The Zoo Keeper's Wife

In this section, the bombing continues and Jan returns from the battle. Eventually Poland surrenders to Germany and the Nazis take over. The Poles believe that it is a better decision to surrender, they will so find out otherwise. Governor-General Frank issued a new law called, "Decree for the Combating of Violent Acts." This means acting or observing were equally punished. "Human nature being what it is, most people didn't wish to get involved, so few people were denounced, and fewer still denounced for not denouncing others . . .somewhere between doing and not doing, everyone's conscience finds its own level; most Poles didn't risk their lives for fugitives but didn't denounce them either." Similar to the play All My Sons this book categorizes people into whistle blowers and people who let it go. Many Polish people have the choice of ratting out on their friends, or risking their own lives by letting it slide. This is very similar to All My Sons because in that play, many characters have this decision too. The Nazis came in to Poland and changed all of their ways of life. They changed everything, Antonina walks through the city and says to Jan, "I can't breath, I feel like I'm drowning in a gray sea, like they're flooding the whole city, washing away our past and people, dashing everything from the face of the earth." Antonina feels as though the Nazis are destroying everything in sight. To the Poles, the Nazis just started a war in their territory and then invaded and basically ruined their lives. Took everything away, loved ones, houses, the city and much more.

Although it says most people just didn't risk their lives for fugitives, and I think this is true. The few people that did risk their lives for fugitives we hear about. These stories always amaze me. I think it takes a very brave person to hold fugitives, someone that cares for others more than the safety of themselves. I also believe that many of the Poles didn't get credit for holding fugitives because they either lost their own lives, or weren't discovered. It takes a true hero to do this. People were rewarded if they turned in people they knew so this gave a big incentive to turn them in. The happy medium in these two consequences is neither turning in your friends or holding them. It amazes me how violent the Nazis were, all for nothing. The Polish people never did anything to deserve all of this death and devastation the Nazis imposed on them . Many people were probably very scared for their lives during this time period.

Miller, Arthur, and Christopher Bigsby. All My Sons : A Drama in Three Acts. New York: Penguin Classics, 2000.

*All My Sons : A Drama in Three Acts
should be underlined but it won't let me underline!

In the play All My Sons the characters must decide between benefiting society, or benefiting their own family. This decision is what the play revolves around. Joe Keller was in a position where he could either benefit his family or benefit society. He chooses family. When Joe Keller admits to his son, that he was the one that made the mistake Chris gets very angry, "For me! Where do you life, where have you come from? For me! -- I was dying every day and you were killing my boys and you did it for me? What the hell do you think I was thinking of, the Goddamn business? Is that as far as your mind can see, the business? What is that, the world the business? What the hell do you mean, you did it for me? Don't you have a country? Don't you live in the world? What the hell are you?" Chris doesn't understand how his father could pick benefiting his family, and his business, over saving many pilots. When he was dying, his father was worried about the business and family. Joe Keller chose to save his business instead of Innocent pilots. Joe Keller says, "You're a boy, what could I do! I'm in business, a man is in business; a hundred and twenty cracked, you're out of business." This goes to show that Joe Keller cares about his business more than many other things. He knew that if he didn't send the cracked cylinders his business would be done for. But if he sends them out, the planes could be in danger.

In my opinion Joe Keller was morally wrong for sending out the dangerous cracked cylinders. By doing this he killed 21 people and that is not okay just because he wanted to save the business so he could give it to Chris. I think that Chris had the right to get mad at his dad. I think that the right decision mostly depends on the consequences. Which consequence makes a bigger difference. In this case killing 21 people is a bigger consequence than losing the business, so choosing society over family is the right thing to do. On the other hand of your family is in extreme danger and society's consequence is small then helping the need of your family is more important. I think that most of the time, society has the bigger consequence and is more important to risk ones family for society.