Review of Arthur Miller’s Play, All My Sons

Explore the ways in which Miller makes this extract so touching.

In this extract of ‘All My Sons’ Arthur Miller uses a few devices that crucially contribute to its idea making it so touching. Miller focuses on basic pronoun/demonstrative pronoun use to emphasize an objects worth, basic symbolism to help the audience to remember and/or inquire about an event that has happened previously or that shall occur,foreshadowing; lastly, an the idea of inheritance by bloody means is also used for great effect. Molding the extract with these three devices allows the audience to have sympathy for the main characters making this article so touching. I can be clearly understood that Chris Keller is the focus of the extract being the source of sympathy for the audience.

In the extract there are an irregular number of pronouns. Although used for the greater emphasizing of points of love Chris makes to Anna they are in addition used to create contrast with the rest of the play’s wording structure and to contrast with other events in the play to create greater significance at this time and place in the extract, “Ann, I love you a great deal. I love you.” Miller using such variation of pronouns supports the concept of the juvenile’s dormant and suppressed love for Anna for the audience. Notably he uses the 2nd person singular pronoun (You) in quantity to directly address Anna as if in a vocative case to emphasize how sure he is of their relationship despite the sensation of the lurking “ghost” of his brother in his house, overall by this making the audience feel as if they are there themselves, as if spectating in the argument of love, ironically (as ill-mannered arguments commonly take place in relationships), thus this device further making the extract so touching to the audience.

Having used references to other parts of the main story arc, Miller causes a greater encouragement towards the audience to consider previous events in the play that support the current mindset of the characters in the extract, undoubtedly focusing on Chris. It is interesting when Chris states the house to incarcerate him, “I want some place we’d never been. You feel it’s wrong here, don’t you?” like he had mentioned earlier in the play. Furthermore Miller uses symbolism to allow the audience to inquire about their own experiences and knowledge of what to them is how the world is, metaphorically taking wearing Chris’ shoes, this can be shown when Ann states to Chris that he should kiss her, not Larry (metaphorically), “Like Larry’s brother, Do it like you, Chris.” Anna’s main goal in this is to explain to Chris that he childhood sweetheart is now the past, showing their struggle to move on is crucial and is a threat to their love and this induces sympathy for both characters amongst the audience, as a product of using the references it further induces a dismayed/troubled emotions from the audience, their love between each other being in jeopardy.

One of the most important factors in the conveying of this scene as touching is when Chris speaks of blood as an inheritance of the war itself, The Great War. Chris having experienced the war first hand has a revelatory experience with Anna in that he speaks of the metaphorical blood he has on everything he is in possession of, giving hints to the audience that he has survivor’s guilt, “They killed themselves for each other. I mean that exactly.” Interestingly enough with impact he mentions indirectly of his selfishness during the war in relation to his comrades, “a little more selfish and they would be here today.” By this revelatory experience it makes the extract greatly touching in that war is a fact of life no matter where or when you are, the audience can relate to this, the audience feels with the character as Chris spills his bottled feelings to Ann, reinforcing the idea of Chris’ devotion and trust towards Ann in the process.

Unmistakably Miller has gone through great lengths do induce a touching atmosphere in the text from pronouns, symbolism and the main climax idea in this extract being that the Kellers’ possessions are all covered in blood, this idea not just branching of from the cylinder head incident but from the very inception of The Great War itself. Depending on the audiences view this extract can be taken on by many angles, whether it focuses more on how guilty Chris feels about the war or how devoted he is to his and Ann’s new established relationship, nevertheless this scene leaves a heartfelt feeling to those who experience it either by reading the extract or attending a play.