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Summary of All My Sons - Arthur Miller
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Summary of the book 'All My Sons' by Arthur Miller. Under 'Voices' and 'Drama Texts' module in Pearson Edexcel specification of English Language and Literature.
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All My Sons - SummarySummer Work - English
Set in the years after World War Two, in a Midwestern suburb, the Keller family is
frolicking with neighbours Jim Bayliss, a doctor, his wife Sue, and Lydia and Frank
Lubey.
Remarking at a fallen tree in the backyard, the characters learn that it was planted by
the Keller family to remember their late son Larry, who disappeared in the war after his
plane crashed. Kate, his mother, is devastated by the loss of the tree as she considers it a
symbol that Larry is still alive and well. She commissions Frank to create his horoscope,
further consolidating her belief that Larry will have a bright future when he returns to
her - which is obviously not the case. Although it has been years since Larry walked the
earth, Kate refuses to let go of his memory, and furthermore, the falsity that he is still
alive. This causes her major grief throughout the play, sometimes bordering on mental
health issues rather than pure misery at the loss she has faced.
Later, arriving from New York is Ann Deever, Larry’s former girlfriend and Chris’
(Larry’s brother) current girlfriend. She is a close friend of the Keller family so they
welcome her with open arms into their home. Unbeknownst to his mother, Chris
intends to ask Ann to marry him, even though he will get a negative repercussion from
it. As the reader, we realise by this point in the play that Ann and Chris genuinely feel a
connection with one another, but for Kate this notion is impossible as Ann and Larry felt
that connection first. Ann and Chris’ wedding will mean the end of a happy life for Larry,
a dystopia Kate is not prepared for. Chris seeks his father's help to break the news, but
he refuses as his wife’s state of mind and body are delicate; nonetheless, she dominates
her family, seeking sympathy whilst manipulating. Eventually, Chris threatens to
withdraw from the family business, which Joe resists, then relents.
Joe Keller, the father figure in the play, owns a weaponry and machinery factory,
supplying the war effort with essential materials. Previously arrested for selling these
materials defective, Joe overtly discusses the ordeal, calmly with a sense of blasé. He
protrudes offstandish nonchalance to the topic, viewing himself as innocent to the crime
still with many thinking otherwise. Instead of himself imprisoned, his former business
partner and neighbour Steve Deever took full blame for the faulty machinery, ending up
in prison. The defective parts caused 21 planes to crash, killing their soldiers and pilots.
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