Society vs. Family in All My Sons

In All My Sons, we see a stark change in Joe Keller. In the beginning he is portrayed as a relaxed, easy going man who plays with the neighborhood children and lovingly teases his family. However, as the play continues, Keller becomes anxious and defensive when anyone mentions the death of Larry or the cracked cylinder heads. Keller snaps on Ann when she suggests that it could be possible that Larry died as a result of the cracked cylinder heads. He says "Those cylinder heads went into P-40's only. What's the matter with you? You know Larry never flew a P-40"(32). He seems to be convincing himself more than he is concerned with convincing Ann, but never the less, he flies off the handle on Ann who he practically raised. When we find out that it was indeed Keller and not Ann's father who decided to patch up the cylinders, it becomes clear why he was so quick to stand up for Steve. Yet when he confesses to Chris, he continues to justify what he did, saying "Chris...Chris, I did it for you, it was a chance and I took it for you. I'm sixty-one years old, when would I have another chance to make something for you"(70). Keller looked at the situation as having two possible outcomes. Either he could take responsibility for his actions and suffer the consequences, or he could put the blame on Steve and pretend that he did nothing wrong. He justifies the decision he made to put faulty supplies in the hands of young men who would depend on them for their lives, because he knew that if he threw them all away and started over, the business would not be able to make it back from the lack of income. Also because he knew that the government would not be happy that he was behind in supplies that they badly needed. He wanted to be able to make something for his son to take over when he returned from the war, so he sacrificed others lives for his family's welfare.

I strongly disagree with the decision that he made. It is one thing to want to provide for your family and try to give them a better life then you had, but it is another to put the lives of others in jeopardy in the process. Plus, not only did he kill the men flying in the 21 planes, he also essentially ended Steve's life by naming him as the one responsible for trying to patch up the cracked cylinders. There may be circumstances when it is ok, or best to put ones family before society but this definitely was not one of them. When it becomes a question of money and comfort, versus life, in my opinion life always wins. By choosing to put others in danger so that your family will be wealthy, you are basically saying that your family's comfort is more important than someones life. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the common good, it may not be easy but in the long run it will pay off, if not for you than for your children and your childrens children. You will never be looked on highly for your chances for personal gain before the welfare of others, but you will forever be looked onto with respect for commiting a selfless act for another.