What is the significance of the setting of "All My Sons"?
In my essay about "All My Sons" I will explain the significance of the setting in the play. Through three characters – Jim Bayliss, Chris Keller and Joe Keller- I will show how the setting affects their actions and motivations. Right at the opening of the play, Miller creates a certain environment that gives the reader a sense of a regular, homey and relaxed feeling. He opens "All My Sons" on a Sunday morning in the Keller's backyard in the outskirts of an American town. The opening of the play is presented with the traditional image of the American dream: The "closely planted poplars which lend the yard a secluded atmosphere" and the house that "looks tight and comfortable". Miller creates an atmosphere of success and prosperity, two ideas closely connected to the American dream.  We realize that behind the perfect setting we are presented with there are many problems and secrets that will be revealed. The time period in which the play is set is a few years after World War Two. The war has a significant imprint on some of the characters. In the play, both of Keller's sons served in the war. Chris, his younger son, survived and feels guilty because the other men who were with him died, as he says "I felt wrong to be alive". Larry, his other son, at first seems to be missing. By the end of the play, we discover Larry didn't go missing; he killed himself after he found out that his father was responsible for killing twenty one pilots during the war:"I can't tell you how I feel –I can't bear to live any more".
As the play continues we learn how participating in the war has affected their actions…..