Midterm Paper

Midterm

It has been said that Chris Keller is the ethical voice of All My Sons. Some critics say that he states Miller’s own beliefs on social responsibility. Write an essay affirming or disagreeing with this statement.

Social responsibility, the ethical theory in which individuals are ethically obligated to act for the good of society, is a key theory in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, with Chris Keller as the embodiment of this notion. Given that Chris is the only character that consistently, in speech and in action, displays an awareness for social responsibility, it is not without reason for some critics to claim that Miller uses Chris as an ethical voice throughout the play to state his own beliefs on social responsibility. Chris, whose name itself references Christ, has ethics deeply-rooted in truth and justice, which makes him willing to sacrifice or act for the greater good of society, as seen in his interactions with his father. At the beginning of the play, when Keller coaxes a neighborhood child named Bert to whisper the “dirty word” he overheard Tommy tell Doris in his ear, Chris is quick to tell his dad to not “make him do that,” despite finding his father’s antics amusing (13 Miller). Moreover, upon discovering his father had made the conscious decision to ship faulty pipes for airplanes in the war, Chris scolds his father for only ever being considerate of “ents of doubt, Miller’s firm belief in social responsibility, and the idea that “there's a universe of people outside and you’re responsible to it,” is represented in Chris’s consistent ethical voice in the play (84 Miller).

Points:35 Word Count: 353

Of the females in our plays, whom do you find most interesting? Least interesting? Comment on at least four.

From the females in our plays, the character I found to be the most interesting was Henrik Ibsen’s Nora due to her family values, her difference in behavior between her husband and friends, her work ethic, and her realization of self-importance toward the end of the play. Since the beginning of the play it is evident that she has a strong sense of familial duty, especially to her husband. When she discovers her husband was in dire a strong work ethic. She diligently copies books and goes to great lengths to stretch money given to her by Torvald so that her loan is repaid in secret. Unlike Nora and her active part in driving