In Arthur Miller's play, All My Sons, the biggest debate is whether or not taking care of your own is more important than regarding the needs of society. There is one character in the play that you never meet, but is opinion on this subject is very clear. Larry Keller was a pilot in the war, and when he discovered the atrocious crime his father did, he wrote in a letter, "...I read about Dad and your father being convicted. I can't express myself. I can't tell you how I feel- I can't bear to live anymore...if I had him here now I would kill him" (83). Even though he wasn't even the one who committed the crime, he still can't live with himself with the knowledge that his father knowingly jeopardized people's lives on the basis of supporting his family. At the end of the play, Joe Keller finally understands his son's point of view and says, "Sure he was my son. But I think to him they were all my sons. And I guess they were, I guess they were" (83). Larry believed that as humans, we all are obligated to protect and take care of each other whether we are related or not. To Larry, the pilots that died were like his brothers, so it was as if his father had killed his own sons. Larry felt so strongly that protecting society was just as important (if not more so) than protecting your family that couldn't even live with himself when his father violated that obligation.
Personally, I believe that taking care of your family is most important, but it is not the only thing as Joe Keller thought. I think that it is each family member's responsibility to take care of their own, but not at the cost of other people's lives. If the choice is between your family's well-being and the lives of strangers, I would not have done as Joe Keller did, and I probably wouldn't have reacted much differently than Larry.
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2 comments:
Hi Narah! I must say, your opinion coincides the most with mine. THANK YOU! You have put yourself in Joe's shoes, which a majority of the people here do not seem to have done. (with my survey of 2 people... heh heh) Family is first for you, and unlike many, you follow through with your statement in that you will SUPPORT your choice. Many of us here are being all too idealistic, without the consideration of being placed in Joe's situation. I also agree on your not-killing thing-- man, Narah, this would be exactly what I would post if I had any clarity in my writing whatsoever! And your first analysis, not personal, is amazingly clear and NOT OBVIOUS, with good word choice (jeopardized!) and left the reader with no arguments to the contrary. Brilliant!
I believe that taking care of your family is more important then society too. But you cannot forget the other. You also can't dump blame on someone for your own desires. In Joes case, the fall he'd take was much less then what ended up happening in the end. Whatever choices we make in our lives, if we make the wrong one, it will come back to haunt us before the end no matter what.
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