Home > All My Sons Summary & Study Guide > Essays and Criticism > The Living and the Dead in All My Sons
All My Sons | The Living and the Dead in All My Sons
Arvin R. Wells discusses the merits of Miller's play as a work of social thesis, but the critic also contends that the play offers a greater wealth of themes than that simple assessment—including the playwright's probing insights into human nature.
Looked at superficially, Arthur Miller's All My Sons may appear to be simply a social thesis play. Such classification—a valid one if severely qualified—is suggested both by the timeliness of the story and by the presence of considerable overt social criticism. The story itself is obviously calculated to engage the so-called social conscience. Stated in the simplest terms, the play dramatizes the process by which Joe Keller, a small manufacturer, is forced to accept individual social responsibility and, consequently, to accept his personal guilt for having sold, on one...
[The entire page is 2625 words long]
Join eNotes
The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:
Summary and Analysis – Themes – Characters – And much more...
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
- All My Sons: Introduction
- All My Sons: Summary
- All My Sons: Arthur Miller Biography
- All My Sons: Summary and Analysis
- All My Sons: Quizzes
- All My Sons: Characters
- All My Sons: Themes
- All My Sons: Style
- All My Sons: Historical Context
- All My Sons: Critical Overview
- All My Sons: Essays and Criticism
- All My Sons: Compare and Contrast
- All My Sons: Topics for Further Study
- All My Sons: Media Adaptations
- All My Sons: What Do I Read Next?
- All My Sons: Bibliography and Further Reading
- All My Sons: Pictures
- Copyright
Related Topics
Tell a friend about All My Sons at eNotes.
