The Role of the Mother in Miller's All My Sons

Abstract

All My Sons, Arthur Miller's mature success on Broadway, tells about a wealthy manufacturer, Joe Keller, who sold the army faulty cylinder heads during the Second World War causing the death of twenty one American pilots. Keller's elder son, Larry was reported missing during the war. Even after three and a half years, Keller's wife, Kate is firm in opposing the possibility of Larry's death. Miller makes various drafts for the play, in the first ones he finds much interest to focus on Kate as a strong woman who enjoys supremacy over her household. Her superstitious nature and due belief in astrology receive the playwright's great concern. Even though in the final version, the main focus is on the father - son conflict ; Kate is no less striking as both a loving mother and a faithful wife. As a dramatic creation, Kate is a strange mixture of belief in superstitions, a woman with a strong desire to control and even with a stronger capacity for love. It is Kate's great capacity for love which makes her equally an interesting character as a passionate mother, even for the grown ups around her, and a loving loyal wife. This paper aims at showing the importance of the role which Kate considerably plays as to the life and relations of her family.