irresponsibility, and self-negating guilt. To this end, through all of his plays,
Miller asks us to examine ourselves, and reassess our true responsibilities to
both self and other.

Arthur Asher Miller was born on 17 October 1915, in New York City; the
second child of Augusta and Isidore Miller. Augusta was a first-generation
American whose father had emigrated from Poland, and Isidore had himself
emigrated from Poland at the age of six. An older brother, Kermit, and a
younger sister, Joan, made up the Miller family, although there was also the ex-
tended family of aunts, uncles, and cousins from whom Miller developed
many of his characters when he became a playwright. Miller felt that he was the
opposite of his brother--a well-behaved, good boy, who took after their fa-
ther--and saw himself, with his ambitions and darker side, as being more like
their mother. Miller felt that he and his brother were in competition well into
adulthood; two brothers at odds are frequently occurring characters in many of
his plays, from All My Sons to The Price.

Despite internal family differences, Miller's social background gave him a
secure sense of self. His upbringing was solidly Jewish, providing him with a
strong moral and ethical center which is evident in his works and life. It has also
given him a sense of reassurance and identity through troubled times. From an
early age, Miller admired his mother's artistry and inquiring mind; filling their
house with books and music, she displayed a fierce sense of life. Miller felt close
to his mother, and saw her as having had a great influence on the way he views
life. The portrait of Rose Baum in The American Clock is based on his mother,
just as Moe Baum is ostensibly based on his father, and Lee Baum on the young
Miller himself.

Miller's father was a quiet man; though unschooled, he had an innate
authority and a strong sense of what he felt was right or wrong. Before being fi-
nancially ruined by the Great Depression, he owned and ran a successful
women's clothing business. Miller simultaneously hated and admired his fa-
ther, annoyed at his incapacity to fully recuperate (both economically and
emotionally) from the depression, yet able to recognize the man's inner good-
ness. This ambivalence toward his father lies at the core of many of the ambigu-
ously presented father figures in his plays, such as Willy Loman ( Salesman), Joe Keller
( All My Sons), or Mr. Franz ( The Price); seemingly strong men who love
their children, yet make them suffer because of certain weaknesses. In hind-
sight, Miller realizes that it was the system that failed rather than his father, but
at the time it was difficult to lay the blame elsewhere as he watched his father

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