In his delusion that he can measure himself, he gives up everything he owns and starts a new business. In the midst of his guilty obsession with the fact that others have aided him, he is unable to see that he has already demonstrated his resourcefulness.
In his quest to become self-made, he withdraws from society, from his family, and ultimately from himself. That good fortune and the complex interplay of societal forces he cannot control also contribute significantly to his success is an idea that disturbs him. He believes that he must somehow earn everything that comes to him. The Man Who Had All the LuckĮven in an early play, The Man Who Had All the Luck-Miller’s first Broadway production-there is some awareness of the dangers inherent in the innocent attitude of characters such as David Frieber, who insists that the world conform to what his employer, Shory, calls “the awards of some cloudy court of justice.” At twenty, Frieber is still a child, Shory suggests, and Frieber admits that he does not know what he is supposed to be. Thus, Situation Normal was transformed into the drama of how Miller’s innocent convictions about the war were challenged by psychological and social complexities indeed, the book is informed by a crisis of conviction that Miller did not fully recognize until the writing of After the Fall and Incident at Vichy. Miller admitted candidly the skepticism of Watson’s company commander, who doubted Watson’s wholehearted commitment to rejoin his fellow soldiers in one of the most dangerous theaters of the war: “The company pride that made him do the great things he did do is gone now and he is left unattached, an individual,” who yearns for-yet probably fears-returning to men he knows he will never see again. For the most part, the soldiers had no great interest in the democratic principles for which Miller believed the war was fought, but he elevated one war hero, Watson, to a representative position as a figure whose intensely avowed loyalty to his company represents the democratic solidarity many others cannot articulate. Therefore, all attempts to interpret his work from either an exclusively political or an exclusively psychological standpoint fail, for Miller regards his plays as indissoluble amalgamations of inner and outer realities.Ī back injury prevented Arthur Miller from serving in the armed forces during World War II, but in characteristic fashion, he became involved in the war effort by gathering material for a screenplay, “The Story of GI Joe,” which was never filmed but instead became the basis of his book Situation Normal, in which he reported on army camps in the United States and on soldiers’ attitudes toward the war in which they were preparing to fight.
He bases his plays on the assumption of an objective reality that is comprehensible as well as a subjective reality that makes life problematic and ambiguous. He builds on the realist tradition ofHenrik Ibsen in his exploration of the individual’s conflict with society but also borrows Symbolist and expressionist techniques from Bertolt Brecht and others. Miller is a writer of social plays whose concern with the moral problems in American society led him to probe the psychological causes of behavior. Miller successfully synthesized diverse dramatic styles and movements in the belief that a play should embody a delicate balance between the individual and society, between the singular personality and the polity, and between the separate and collective elements of life. His reputation seems secure both nationally and internationally, and his plays continue to be performed live or through screenplay adaptations all over the world. Because of his direct engagement with political issues and with the theoretical concerns of contemporary drama, he has frequently been a significant spokesperson for his generation of writers. Arthur Miller (Octo– February 10, 2005) has been acclaimed as one of the most distinguished American dramatists since Eugene O’Neill, the father of modern American drama.