mini essay of 'How far can we say that 'All My Sons' is a tragedy? (not in depth and no tragic elements, just opinions)

'All my Sons' is partly a tragedy and partly not.

I would say that it is a tragedy because many of the characters have suffered a loss but also not a tragedy because some people have been relieved e.g. the family of the 21 soldiers and George and his father.

 Some would say it's a tragedy because not only has Kate had to go through coming to terms to accepting the death of her son but she also lost her husband. Chris has to live with blaming himself for the death of his father as he had shot himself following a row with Chris. Although Ann should be happy her father isn't fully to blame for the death of 21 soldiers, she has to watch the love of her life leave her as he believes that Anne will blame him for what happened to her father. I would also say that it is a tragedy because a tragedy is regarded as having a positive ending for some and for George and his father, the ending could've been said to be positive.

Others might say 'All My Sons' is not a tragedy because they believe that Joe Keller deserved to die as he was responsible for the death of 21 men and also behind an innocent man being sent to prison. They would say that the greater effect of his death, the relief of 21 families finding out the killer of their sons has been found and paid for what his done, is greater than the minor effect of only 1 family having to grieve his death. Another reason why they might say it's not a tragedy is because George, who had been avoiding his father for a long time, finally found out that his father in fact isn't the cold blooded murder he had him down for.

Looking at both sides, I personally think that 'All My Sons' is a tragedy. This is because I think the intention of Joe wasn't to kill 21 people but was to provide for his family and stop the business from closing down. He rose from being an uneducated man to opening his own business. His business was like a lifetime achievement. Something he achieved all on his own and so when he was told to ship in parts, he didn't think of the greater picture but instead the smaller. I'm not saying what he did was right but I don't think he expected the consequence of his actions to be the death of 21 soldiers along with his own son committing suicide. However, what I do think is that him killing himself was cowardy and that he should've manned up and served his time. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.