All My Sons

RELATEDNESS

• the play introduces questions that ignite feelings of society and responsibility
• Keller sees himself as answerable to his family only, not the nation
• Miller criticises Keller's myopic worldview, which allows him to discount his crimes because they were done 'for the family'
• his message is that to cut yourself off from relationships with society at large is to invite tragedy of public (the deaths of the pilots) and private (the suicides) nature

FAMILY

• the family is presented as a unit that can be corrupted and damaged by the actions and denials of its individuals, a small-scale example of the way individual actions can corrupt society

THE PAST

• the fact that the play is about the past is inescapable, but how exactly does it affect the present and shape the future
• Miller shows the damaging effect of keeping secrets
• the revelation of said secrets is presented as unavoidable, as are their fatal consequences

DENIAL

• the two main facts about the Keller family history that must be confronted are Larry's death and Joe's crime of shipping off the fault airplane parts
• Kate denies the first while accepting the second, Joe accepts the first while denying the second
• the result is that both characters live in a state of self-deception, wilfully ignoring one of the truths so that the family can continue to function, but they are living in a lie

IDEALISM

• Chris is described by others as an idealist, but we only really see this when he gets angry at the…