All My

Sons
GE N D E R RO LE S
"All My Sons" is a play
written by Arthur Miller. Its
set in 1945 just after World
War II.

There are a lot of things to

say about this play, but I feel
one of the main theme in
this play is Gender Roles.
During WW II, when all the men were away
fighting, here were very little people working back
home which was a problem for the
country. So, they started a campaign to get women
to start taking up "men" jobs while they
were away. Although this was a very empowering
time for women, as soon as the war was over when
all the men came back and took their jobs back,
the women were pushed aside and had to go being
the domestic wife.
This sets how women were seen at the time this
play was set, nothing more than a companion to
men.
Throughout the course of the play you can notice
some things that show that during this time it was
seen that men were more superior than women.
This is shown in many ways, here are a couple of
examples:
Lydia and Frank are neighbours, Lydia is seen as the
typical housewife. She stays at home
looking after her three kids while her husband goes
off ad works. There is a part of the play where she
complains to Frank about the toaster being broken
and he makes a comment about how she can't get
the toaster to work, suggesting that she is incapable
of being able to. Lydia also makes a comment about
Annie, saying that how she isn't even married yet
while she herself has three babies, maybe
suggesting the Annie isn't doing her part as a
woman by building a family.
Women became objects of desire when all the men
came back from the war, this is shown in the
way they talk about Annie at the start of the play.
Calling her a "beautiful girl" and a "wonderful
thing", Jim also went on to say that the block could
use a pretty girl because there isn't a "damned
thing to look at". This suggest that women are only
an object to men, nothing more.