As long as there has been communication between people, there has been dishonesty. Everyone lies, and there are as many reasons to lie as there are people who say false things. People may lie to save someone's feelings or to make them feel terrible. In Arthur Miller's comedy “All My Sons,” it seems like every character is a lie; from a little white lie, to a big destructive lie that destroys a family. The family's immoral patriarch, Joe, destroys his entire family due to his inability to deal with the consequences (Savran 1995). His need to hide the truth to avoid reality is what leads to the death of man, including himself. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Lies tend to be separated into two groups: little white lies and big, destructive lies. In the first case, they tend to spare someone's feelings in a certain situation, but this comedy also shows that a white lie can become destructive. In "All My Sons", patriarch Joe Keller and his son, Chris, have a conversation about whether they are fueling Kate's mother's delusions that Larry is still alive. The dialogue is: Chris: We made a terrible mistake with Mom… being dishonest with her. This kind of thing always pays off, and now it's paying off. Keller: What do you mean dishonest? Chris: You know Larry isn't coming back and I know it. In this quote, Chris is having a breakthrough. He realizes that by letting his mother delude herself that Larry is alive, he and his father have stunted Kate's growth in many ways. Because they deceived her for years by not helping her see the reality of the situation, Kate was unable to gain any kind of closure or overcome her pain; instead, he obsessively clings to the hope that Larry will return at any moment. This shows the sinister nature of lies; even white lies can become destructive (Gross 1975). What started out as a way to save Kate from pain, her family no doubt thought they were doing the right thing by not being honest with her. Over time, this has warped Kate to the point where she cannot accept progress and change. She absolutely refuses to believe that Ann isn't waiting for Larry just like she is, and this leads to another white lie when Chris doesn't come forward with his intentions towards Ann right away. Once again, he is trying to protect Kate from the truth for her own good, because at this point they fear that the trauma she would suffer if confronted with the truth would simply be too much for her to bear. When it comes to lying, he rarely stops after just one time; there has to be a continuous cycle of lies that follow to keep the first one going. The moral implications of this white lie, and the subsequent lies that follow, is that Chris and Joe essentially abandon Kate in her time of need. What they are doing may seem well-intentioned, but it ends up crippling Kate emotionally. She is not given the tools she needs to deal with anything in her life, and instead lives in a deep state of denial towards both her son and her husband. Instead of facing the ugly truth and walking away from it, they choose to remain in a sort of limbo, where Kate will be forever disappointed (Gross 1975). Chris and Joe do not offer Kate what she truly needs: the support, love and honesty of her family in a time of extreme sadness and grief. Without going through this difficult time, he will never be able to heal and move on with his life. For a mother, the death of ason is the most intense pain imaginable, and Chris and Joe think that if they lie enough, this problem will go away. The lie is covered up by simply passively agreeing with Kate, it doesn't seem like either Chris or Joe have much to say on the subject of Larry, it's always Kate who goes on and on. However, it soon becomes clear that they are greatly mistaken about the harmlessness of this dishonesty; lies have consequences that sooner or later are repeated. Unfortunately for both the pilots who lost their lives and Ann's father Steve, Joe turns the same blind eye when he lies about making faulty parts for the plane. Instead of being honest and suffering the initial consequences, Joe has a tendency to maintain a lie until he is able to literally destroy people's lives. The pilots whose lives were lost and the fact that Steve will rot in prison don't seem to have any effect on Joe. He is living his life in the shadow of a huge tragedy with the blame entirely on his shoulders, and continues to be oblivious and in denial. Ann's brother George has also been destroyed by Joe's lies; he turns to drugs to deal with the impact of his father's actions and subsequent incarceration. Unlike the dishonesty between him, Chris, and his wife, the lie about the plane parts doesn't just negatively affect their small family unit; it destroys the lives of the pilots, their families, Steve and his family, and has far-reaching impacts (Savran 1995). Joe's lying spirals out of control: he first tells Steve to paper over the cracks and send them out, saying everything would be fine. This leads to the deaths of many, and perhaps even the death of his son Larry. Joe's dishonesty issue comes to a head when Kate says “You have no strength. The moment there are problems you no longer have strength. Joe, you're doing the same thing again; all my life whenever there are problems you scold me and think this will solve everything. This quote shows a moment of clarity for Kate; she's realizing exactly the kind of person her husband is. Joe is too weak and always takes the easy route to the detriment of everyone around him. He has very weak moral fiber and is under the impression that if everyone seems happy on the surface, then there isn't much need to dig deeper to find the truth. Throughout the show, Kate experiences cognitive dissonance when it comes to Joe; it's just too painful and unfathomable for her to accept that Joe may be responsible for Larry's death. Kate, who stands by Joe despite all his lies and manipulations, is finally becoming aware of the monster her husband truly is (Savran 1995). For Joe's part, it seems that Kate is the last person to believe him, and when she finally realizes the truth, Joe is truly overwhelmed by the extent of her actions and commits suicide. Although it can be argued that Joe commits suicide due to the feels immense guilt for the lives he has lost, but the fact is that Joe's main motivation throughout the entire play seems to be financial. It seems that his lies often lead to financial gain; Joe places wealth above being a moral person. Joe is confronted about this by Kate, when she says “Joe, Joe. . . It doesn't excuse the fact that you did it for the family. We must excuse him! For him there's something bigger than family." Once again, it takes a moment of clarity for Kate to finally be able to tell Joe the truth that he's spent a long time hiding from himself. He can't understand why everyone is so mad at him, in his mind, his intentions were good as he wants to support his family financially to the best of his ability Kate is realizing this, what Joe's moral compass is.