To What Extent Is All My Sons a Tragedy Concerned with the Concept of American Materialism?
To what extent is All My Sons a tragedy concerned with the concept of American Materialism?
All My Sons is a play concerned with capitalistic culture being pitted against human decency, in which the culprit is the ‘self-made’ man; an image promoted by the American dream, which states that even an impoverished, disadvantaged youth can attain prestige and wealth through determination, hard work and moral integrity. Joe Keller is this self-made man, one who came from a working class background to become a factory owner. He frequently defines himself as an uneducated man, taking pride in his commercial success without the aid of conventional book learning; however, his business oriented ideology leads him to sacrifice his domestic happiness for his materialistic gain.
From the opening page, we get an idea of how fixated the play is with wealth:
“The house is two stories high and has seven rooms. It would have cost perhaps fifteen thousand in the early twenties.”
Doing this, Miller promptly establishes in the setting that the Keller’s financial comfort defines them.
It seems that Joe Keller is almost obsessed with the idea of making money in order to pass it on. However, it also seems that his good motives are hugely undermined by his interest in material success:
“Kid, walkin’ down the street that day I was guilty as hell, except I wasn’t, and there was a court paper in my pocket to prove I wasn’t, and I walked... past... the porches. Result? fourteen months later I had one of the best shops in the state again, a respected man again, bigger than ever.”
This shows that what matters to Keller is that he eventually restored his business to prosperity. To him, material success is the ultimate goal.
Joe is the complete opposite of Chris. His ideals separate him from his father’s materialistic ways. Whereas Joe is fixated with material gain, Chris hopes to maintain a balance between making money, and building a life he can believe in. This idealism
All My Sons is a play concerned with capitalistic culture being pitted against human decency, in which the culprit is the ‘self-made’ man; an image promoted by the American dream, which states that even an impoverished, disadvantaged youth can attain prestige and wealth through determination, hard work and moral integrity. Joe Keller is this self-made man, one who came from a working class background to become a factory owner. He frequently defines himself as an uneducated man, taking pride in his commercial success without the aid of conventional book learning; however, his business oriented ideology leads him to sacrifice his domestic happiness for his materialistic gain.
From the opening page, we get an idea of how fixated the play is with wealth:
“The house is two stories high and has seven rooms. It would have cost perhaps fifteen thousand in the early twenties.”
Doing this, Miller promptly establishes in the setting that the Keller’s financial comfort defines them.
It seems that Joe Keller is almost obsessed with the idea of making money in order to pass it on. However, it also seems that his good motives are hugely undermined by his interest in material success:
“Kid, walkin’ down the street that day I was guilty as hell, except I wasn’t, and there was a court paper in my pocket to prove I wasn’t, and I walked... past... the porches. Result? fourteen months later I had one of the best shops in the state again, a respected man again, bigger than ever.”
This shows that what matters to Keller is that he eventually restored his business to prosperity. To him, material success is the ultimate goal.
Joe is the complete opposite of Chris. His ideals separate him from his father’s materialistic ways. Whereas Joe is fixated with material gain, Chris hopes to maintain a balance between making money, and building a life he can believe in. This idealism