In "All My Sons", Arthur Miller tells the story of the Keller family. Can "families make or break us"? Joe Keller believes he can "make his family", but a closer look at Miller's play and his characters shows whether this is true.
             Before the war the Kellers and the Deevers were neighbours. The fathers worked together, and the children Larry and Chris Keller, and Ann and George Deever grew up together. Before Larry went to war, Ann became his fiancée. In 1943 Ann's father Steve was sent to gaol, and Larry was reported missing in action while flying off the coast of China. Ann moved away, but Chris has been writing to her, and has invited her to visit, because he wants to marry her. Kate is opposed to the marriage because she refuses to accept Larry's death. As the play unfolds we find that during the war Joe told his deputy Steve to ship out faulty engines. When twenty-one planes crashed Joe and Steve were arrested. Steve went to gaol, but Joe denied all knowledge of the faults and was acquitted. The war is over. Everything appears peaceful, but the Keller's well-ordered existence is based on lies far greater than Kate's self-deception. Ann's visit is the catalyst that exposes these lies.
             Who is Joe Keller? Joe is the provider who must secure his family's future. He is a self-made man, who has sacrificed everything, including integrity and human decency to make his family prosperous. When Chris threatens to leave the business, Joe says "What the hell did I work for...the whole shootin' match is for you" (A1-p102). Joe is not evil. He knows right from wrong. He feels justified because he puts his family's welfare, ahead of others. Joe works hard. If he has nothing to leave to his sons, then he will have worked for nothing. "Chris ... Chris, I did it for you ...I'm sixty-one years old"(A2-p158). "Who worked fo
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