Anton Chekhov, to American novelist Sinclair Lewis. However, the only clearly accurate influences are those whom Miller himself acknowledged during his life, namely classical Greek playwrights, nineteenth-century Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, nineteenth-century Russian novelists Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and contemporary American playwrights Tennessee Williams and Clifford Odets (Abbotson: 19). In order to understand his work – and in fact, that of any writer be it a novelist, poet or dramatist – it is highly relevant to look at the family background and education of Arthur Miller.
             Arthur Miller was born in New York City on 17 October 1915, the second child of Augusta and Isidore Miller. Arthur's mother was a first-generation American whose father had emigrated from Poland. Similarly, Arthur's father who worked as a ladies-wear manufacturer and shopkeeper, had emigrated from Poland to America at the age of 6. Arthur Miller had two siblings, an older brother, Kermit, and a younger sister, Joan. Aside from his immediate relatives, the rest of the family was rather numerous; in fact, many of his relatives would become characters in Miller's theatrical world. His family
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