Quarter 2 Blog Question

Arthur Miller's play, All My Sons, focuses on when you should stay loyal to your family and when it's appropriate to conform and follow society's ethics. One of the most interesting and shortest ways Miller explains this is through Larry, the son who was lost in the war. Even though Larry is dead, much of the tension between the Keller family centers around him. Kate Keller, his mother believes that he is still out there somewhere, but her son and husband don't feel the same way. In the end of the book the audience finds out that Mrs. Keller is wrong, Larry is dead, not only that, but Larry ended his life on purpose. In a letter to his fiance, Ann, Larry explains he is so disgusted by his father's crime that he can't live with it. Larry says, "Yesterday they flew in a load of papers from the States and I read about Dad and your father being convicted...I can't tell you how I feel- I can't bear to live any more" (83). Larry is so ashamed and embarrassed my his father causing the twenty one deaths, that it's too much for him. In this situation Larry is choosing society over his family in a very extreme way. His death has many repercussions in his family. Although the play takes place three years after the loss of Larry, the pain of not having him there is a central topic. His mother explains her pain by saying of Larry, "Because if he's not coming back, then I'll kill myself!" (22). Since Larry payed attention to what society said then what his family needs he causes a great deal of pain, especially for his mother. If he had not overreacted and ended his life, essentially noticing that the security of his family was more important, the Kellers would have had less pain. Miller shows that one should side with their family through Larry by showing the horrid trouble his death caused his family.
I don't agree with Miller's view on ethics, your family is important, but not important enough to kill for. Everyone is related and has family, which means that if you kill a person, there is someone out there mourning just as you would be if a relative of yours was murdered. If what you're doing is hurting others, even if it is for your family, it isn't okay. It is more surprising to see that a father killed his son rather than just some stranger murdering a boy, but it is the same crime and either way a life was ended. People are all equal and to sacrifice one for another becuase you share blood or closeness is not right. A life is a life.