Abstract: This research paper introduces the American modern drama as a very important genre of literature that deals with social issues of the contemporary American society of the 20th century. It critically analyzes the contemporary social issues discussed in the Arthur Miller’s ‘All My Sons’. The main focus of the study is on the conflict between the interests of the country and the personal and familial interests. The study depicts how this play has treated this important issue of the contemporary society of modern America. This study examines the role of the hero ‘Joe Keller’ the manufacturer who dispatches cracked head cylinders to the American Air force during the war in order to gain money for his family. Then the playwright …show more content…
Among his works, All My Son is hid most prominent work. He writes in a simple language and deals with themes of his contemporary life. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama; testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He received the Prince of Asturias Award and the Praemium Imperiale prize in 2002 and the Jerusalem Prize in 2003, as well as the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Lifetime Achievement Award. (Wikipedia)
Miller writes in a very simple language and includes some humor incidents even in his tragedies. He doesn’t go back to get the root of his play from the classic tales but he usually takes an incident from the daily life of his society, then he adds his imagination to it in order to make it artistic and interesting. In all my son, for example, a female neighbor narrates to Miller a story of one girl from her neighborhood who handed over her father to the police when she had discovered that he had been selling faulty machine to the army. Miller then made some changes in the characters and added his imagination to it in order to treat this problem of betraying the country. Miller after the success of his play ‘All my Sons’ Which ‘‘established him as a major force in the theatre’’, (C. W. E. Bigsby) ‘‘He wanted to do something that would convey to his audience a sense of simultaneity that he felt existed in people’s life, to give audience a sense of what went
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He comes back to his factory to restart his life of business. He was thinking that the business interests of his family is over all the other interests. He did not realize at that time that he owes some responsibility towards his society. Larry and Chris have completely different views. They consider the interests of the society over the family’s interests. Larry can’t bear life after hearing of his father’s crime. His words forced Keller to realize the sense of his guilt. Chris, too, is against his father’s business viewpoint. When Keller was forces to feel his crime, he says that he made that for the benefits of his family. He believes that ‘‘Nothing is bigger than the family, I am his father and he is my son, and if there is something bigger than that I will put a bullet in my head’’. (All my sons) Chris replies ‘‘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 you 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?.’’(All My Son) Here Chris makes his argument with his father clear that nothing justifies a crime against the country. Which business is it that make profits for the family on the account of the whole society. He makes it
How can two people watch or read the same story and yet, interpret it completely differently? Does it have to do with the author’s intentions, or maybe it has to do with the viewers’ own backgrounds and ideologies? Whatever the case may be, viewing one piece of work can lead to a wide array of opinions and critiques. It is through the diversity of such lenses that Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller has become one of the most well-known plays in modern history. There are many different ways in which a play can be criticized, however, criticisms from the approaches of a Marxist and reader-response will be utilized to further dissect Death of a Salesman. Marxist criticism sees pieces of works as a struggle between different socioeconomic classes; what better way to see Miller’s play than for what it is at face value, the struggle of a middle-class man trying to achieve the American dream (1750). On the other hand, a reader-response criticism comes from either an objective or subjective view; in this case Death of a Salesman will be viewed with a subjective lens based on Willy’s deteriorating mental health (1746).
Miller’s incorporation of this motive into the play provides a realistic scenario that applies to society. For example, when the play was first produced, McCarthyism plunged America in paranoia and fear. Audiences could relate the the plot because Americans were turning in their friends so they would not be labeled as Communists.
life in the mid to late twentieth century and the strains of society on African Americans. Set in a small neighborhood of a big city, this play holds much conflict between a father, Troy Maxson, and his two sons, Lyons and Cory. By analyzing the sources of this conflict, one can better appreciate and understand the way the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work.
The play, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, takes issue with those in America who place too much stress upon material gain, at the expense of other, more admirable human values. Miller uses flashbacks to provide exposition, to foreshadow the upcoming tragedy, and most importantly to reveal character traits. An analysis of the main character, Willy Loman, illustrates the underlying theme that the concern over material success breaks down the bonds between men that form the basis of a smooth-functioning society.
Bigsby, Christopher. "The Crucible." Drama Criticism, edited by Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau, vol. 31, Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/H1420082430/LitRC?u=wylrc_wyomingst&sid=LitRC&xid=2bd5b992. Accessed 31 Jan. 2018. Originally published in Arthur Miller: A Critical Study, Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 147-171.
Sometimes when a situation turns bad, many people begin to assume the worst. Arthur Miller uses Hasty Generalizations to show the panic and even fear of the
Even though Miller makes assumptions in his writing, he does keep the reader’s attention with a face-paced tone and long sentences with similes. For example, when Miller says “The notion that the principal, or only, purpose of going to college is to win a ticket of admission to the great upper middle
Miller writes the story in a very unique way. He gives his readers a chance to explore the words written on his pages, with the hope that the reader is able to draw their own conclusions from his work. His unparalleled approach to the essay forces the reader to use critical thinking in order to make since of the essay. Miller’s feelings about reading, writing and the
In his play Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller uses “the common man as a fit subject for tragedy in the highest sense” (Lawrence, Trudeau and Ross Vol. 1) and failure in the accomplishment of the American. The play tends to recline more in the direction of masculinity where men’s sole role is to get a job and support the family and the woman be seen and ordered which brings out the idea of traditional gender roles at its best. Though this is the case, it is very evident that women played an important role in this play. Although every character in the served and had a main purpose, women served a major role not only as subjects of submission and satisfaction who helped define who the men really were in the 1940’s but also as elements of support and wisdom.
Social pressures change as time passes, therefore it is interesting to see how these three texts whom differ by almost four hundred years perceive society and the effect this has on the protagonists; Shakespeare’s King Lear which was first performed in 1606 during the Jacobean era, presents a patriarchal society. Whilst, Arthur Miller uses the characters in ‘Death of a salesman’ to show the failure of the ‘American dream’ during the “golden era” of America in the late 40’s. The ‘American Dream’ was a set of ideals which suggested that anyone in the US could be successful through hard work, and had the potential to live a happy life. The sense of the deterioration in the equality of opportunities links to the fall in power and hierarchy in
Arthur Miller, A play writer in the twentieth century, wrote a play entitled Death of a salesman that won him the Pulitzer Price just a year after its release. In the play Miller expresses the life of a 60 year old salesman that undergoes through lack of success in his life and sees the same thing happening ,to his two grown sons now in their mid-thirties, as the American dream faded away being replaced by capitalism in the late 1940s. The play starts of by introducing Willy Loman, the protagonist, and tells the story of the final twenty four hours in Willy’s life all the way to his death and funeral. Between that time laps the audience is able to see Willies past thanks to his constant daydreams, along with his sons past and wife and
During Millers lifespan he was effected by many important struggles and successes in America that shaped not only him but his legacy. One of the significant early struggles that shaped Miller was the Great Depression. During this time his father lost his small manufacturing business. This period created much doubt to a young Arthur Miller about his existence, security, and religion. He then began leaning “left”, politically. Around the early 1900s the arts, theater more specifically, was the most avant-garde way for left
Miller amalgamates the archetypal tragic hero with the mundane American citizen. The result is the anti-hero, Willy Loman. He is a simple salesman who constantly aspires to become 'great'. Nevertheless, Willy has a waning career as a salesman and is an aging man who considers himself to be a failure but is incapable of consciously admitting it. As a result, the drama of the play lies not so much in
Joe Keller is described as a martyr. The martyr can be depicted as a charismatic leadership ,sacrifices himself for the good of others that they may live. Joe is the father of Chris and Chris has always looked up to his dad his whole life but around this part of the play Chris finds out what his father has done “it was too late. The paper, it was all over the front page, twenty-one went down, it was too late” (Miller 420). All the respect the leadership that Chris had for his father was gone at this point he had lost it all when he found out his was the one that new about the cylinder heads he knew everything. Joe is reading a letter from Larry that shows the reason for
tragedy as man’s struggle to gain his “rightful” position in his society, and whoever that