The play, “All My Sons,” by Arthur Miller takes place in a suburban area of USA, in the early

1950s where a near perfect family has been deeply affected because of the war. Therefore,
as the play ascends more into the plot – themes of denial, responsibility, guilt and familial
issues are presented in each of the characters.

As the past repeats itself, tension rises throughout the passage of Act two. From a cinematic
point of view, everything from the past has been repeating itself since the start of the play,
first Ann’s arrival, then the tree planted in the memory of Larry breaking down – reminding
Kate of her son’s death – to George’s arrival. All the factors combine to unravel all that has
not been solved in the past, which is Keller’s inability of being responsible and the
confirmation of Larry’s death. All of this can be seen in the repetition of dialogues and the
stage directions which completely contradict the dialogues.

Here, this passage starts with Chris confronting his father and finally facing the one thing he
might have been avoiding. “You have a talent for ignoring things,” and dialogues like these
indicate that Chris might have an idea of the actual truth and of his father’s selfish actions
but he chooses not to face them and just go with the flow. This might be because of his
traumatic past and survivor’s guilt, where he simply is grateful for all there is. As Chris’s
character is developed in the play, there are several instances where it’s seen that he just
wants to move out and start a new life. He’s seen to avoid the past and focus more on the
present but regardless of that, everything in his life is a constant reminder of what
happened. The tree, his mother’s stubbornness to accept that her son is dead, Ann’s return,
they all remind him of his dead brother and the twenty-one pilots that died. The past makes
his feel ashamed and guilty which also further show that he’s not exactly perfect as Miller
might be portraying him as. Marrying his brother’s ex fiancé, makes him feel like a
replacement of Larry, therefore he simply asks Ann to move out of here and start anew. Not
only this, but his survivor’s guilt makes him more sensitive to subjects like death in war. This
is because he thinks he survived by being selfish whereas everyone died for each other and
this very survival makes him feel like all the small things in his life is a gift from everyone
who sacrificed their lives. In a way, even Ann is a sacrifice by Larry who died in the war.

His sensitivity to subjects like these is shown in this passage multiple times where he
confronts stating that Keller, “murdered,” those pilots. Stage directions like, “quietly,
incredibly,” indicate the calm before the storm, where physical violence is seen on stage.
Even as Keller explains his actions to Chris he, “keeps a step out of Chris’s range,” which also
show the gap between them physically as well as emotionally. The son and father are polar
opposites of each other, as shown in this passage.

While Keller is more practical, Chris has a more humane approach to life because of his own
journey in the war, where he’s actually seen the gore and violence and bonded with the
people. Chris knows everyone depends on everyone in the war, and here those twenty-one
men depended on Keller to help them in the war – but for his own profit, Keller simply
turned his back on them. Chris’s anger shows his resentment towards his father, as he
finally has to accept the fact that his father is the cause of all those negative events that
took place in the past.
The contrast between Chris and Keller’s mindset can be seen in Keller’s explanation of why
everything happened. He starts off and it can immediately be seen how much of a business
man Keller is. All he thinks of is profits, money and even the way he explains everything is so
mechanical and void of emotion that it’s almost obvious why he doesn’t want to take
responsibility for anything. It’s because as long as he isn’t the cause of Larry’s death, he
doesn’t have to responsible for everyone else who died because of him – he doesn’t even
glance at the bigger picture. His language is very objective and almost robotic, and he talks
in terms of business conditions and rules, “you got a process, the process don’t work you’re
out of business.” The word, “process,” itself is extremely mechanical and almost robotic,
and shows the steps that a business has to take to earn money. Keller’s made his entire life
a book of rules of abide by and made his priorities obvious. The only two priorities are his
family and the business.

The fact that the death of the twenty-one pilots might not have affected his can be argued
that he could’ve informed about the cracked head yet even after, “weeks passed,” he didn’t
do it, yet he has the audacity to say that, “it was too late.” Another reoccurring theme in the
play is denial. Keller has been denying that he wasn’t the cause of Larry’s death – and now
he’s denying that it was actually his fault and blames the time instead. Almost as if he could
not make the choice, instead the choice was taken from him. “It was too late,” and “I did it
for you,” are the two excuses he keeps on exploiting them to hide himself from the
inevitable responsibility he has to accept. This is just another tactic to avoid the guilt that he
has to face if he ever accepts what he did.

Where Keller seems so pragmatic and logical, Chris’s outburst shows the emotional and
mental breakdown he’s experiencing. The repetition of the word, “business,” also shows
how he’s angry at the idea that Keller keeps saying he did all this, “For you, a business for
you!” The comparison of Keller to someone even lower than an animal, “You’re not even an
animal,” can be interpreted as the view Chris now has on Keller. As argued before, Keller is
more of a robot than an actual human – he’s far more selfish and self-centered. The
comparison of Keller being lower than a human also emphasizes the insensitive behavior
Keller has shown, and the greed, hunger and selfishness in his nature. Keller profiting over
the dead bodies of young soldiers is such an inhumane picture that when Chris thinks of it,
he’s in, “burning fury,” and after his monologue, he goes as far as to physically hit his own
father. This animal imagery has also been used before when Kate as well calls Keller, “a
bull,” therefore, just like Greek tragedies, Keller who was on a high pedestal in the start of
the play has finally fallen in the eyes of his family, and the audience.

Despite it all, Chris doesn’t go as far as to actually further hurt his father – instead he just
walks past him which implies the fact that Chris can’t actually hurt his own father in spite of
his disgusting actions.

The other contrast seen in the passage – a reason why this passage is so dramatic – is the
contradiction between the dialogue and the action done on stage. “As though throwing his
whole nature open before Chris,” yet he still denies and says, “How could I kill anybody?”
Keller’s actions seem diffident and submissive, almost as if he’s scared of Chris. “Trying to
hush him,” and “I didn’t kill anybody!” is another example of how he’s distant from his son –
so distant that he has to keep am actual distance from him on stage. On stage, these actions
will show the vulnerable state Keller is currently in because finally after five years he has to
go through what he thought was over – that too, he’s confronted by his own son.

Another reason why this passage is dramatic is the physical violence shown in this Act. This
further highlights the inner conflict everyone has therefore to show them on stage in the
depth that the written script has, physical violence has not only been shown by Chris, but
also Kate who slaps Keller across the face. Their disgust towards Keller is reflected by this
act of physical violence – this makes their emotions more powerful and also makes this all
realistic in the sense that this sudden revelation and unravelling the past has this huge
impact on the characters that they resort to physical violence to take their emotions out.

The ending of Act 2 is portrayed quite dramatically in comparison to other scenes shown in
the play due to the reversal of roles since Chris is far more active here whereas Keller
switches to a more passive and defenseless role. Not only this but the outburst and anger
shown by Chris is shown first time on stage – which shows the audience through physical
violence how deeply Chris has been affected due to the revelation that his own father is the
cause of the death of the twenty-one pilots. This portrayal of characters and the stage
directions highly elevate this scene and turn it into a far more striking end to a earth
shattering act.