In All My sons by Arthur Miller, the usage of symbolism is used in a post war world to show the death of a son and a community’s disregard for the truth. Symbols include an apple tree and a jail created by the patriarch of the Keller family. The neighborhood is living in a time period following World War II. The time period allows for the symbols to have more impact. At the beginning of the drama, the symbol of the apple tree is presented. The apple tree was planted in memorial of the Keller’s deceased son, Larry. The father, Joe, and son, Chris, were using the tree to “put [their] minds to forgetting him” (21). In contrast, Chris’s mother, Kate, was not so confident that her son was dead, she claimed that “it was too soon to plant a tree
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Keller invents a game for the neighborhood children to play, he gives them the role of “policeman” or even “detective” (12). The children look for kids that are “dangerous character[s]” and do things like say “dirty words[s]” (13). A neighborhood boy who caught someone doing a bad thing wanted Joe to put them in ‘jail’. It is ironic that Joe is in charge of a jail when he himself almost got sent to jail. Joe and his business partner, Steve Deever, sent out faulty parts but, “Joe pulled a fast one to get out of jail”, causing Deever to go to jail, and Keller to continue with his life (45). The whole neighborhood sees Joe running the ‘jail’ from his backyard while “none of them believe [he] was innocent” (30). Additionally, the jail symbolizes the psychological prisons that the neighborhood are living in. Kate is living in a prison believing that her son is alive when he has been missing and dead for three years while also struggling with her husband’s business mistake: “[Larry’s] alive, darling, because if he’s dead, your father killed him”. She does not necessarily believe that her husband killed her son, but she is struggling to cope with the news that has been thrust upon her. Also, Dr. Jim Bayliss, a neighbor of the Keller’s “thinks he is in jail all the time” because of the burden of working at a job that is not truly his passion. In How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster, he
Keller invents a game for the neighborhood children to play, he gives them the role of “policeman” or even “detective” (12). The children look for kids that are “dangerous character[s]” and do things like say “dirty words[s]” (13). A neighborhood boy who caught someone doing a bad thing wanted Joe to put them in ‘jail’. It is ironic that Joe is in charge of a jail when he himself almost got sent to jail. Joe and his business partner, Steve Deever, sent out faulty parts but, “Joe pulled a fast one to get out of jail”, causing Deever to go to jail, and Keller to continue with his life (45). The whole neighborhood sees Joe running the ‘jail’ from his backyard while “none of them believe [he] was innocent” (30). Additionally, the jail symbolizes the psychological prisons that the neighborhood are living in. Kate is living in a prison believing that her son is alive when he has been missing and dead for three years while also struggling with her husband’s business mistake: “[Larry’s] alive, darling, because if he’s dead, your father killed him”. She does not necessarily believe that her husband killed her son, but she is struggling to cope with the news that has been thrust upon her. Also, Dr. Jim Bayliss, a neighbor of the Keller’s “thinks he is in jail all the time” because of the burden of working at a job that is not truly his passion. In How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster, he