Title of the Play
Understanding the title of the play may be a little difficult until you have reached the end. At the
beginning of the play, the Keller’s are said to have two sons, Chris and Larry. The title makes it seem as if
there would be more than two. Through out the entire play, the Keller’s only have two sons and there is
no mention of there being any others. Chris reads the suicidal letter his brother Larry left to Joe and Joe
immediately feels remorse and tries to leave. Kate tries to stop Joe from leaving. Arthur Miller reveals
the meaning of the title when Joe states, “Then what is this if it isn’t telling me? Sure, he was my son.
But I think to him they were all my sons. And I guess they were, I guess they were. Ill be right down.”
(pp.432). It is not until the very end of the play that we understand why it is given its title and
understand how it is referring to the 21 men that died at war due to the faulty engines that were sent
over to war by Joe Keller.