In Arthur Miller's play, All My Sons, characters are forced into making decisions, good or bad. As all of you know, (or hopefully know by now), Joe Keller makes decisions he feels will benefit his family but ultimately lead to his death. As a business man during the war work was hard for Joe and it was not always fair so he made the unwise choice of sending out 120 broken plane parts which lead to the death of 21 soldiers. Joe believes providing for his family is the most important thing and you can see that through an arguement him and his son Chris have when he finds out about the crime Joe commited. Joe yells with desperation, "Chris...Chris, I did it for you, it was a chance and I took it for you. I'm sixty-one years old, when would I have another chance to make something for you?"(70) Joe clearly believes that the decision he made was what needed to be done in order for Chris to have a good life. Although Chris does also believe family is important he didn't think what his father did was necessary or moral in any way. Chris screams, "What the hell do you mean, you did it for me? Don't you have a counry? Don't you live in the world? What the hell are you?". Chris feels that what his father did was completely out of line because he once faught in the army and he believes that decisions should be made idealisticly and in a way that is best for his country.
Although Miller's play was extremely depressing I found it very entertaining because it made me think about where people should draw the line when dealing with what it best for loved ones, or what is best for everyone. It's always tricky being put in situations where full responsibility is put on you and when a hard decision comes my way I'm like Joe Keller, all I want to do it stay in bed. Unfortunately there is not necessarily a line determining if what you do is right or wrong so you just have to do what you feel is overall smartest. I can see why Chris was upset with his father... I mean, killing 21 people is a big deal! But then i look at Joe's perspective and you ask, Is this really my fault? Was I wrong to do what I honestly thought was best for my family? The argument is very controversal.
1 comment:
It's so hard to say which of the Kellers is right in this situation. I know in my heart that in the ideal world Chris would be right without a doubt yet Joe believed he was doing the right thing for his family. Even though Joe brings in the argument that any other man would do the same thing... Chris says that even if other men would do it, he expected more from his own father. The truly strong people are the ones that do what is right even when the majority of people around them are taking the wrong path.
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