I do not agree with your statement. The play is about
individual responsibility. Knowingly Joe allows a shipment of airplane parts that he
knows are not up to standard to be shipped. The result is that 21 men die. His son is
also a victim although he is not in a airplane with the defective part. Once he finds
out about his father's actions, he commits suicide because he is ashamed of what his
father has done.
Joe successfully set up his partner to
take the blame and go to jail. He convinces himself that he is not at fault and even
believes his own lies to himself. He even tries to convince his son that since
everybody was doing it, it was OK. He, of course, does not offer any proof that
everybody did it.
Miller's play is about one man who
chooses profit over safety. The government did not make Joe lie. He did that all by
himself. In any huge endeavor, human error is a factor. To knowingly allow the result
of the human error to be shipped out and used is criminal and the government can not be
blamed for Joe's actions. Only Joe is to blame and he knows it.
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