Family Loyalty Cannot Eclipse Social MoralityA Critical View of Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons

In “All My Sons” Miller portrays a man who is so concerned with himself as an individual, especially as a father, he does not fulfill his obligation to society. Joe Keller sacrifices the safety of the community for his family’s well-being. Miller’s vision of life is that people must realize their commitment to others in the world and that the community must recognize it’s responsibility toward individuals.Raymond Williams says that Miller writes with a particular conception of the relationship of the individual to society, in which neither is the individual seen as a unit nor the society as an aggregate, but both are seen as belonging to a continuous and in real terms inseparable process .(Jean Gould)Joe can only identify with his own family, he can see no further. It is amazing that, having lost a son in the war himself, Joe gives no indication that he ever thinks about the enormous loss he caused twenty-one other fathers to suffer. How is this attitude possible? "Larry never flew a P-۴۰," is Joe’s only concern. (Xiaojuan Yao)

کلیدواژه ها:

American dream ، moral downfalls ، confusion of values ، illusion