Before starting reading the play “All My Sons” by Arthur Miller, we look up information about his life. Later on, we talk to our partner, share notes and wrote a biography with the 10 facts that together agree to be the most influential or the key events in Arthur Miller’s life.

Collaborative task

Arthur Miller Biography 

• He was born on born October 17 in 1915 in New York ,to an immigrant family of Polish and Jewish descent and died on February 10 in 2005 in Roxbury, Connecticut of heart failure.
• The Miller family lost almost everything in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and as a consequence of the depression they had to move from Manhattan to Flatbush, Brooklyn.
• After he graduated from high school, Miller had to work to pay for college where he wrote his first plays
• He was an American playwright, who combined social awareness with a searching concern for his characters inner lives
• In 1956, Miller divorced his first wife, Mary Slattery, whom he had two children, Jane Ellen and Robert and a month later, Miller married actress and Hollywood sex symbol Marilyn Monroe
• Miller continued to explore social and personal issues that probed the American psyche, though critical and commercial responses to the work didn’t garner the acclaim of his earlier productions.
• His play Death of a Salesman, became one of the most famous American plays of its period. It is the tragedy of Willy Loman, a man destroyed by false values that are in large part the values of his society. For Miller, it was important to place “the common man” at the centre of a tragedy.
• Miller had been exploring the ideas underlying Death of a Salesman since he was a teenager, when he wrote a story about a Jewish salesman, he also drew on memories of an uncle.
• He also criticizes communism in his writing especially in his play the crucible
• In 2002, Miller’s third wife, Morath, died. He soon was engaged to 34-year-old minimalist painter Agnes Barley but fell into ill health before they could walk down the aisle.

Individual task

• How would you define a responsible person?

          A responsible person is the one who is able to make consciously important decision and is the one who wants to improve himself in every task and opportunity they have. Also, in most of the cases they do not only want to improve them self, if not they want to help the others too. In addition, they are often disciplined, organised and respectful. Also, compassionate and honest. However, responsable people tend to go to an extreme, this means being too demanding on themselves. Finally, they doesn’t like to be told what to do.

• Are you a responsible person? Why or why not? Give examples of people you know in your personal life or in the public domain who are responsible. How do these individuals support your definition?

I consider myself a responsible person because I know how to be organized, I like being motivated and trying to improve myself on different tasks. Whatsoever, sometimes I may be lazy and left somethings to do later and that might be risky. I know too many people that are responsible, mainly some classmates and also my dad and relatives. It does, they support my definition. Some are more self motivating and demanding than others, but the different personalities have somethings in common, that they are responsible. 

How does one learn to become a responsible person?

It’s easy but not TOO easy. If someone want to become a responsible person they should give up some habits, they should motivate themself more and be more self demanding. If not, they will continue being lazy and irresponsible. Moreover, if someone wants to practice, they could afford an agenda and write tasks and organize the following day.

Who are the “teachers” and where do we find them in our lives?

Teacher are the ones who usually love learn and teach other what they had learned. In my opinion, there are two types of teachers. The first one is the one who studied and learn in college focusing on different subjects. Besides, we also have “teachers of life”, this are grandparents, parents, siblings, friends, teachers themselves too…etc, they will always give you an explanation or a advice whenever you need it. 

Is being responsible a character trait that you value a lot?

Why or why not?

I like people being responsible because it shows which kind of person you are and some part of your personality. Besides, I do not judge people being irresponsible, I will always try to help and improve them when they need it.

The Golden Rule is “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” What does this statement mean? Can you think of a situation in your own life in which you used this statement as the guiding principle for the action that you took? If “yes,” explain.

What i understand of this statement is that you do not have to do to others what you don’t like people doing to you. It happened to me a lot, when someone criticizes me and then I criticized that person, that is something that I learned to change.