To God the Father, We are all His Sons
Robert Cousins
View commentsArthur Miller’s All My Sons is rife with perversions of the redemption described in the Gospel and throughout the New Testament. Betrayal, shame, and dishonor abound; loyalty, love, and obedience are in conspicuously short supply. What Miller achieves is a brilliant exaltation of the Gospel by offering a human paradigm of salvation that cannot by its very nature succeed. That is, Miller shows how we as humans cannot do for ourselves that which God has given us out of His infinite mercy and love.
To do this Miller must first establish the human model, something that manifests itself in the persons of the Keller and Deever families. During World War II, patriarchs Joe Keller and Steve Deever ran a factory producing airplane parts. When parts from their shop turned out to be defective and twenty-one American airmen crashed, Joe and Steve stood trial and were found guilty. Joe was later exonerated, however, and returned home as a free man while Steve remained in jail. Steve Deever steadfastly proclaimed his innocence and Joe Keller unswervingly denied his guilt, but only the latter found vindication in the courts.
Complicating matters are their children. Childhood friends Larry Keller and Ann Deever were dating when Larry reported for duty as a pilot in the war. Declared missing in action by the military, Larry has yet to return home. His mother Kate continues to hold out hope, but the rest of the family has moved on. Younger brother Chris, himself an infantry veteran, and Ann make plans to marry in the first act of the play. This is naturally a bitter pill for Kate Keller to swallow as she is forced to confront “Larry’s girl” abandoning all hope for his safe return by her acceptance of Chris’ marriage proposal.
Chris and Ann announce their engagement at the Keller home but are shortly interrupted by George Deever, the brother to Ann and son of Steve. George remains convinced of his father’s innocence and comes to visit the Kellers in hopes of finally wrangling a confession out of Joe. Over the course of George’s stay, Chris Keller comes to realize that Steve Deever really is innocent and his father, Joe, is the guilty party responsible for the deaths of the twenty-one pilots. With this revelation, Miller sets the stage for a climactic, gut-wrenching showdown between the various members and members-to-be of the Keller clan; indeed there promises to be a rending of the very fabric that has kept the family together through the post-war years.
It becomes clear by the end of the play that Larry Keller will not be returning home. However, a letter comes to light, the final letter he wrote to his girlfriend Ann Deever. Chris reads aloud to the assembled company of Joe Keller, Kate Keller, and Ann Deever:
‘Yesterday they flew in a load of papers from the States and I read about Dad and your father being convicted. I can’t express myself. I can’t tell you how I feel—I can’t bear to live anymore . . . I’m going out on a mission in a few minutes. They’ll probably report me missing. If they do, I want you to know that you mustn’t wait for me.’ 1
Larry could not live with the knowledge of what his father had done. In abject revulsion and shame he takes his own life; not insignificantly, he dies in the same way that the pilots flying damaged planes were killed. Larry’s goal is not to undo the damage his father has wrought; he knows that he can never bring things back to the way they were. His hope is that by giving up his own life he can somehow even the score. Even if he just cancels out one wrong with another, at least the burden will no longer rest upon his father’s shoulders. It is an interesting reversal of the redemptive model that Larry offers; the perfect son sacrifices himself to the slain yet innocent children, the soldiers, for the sake of his unrighteous father. But interesting or not it is still a perversion of biblical redemption. Therefore Larry’s attempt fails, as ultimately it must. Atonement simply is not his to offer. Instead, his futile efforts to give himself for the benefit of others does nothing more than cause anguish and grief in his family, especially for his mother Kate.
By the time this letter is read, Joe Keller can no longer continue the charade of innocence and vindication that he has kept up for so long. At last his brokenness has become so apparent that he can no longer justify his actions and deny responsibility, not to himself or to anyone else. He finds himself inwardly compelled to confess and beg for understanding and forgiveness from his family, the audience, and dramatic posterity. Joe Keller screams, “A man can’t be a Jesus in this world!” 2 and moments later takes his own life.
And he’s almost right, too. No human being can make the sacrifice that the Messiah made. But no human being is asked to do this because Jesus already came into the world and died in substitutionary atonement for the sins of mankind. “And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.” 3
No, a man cannot be a Jesus in this world. But he can be a Jesus to this world. The apostle Paul writes, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” 4 We are not called to bear the price of our brethren’s sin upon ourselves; that is beyond our ability and has already been accomplished for us. What we are called to do is love our fellow man with ardor and conviction, to nurture him and treat him with compassion. These are the needs we are to meet and the burdens we are to bear. And unmatched is the joy derived from worshiping the Father by loving and caring for His children.
Chris seethes at Joe just before his death, “You can be better! Once and for all you can know there’s a universe of people outside and you’re responsible to it.” 5 Joe himself comes to this realization as well but tragically too late. He says of Larry, “He was my son. But I think to him they were all my sons. And I guess they were, I guess they were.” 6
We, too, are all His sons. Mankind turned its back on God and He, in his infinite love and mercy, repaid us by sending his Son to die for our sins. Atonement was not ours to grant, but was a gift borne of grace. We are not expected to prove ourselves worthy of such a gift—indeed we cannot—but are instead commanded to live as those blessed to receive it. In the words of the Messiah:
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. 7
1. Arthur Miller. All My Sons (New York, NY: Library of America, 2006). 156-157.
2. Ibid., 156.
3. 1 Peter. 2:24. The Holy Bible, New American Standard Bible version. Grand Rapids: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
4. Galatians. 2:2. NASB.
5. Miller. 157-158.
6. Ibid., 157.
7. Matthew. 22:37-40, The Holy Bible, New International Version.