play were heartbreaking and shocking, and packed a lot of punch.
I would highly recommend this play to anyone who enjoys Arthur Miller's work, or strong dramatic plays in general. This is one that I would absolutely love to see on stage, so fingers crossed a production might come my way at some point! -
داستان خیلی ساده است. جوانان امریکاییای که با غرور به جنگ رفته بودند و در جبهه، اخلاقیاتِ اخوتمآبانه در میانشان شکل گرفته بود، وقتی که سرافرزانه و معصومانه به وطن برمیگردند، با اخلاقیاتی متفاوت از سنگرهای جنگ مواجه میشوند. آنها با امریکای دهه 40 مواجه میشوند؛ امریکایی که دیگر سالهاست که رکود بزرگِ دهه سی را از سر گذرانده است، اقتصاد شکوفا شده، شاخصههای زندگی ارتقا یافته است و خانهی متوسط سفیدپوست امریکایی، بیش از هر زمان دیگری خود را در مسیر رویای امریکایی میبیند.
و تنها راه برای برخوردار شدن از همهی اینها، تن دادن به اخلاقیات جاری جامعه، یا بقول کریس «واقعبین شدن» بود؛ اینکه واقعبین باشید که گاهی لازم است که خرخرهی دیگران را بجوید، و با خودتان مدام تکرار کنید که من این کار را فقط بخاطر آسایش خانوادهام میکنم؛ و در امریکایی که خانواده مقدسترین نهاد در جامعه بود، قطعاً همه حق را به شما میدادند. و نوجوانی که قرار بود وارد بزرگسالی و مناسبات جامعه بشود، باید معصومیت خود را لوث میکرد، و هر مقاومتی محکوم به شکست بود، درست مثل هولدن گالفیلدِ «ناتور دشت» (1951).
کریسِ «همه پسران من» و همهی قهرمانان بازگشته از جنگ نیز انگار که در مقابل یک چنین آیین تشرفِ لجنباری قرار گرفتهاند؛ یا همچون بقیه مناسبات را بپذیرند و یا همچون هولدن یا «لاری» سر به خرابات بگذارند.
میلر یک سال بعد از جنگ جهانی، در نمایشنامه «همه پسران من» (1946) به سراغ داستانی دربارهی دوران شکوفای پساجنگ میرود و تلاش میکند تا جامعهاش را از خواب خرگوشی بیرون بکشد و آنها را از مناسبات سیاه و کثیفِ پشت جنگ آگاه سازد؛ جنگی که امریکاییها نه تنها خود را فاتح آن، بلکه منجی جهان میدیدند.
میلر در این مسیر، حملات بیامانی هم به نهاد «خانواده» میکند؛ و همهی اینها یکی دو دههای با طغیان جوانان امریکایی بر ضد این نهاد فاصله دارد، و هنوز یک دهه از اودیسهی «خوشههای خشم»(1939) و ستایش بیمانند آن از خانواده نگذشته است. خانوادهای که جو کلر حاضر است هر کاری برای رفاه و آسایش آن انجام بدهد، حتی به قیمت جان باختن سربازان وطن و بیآبرویی و به زندان رفتن دوست و شریکش. -
I had read Arthur Miller in high school, "The Crucible" & " Death of a Salesman" which I will re-read at some point but "All My Sons" was new but not so new to me. I had heard the OTR (Old Time Radio) version and heard someone, Michael Savage, on the radio mention it years ago, so I knew the gist of this very poignant and of human importance play. Why I say it is important for human beings to read this play because as I will remark later, when "our" interest is placed more important than "others" interest.
I don't think I saw the 1948 film version with Burt Lancaster and Edward G. Robinson but if I do I will add to my review. I did listen to the OTR, LUX Radio Theater version which I will provide a link below. A little different but basically the same.
Arthur Miller's All My Sons came to NYC on January 29, 1947 and finished there November 8, 1949. Arthur Miller had Elia Kazan direct the stage productions and both men had "left wing views" which brought them in the 1950's to the House Un-American Activities Committee. I found this interesting and I am one to wonder about the "Red Scare", to me it is not so black and white. Many were accused that I am sure should not have but to think that there was no underground communist in the government then, before and now, and to label all as a "witch hunt" I am not sure. You definitely may disagree. Why I mention this is "All My Sons" is because of the criticism of "The American Dream". I am not an expert on this committee but find after reading this, the ridiculous idea that this is any type of communist sentiment. First and foremost "The American Dream" is not crushed but the way that a man's greed for more has him not thinking about consequences. It is not just in America, that greed for more effects other human beings and societies at large. Greed can effect ALL HUMANS and must be in our thoughts with our actions. To me this not just one political party, it is something that effects all governments and parties, when human beings should be placed above all greedy desires not just money but power.
From Wikipedia
"All My Sons is based upon a true story, which Arthur Miller's then-mother-in-law pointed out in an Ohio newspaper.[3] The news story described how in 1941–43 the Wright Aeronautical Corporation based in Ohio had conspired with army inspection officers to approve defective aircraft engines destined for military use.[3][4] The story of defective engines had reached investigators working for Sen. Harry Truman's congressional investigative board after several Wright aircraft assembly workers informed on the company; they would later testify under oath before Congress.[3][4] In 1944, three Army Air Force officers, Lt. Col. Frank C. Greulich, Major Walter A. Ryan, and Major William Bruckmann were relieved of duty and later convicted of neglect of duty. "
One thing I had a hard time with was Miller's comments throughout his play about the mother should just move on after a son is found missing. How can a mother move on without proof, she is human and her love and desire makes her want to dream. I did though have a problem with her not letting her missing son's girl find happiness in her other son.
"All My Sons" reminds me of "Death of a Salesman" in the sons regard for the father and how after they find out the truth of their father, the father not able to face the truth. There is a lot to this play especially rings true after WW 2 and reevaluating actions during wartime.
"I’ve been thinking, y’know?—maybe we ought to put our minds to forgetting him? MOTHER: That’s the third time you’ve said that this week. CHRIS: Because it’s not right; we never took up our lives again. We’re like at a railroad station waiting for a train that never comes in. "
"That’s only a little thing... but... that’s the kind of guys I had. They didn’t die; they killed themselves for each other. I mean that exactly; a little more selfish and they’d’ve been here today. And I got an idea—watching them go down. Everything was being destroyed, see, but it seemed to me that one new thing was made. A kind of... responsibility. Man for man."
There are times like when people's lives have to be thought about not dollars and cents. Keller justifies himself but it can not hold.
"Who worked for nothin’ in that war? When they work for nothin’, I’ll work for nothin’. Did they ship a gun or a truck outa Detroit before they got their price? Is that clean? It’s dollars and cents, nickels and dimes; war and peace, it’s nickels and dimes, what’s clean? Half the Goddam country is gotta go if I go! That’s why you can’t tell me."
The play in short- Businessman Joe Keller is doing well after the war and his partner is still in prison. Ann, the partner's daughter comes to visit after son, Chris Keller invites her hoping to win her heart.
I did not read this edition but a collection of his works which has highlights and notes, if interested to to my "Arthur Miller" shelf above. I chose this edition because of Karl Malden and other actors from the play version.
I enjoyed this play and it deserves to be placed on my "favorite shelf" because its message is spot on!💖
The OTR LUX Radio Theater - January 5, 1950.
https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com...
Screen Director's Play house- December 1, 1949 - with Edward G. Robinson and Jeff Chandler
https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com...
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Keller killing himself after hearing about Larry's suicide in the war finally brings back his thought before hearing this, that Larry would understand and Chris is too sensitive. He talks about taking responsibility as to his partner but he has not the courage to face his fate and how he killed his son. Will Ann marry Chris, it is uncertain but I feel they will though they must start fresh.
"Is that as far as your mind can see, the business? What is that, the world—the business? What the hell do you mean, you did it for me? Don’t you have a country? Don’t you live in the world? What the hell are you? You’re not even an animal, no animal kills his own, what are you? What must I do to you? I ought to tear the tongue out of your mouth, what must I do? "
"MOTHER: What more can we be! CHRIS: You can be better! Once and for all you can know there’s a universe of people outside and you’re responsible to it, and unless you know that you threw away your son because that’s why he died." -
Update: 22 Nov
I'm listening to an interview with David Suchet just before he goes on to the stage to do this play. He talks about how to keep fresh and eager and new for every performance of a long-running play. I imagine, he says, that there will be just one person, just one who has never been to the theatre before and I play to that person. He wants to give the most wonderful experience to that person.
Oh David. If you only knew. I sat there watching you in this play a few months ago and sitting next to me was a 12 year old boy who had never been to the theatre before. Nearby was his 14 year old sister. James was engrossed throughout. Lou loved it too. You couldn't have been more inspirational or given these two kids a better introduction to theatre.
I wish you knew what a great gift you bestowed upon them.
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I feel like I've had more of my fair share of a certain type of phone call, the one telling you somebody is dead. Twice over the last few years they've been a great shock, the closest of friends, one cooking, one vacuum cleaning, alive one moment, dead minutes later.
But today I've had the All My Sons experience and I can see already how it is worse. The police rang up earlier, enquiring after a missing person, when had I last talked to him. On Saturday evening, I said, a flurry of smses. They knew that, actually, because they had his mobile phone and that is how they contacted me.
The other person in his house had filed a missing persons report today. I'm guessing the same person he had a big fight with on Saturday evening. He told me he was going out to behave badly...aka get drunk, get laid was my interpretion. I begged him to come over, straight away, 4am, whenever, he knew he'd be totally welcome. It's horrible being beholden to somebody you are fighting with. He promised me he'd talk to me the next day. Since then I've smsed and emailed him and left a message on his mobile, rather pointless since it isn't with him. His passport was with his phone, so he hasn't gone far.
This is a grown man, the chances anything bad has happened to him aren't good. But, then, at some point in the evening he was a vulnerable, unhappy, drunk man.
I'm sure I'm not going to have to wait years to find out the ending, unlike the poor parents in the play. But still, I've been thinking the worst things. Not to mention just how angry I'm going to be with him when he turns out to be alright...which I'm sure is going to be the case. But still...
There is a good version of All My Sons on in London at the moment - well, it was on a month or so ago. You get to see David Suchet (who makes me weak at the knees) and a surprisingly good Zoe...the one from My Family. That inexplicably popular show where one can only regret that the fabulous Robert Lindsay doesn't move on to a show called Without My Family. Zoe is his dreadfully irritating wife. Suchet outweighed her in terms of whether I went, but she did a more than competent job as the wife. It's a great role as with the blindest of faith she waits for her son. I'm only at day one...and he's not my son, just a friend. But still...
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Update.
He's back and I'm so cross with him, I can scarcely yell how cross. How dare he. How dare he make me a murder suspect. When the police first rang me and said I was the last known person to speak to him, I blurted out 'But it wasn't me, I didn't kill him, I have an alibi, I was - ' and I realised what I'd done. 'Oh no, officer, you want to know why I've mentioned an alibi. I mean no innocent person would think of having an alibi, and I don't even know when for, honestly, officer, I have no idea WHEN he was murdered....I mean you are going to arrest me now aren't you, precisely because I have an alibi. For whenever it was.' I ended lamely. The policeman let me panic until I'd run out of things to say. 'We are all suspects, ma'am,' he said gravely. I asked him if he meant that philosophically or literally. He said that was a very interesting question. Well, we got talking, and one way or another, he asked me out as soon as the case is officially closed and I'm no longer a suspect. I said couldn't it be like The Bill and he dates me especially because I'm a suspect. He said this was real life ma'am. Of course. Real life. What was I thinking.
And then there is this:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
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اولین تجربهی نمایشنامه خوندنم لذت بخش بود. حرف خاصی ندارم ولی به نظرم کاملا شبیه یه فیلم بود و میتونستم تصورش کنم و همین باعث شد که دلم بخواد بازم نمایشنامه بخونم.
ترجمه خوب بود ولی من کلا از یه چیزی تو ترجمه خوشم نمیاد اونم اینکه ترجمه رو بومی سازی میکنن مترجما. مطمئنا آرتور میلر از کلمهی تومن و ریال استفاده نکرده که، تو ترجمه هم نباید استفاده بشه و همین دلار و سنت باید ترجمه بشن و ته تهش یه پانویس واسش گذاشته بشه. -
“I know you're no worse than most men but I thought you were better. I never saw you as a man. I saw you as my father.”
Ann came back to her dead fiancée's family's home for a short visit , whereas Chris want to propose t her .Three years ago the father Joe Keler and his partner get involved in a corrupt arms deal and his partner get prisoned , and some hidden stories start to show up .
"i did it for my family "
we hide our greed behind the excuses of family and love , but indeed we do it because of our selfishness .
"they were all my sons"
Great play with valuable moral lessons. -
**Read for class
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"اعلم أنك لست أسوأ من معظم الرجال ولكنني كنت أظن أنك أحسن منهم. لم أنظر إليك قط كأحد الرجال ولكنني كنت أنظر إليك كأبي. انني لا استطيع الآن أن انظر إليك بصفتك هذه، لا استطيع أن انظر إلى نفسي!"
"كريس .. إن الإنسان لا يمكنه أن يكون ملاكا في هذا العالم" -
Short and crisp play with a limited set of characters, and a multitude of themes.
Father son relationship
Patriotism
World War 2
Business ethics vs Personal ethics
Love Affair with guilt
Psychological
High voltage drama, with a little bit of mystery and thrill, enjoyed reading through this classic play. -
read this forever ago because it’s obligatory to do so as a twenty one pilots fan but i don’t think i appreciated it as fully as i do now. a great story about morality and family and individuals impacts and the consequences we have on others lives.
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“Chris: I don't know why it is, but every time I reach out for something I want, I have to pull back because other people will suffer.”
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Researching "The Appeal"
Review of the Penguin Classics paperback edition (2000) of the 1947 original.
I was curious to read Arthur Miller's All My Sons while I was also reading Janice Hallett's mystery novel
The Appeal (2021), as a amateur company's production of the play forms the background to most of the events in the novel.
I looked over the initial cast list in The Appeal (there are some changes which happen by the time of the actual performance, but those would be spoilers) and I have to say that there doesn't seem to be many clues that would have helped to solve the novel's mystery. e.g. The Appeal culprits are not the All My Sons culprits, The Appeal whistleblower is not the All My Sons whistleblower etc. One role is perfectly cast though, but that would be a spoiler.The Fairway Players
All My Sons by Arthur Miller
Cast List
Kate Keller played by Helen Grace-Hayward
Joe Keller played by John O'Dea
Dr. Jim Bayliss played by Kevin MacDonald
Frank Lubey played by Kel Greenwood
Sue Bayliss played by Sam Greenwood
Lydia Lubey played by Paige Reswick
Chris Keller played by Barry Walford
Bert played by Harley MacDonald
Ann Deever played by Sarah-Jane MacDonald
George Deever played by Nick Walford - excerpt from pg. 9 in The Appeal
Regardless of that, All My Sons remains a devastating theatrical work about the ethics of manufacturing, the American dream, war profiteers, self delusion, family secrets and survivor guilt. It is no wonder that it was the breakthrough theatrical work for Arthur Miller after his initial failures.
A photograph of the original 1947 Broadway production used for the cover of the Penguin Classics edition with the actors Arthur Kennedy as Chris Keller, Karl Malden as George Deever, Beth Merrill as Kate Keller (Mother), Ed Begley as Joe Keller and Lois Wheeler as Ann Deever. Image sourced from
Wordpress and casting details from the
Internet Broadway Data Base.
Trivia and Link
All My Sons has been adapted twice for major English language film releases and several times for foreign language TV movies. The first major film adaptation was in 1948 directed by Irving Reis and starred Edward G. Robinson as Joe Keller and Burt Lancaster as Chris Keller. You can see the entire movie on YouTube
here. The second major film adaptation was in 2011 directed by Robert Delamare and starred David Suchet as Joe Keller and Zoe Wanamaker at Kate Keller. It was a filmed version of the 2011 UK West End theatre revival from which you can see some excerpted clips on YouTube
here.
The rock group Twenty One Pilots took their name from the reference in the play All My Sons to the number of . Group member Tyler Joseph discusses this background in various quoted interview excerpts at Wikipedia
here. -
This was one of the classic plays we read in school (our teacher wanted to offer an alternative to the usual Shakespeare lessons). Since that was ... too many years go, I decided to re-read it before posting my rating/review here.
I can happily report that the play was as wonderfully tragic as the first time.
We start in a garden where a storm has brought down an apple tree and thus unleashes some painful memories that plague the resident family. You see, the tree was planted in memory of the Keller family's oldest son, Larry, who was a fighter pilot and went MIA (missing in action) during WW2. The family has been living in a sort of limbo ever since, with some having given up hope of him ever returning, while others refuse to acknowledge the possibilty that he is dead.
Moreover, the wealthy family made their fortune by building planes for the government during WW2. However, there was a horrible tragedy resulting in the death of 21 pilots and the subsequent court case put Mr. Keller's neighbour and business partner in jail.
Naturally, that is not the full story and the storm killing the tree is bringing it all to the surface, finally forcing all assembled to face the past as well as more recent developments.
Arthur Miller had a wonderful way of breathing life into any plot. Here, he processes the horrors of WW2, the many losses people had to somehow come to terms with, picking up the pieces afterwards in any way they could, as well as some classic morals (can't go into detail as that would spoiler too much).
He also had an uncanny way with different characters. Not one is like the other and they are all multi-faceted. You hate them, you pity them, but it is impossible to feel nothing about them or their dark secrets when they clash in the most magnificent and tragic of ways.
This is one of those far too underrated classics. Especially in light of some events/news stories in the past few years, this is as pertinent and topical as ever. Simply beautiful and important! -
“All My Sons” is at its heart a play about how we deal with those who we love and / or greatly admire when they let us down. Are our expectations too high, or should people live up to the standard that others set for them? Arthur Miller does not give us an answer (of course) but there are moments in this drama that get us pretty close.
Like a lot of Miller “All My Sons” deals with a father and son relationship that can never meet the burden of expectation BOTH father and son have put on it. In this manner it resembles “Death of a Salesman” quite a bit. The play is written in three acts. A simple structure: first act sets up the characters and relationships, second act lets us in on the dramatic issue of the play, third act shows us how the characters we have come to know deal with the issue revealed in Act 2.
I don’t want to give away any plot points. I was lucky enough to pick up this play knowing very little about it. I won’t ruin that for others here. However, I will say that for an actor and reader the Keller family (the main protagonists of the play) come across as characters with dimension and depth. Mr. Miller has written some great roles here, with a lot of unspoken issues for actors to play with. This text is a quick read, but one that will creep up on you. Like the best of Miller, it deals with a situation that almost any human can relate to, disappointment in someone we love. It will last because that is a part of the human condition and Miller has captured it with all its love, pain, and consequences.
I will be seeing a professional production of this piece next week and I imagine it will only enhance my appreciation for this text. -
امتیاز ۳.۸
بنظر من بهترین مدخل برای ورود به دنیای پر دغدغهی میلر، همین نمایشنامه همه پسران من هست. نحوه روایت و تکنیکهای نوشتاری و اتفاقا هسته اصلی (اگر مسئله رویای آمریکایی را در نظر نگیریم) مشابه آن چیزی است که ما بعدتر به صورت پختهتر در نمایشنامه مرگ فروشنده میبینیم، بنابراین مسلما کسانی که مرگ فروشنده رو پسندیدن، این کار هم نا امیدشون نمیکنه.
بطور کلی، رازی در این دو کار میلر هست که تمامی داستان بر اون سوار هست و همین راز نهفته دلیل کشش و جذب عام و خاص نسبت به کار میلر شده. در عین حال این رازها مثل شیرازه یک خانواده و یا روابط بین افراد میمونه که بر ملا شدنش موجب از هم پاشیدن روابط بین فردی و یا حتی آشفتگی روانی و ...خواهد شد. از این نظر شباهت غریبی به برخی فیلم های کلاسیک نوآر، از جمله داستان کارآگاهی از ویلیام وایلر داره.
در کل نکات قابل تامل زیادی رو در نمایشنامهی خودش میگنجونه که البته بخش زیادی از این نکات سیخونکی به جامعه آمریکایی زمان خودش بوده. -
This play is deceptively easy to read; embedded within it is the multitude of layers in meanings regarding the social condition and the self. Though only spanning three acts, (and I must say I found the first act slightly confusing with the introduction of so many characters, which settled down in the subsequent acts), Miller has engineered a subtle progression of events towards the penultimate scene, reminiscent of the ending to another of his works, Death of a Salesman.
All My Sons features the characters living in post-war peace time - but much of their dialogues involve events in war time, in the past. This dialectic allows us to understand the negotiation between the past and present as these characters sought to create an identity for themselves in the present - even if it requires self-denial. Joe Keller chose to deny responsibility over his actions which caused the death of twenty one pilots, and this landed his friend Steve in jail. Kate Keller, fully aware of this, chooses not to ascertain her son's (Larry) death because doing so would confirm her husband's culpability.
While this dialectic is seemingly negotiated, the past then infiltrates the present, presenting an inevitable confrontation which seeks a immediate solution. The play starts with a peaceful description of the Kellers, taking place "in the broad light of a peaceful day". This peaceful scene is temporary, as the apple tree is symbolically struck down by lightning, suggesting the foreboding turn of events to come. The characters are haunted by the ghosts of the past, as the dark secrets of the past slowly come to light. They seek to restrain these secrets by denying the truth, by denying reality. Keller only reads the want ads, seemingly avoiding the "bad news" which may serve as a guilt-tripping reminder about the crime he has strived to deny all this while.
The sudden announcement of George's arrival unnerved Keller, as he starts to defend himself, while unknowingly giving himself away, as he prompts Chris to inherit his estate "without shame", proving to be a sheer acknowledgement of the sins he sought to deny. Keller's subversion of integrity has benefited him for sure, but his actions has affected so many others, notably Steve, who has lost his reputation and house, and the 21 pilots who lost their lives - and his actions are all coming back to haunt him terribly.
The final scene was the most poignant, as news that Larry had committed suicide after finding out the sins of Keller has reached the characters. The death is confirmed, and the guilt sets in. Keller absolves himself by a bullet to the head, leaving Chris unable to reconcile himself with the idealism he had always upheld.
Ultimately, All My Sons is a great read, and as the Introduction aptly puts, it is a masterful play which stems from "Miller's own ability to 'see it human,' to embody confused values, flawed ambitions, betrayals, denials, and profound disillusionments, in characters who, fifty and more years later, still speak to us not simply because of the issues they embody remain relevant but because blood still beats in their veins." -
(rewritten)
Arthur Miller’s handling of dramatic irony in this play is a work of art; as the play unfolds mundane expressions take on new meaning when subtext becomes clear.
The story is set a few years after World War Two. It starts slow, on the outside the Keller family seem close but it’s fragile. Their lives are on hold as Mother will not accept Larry, her son, will never return home from war. When her other son, Chris, finds love with his brother’s ex, Ann, Mother is determined to stop it; Ann is Larry’s and belongs to one else.
In those first few pages I thought I was reading a play about a family drama, where a son would have to battle with his parents to follow his heart. Mother’s obstinacy seemed cruel in how she didn’t seem to care about her son’s happiness, but then slowly, piece by piece Arthur Miller dissembles this family. I’m so disorientated that I haven’t realised how tense it has got. And as more emerges my view of Mother changes. This woman is not selfish she’s just trying to survive (and make sense of her own life). Her character illuminates the story with a presence that is bigger than the part she has. It’s the relationship between her husband, Joe, and Chris that drives this play. The war has changed Chris, the deaths he saw still haunt him. As father and son clash in morals and values, the play’s social voice increases in volume. Arthur Miller is illustrating the consequences of being driven by money in a family dynamic.
Joe Keller’s business now makes pressure cookers, during the war it supplied parts for war planes. A faulty batch resulted in needless death of soldiers. Joe was exonerated of any guilt but it’s left its mark. These old wounds are opened in Chris’s struggle to make his mother accept his love for Ann. When the play ends, the truth that emerges is shocking. Then Joe mentions all the young men that fought in the war were his sons. I am not sure if this is just another thing he tells himself to rationalise the truth. I’m also not sure if Chris, like Mother, had an inkling of the truth all along. The ending is tragic but not hopeless, like a ray of light finding its way through a dark storm. Leaving me with the impression of how complicated and messy family relations can be. -
I'm at a loss for words.
This was just... incredible.
Holy shit. -
تصادف أنني قرأت هذه المسرحية و مسرحية ابسن
البطة البرية في نفس الأسبوع و اندهشت من التشابه الشديد بين المسرحيتين..
في كلتيهما لدينا الثري الغني الذي يرتكب جريمة و يضحي باحد عماله كمسئول عن تلك الجريمة ليهرب هو من العقاب.. و في كلتيهما يقوم الثري بتحمل مسئوليات اسرة العامل كثمن لتضحيته بالعامل.. و في كلتيهما أيضا تظهر الحقيقة على يد ابناء الثري المثاليين! هل هى صدفة بالفعل أم اقتباس و تأثر ؟ لا أعلم !
لكن الأغرب هو شعوري الشخصيات بغباء أبطال المسرحيتين.. فكلاهما يبدو و كانها لا يدرك الحقيقة التي تظهر واضحة جلية من عدة جملة حوارية بسيطة في بداية المسرحية .. كأن الأبطال أغبياء أو يحاولون التغابي على الأقل حتى تمتد المسرحية لأطول فترة ممكنة!!!
المسرحية لم تعلق بذهني كثيرا.. لا أعتقد بوجود أي شئ يستحق الذكر إيجابا أو سلبا بها.. -
An Arthur Miller I hadn't come across before, 'All My Sons' was a fairly entertaining play focusing on two families whose company had released defective airplane parts that led to several deaths during WW2. It kept me interested throughout, but the ending seemed quite weak by modern standards. Worth the two hours spent.
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Another book I think I'll like more after studying it...We shall see!
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*2.5 stars*
Read for class -
1/03/20 - reread (again!) and still really enjoyed it!
Okay, so the first time I read this, I gave it a 3 stars because I found it super long and tenuous to get into... HOWEVER, I started to reread this play whilst watching the play alongside it and that experience has blown me away. It made a big difference to actually hear the actors and their expressions and see everything fall into place whilst following along with the words on the page.
Act 3 was so beautiful and emotional and heart-wrenching.
So, although this play was for school, I enjoyed it thoroughly!! -
I much prefer this over Death of a Salesman.
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Arthur Miller capturing a family drama.. so recklessly and beautifully. I read this for my own enjoyment after I’ve had a very good experience with The Crucible (which I read for school), and I might just pick up more for Miller because I can’t get enough of his writing.
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One of Miller's better works. My fave of his so far...
