This study examined the representation of the fractured American Dream in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons through a thematic and stylistic analysis of character dialogue within its post-World War II socio-historical context. The study investigated how moral compromise and disillusionment are dramatized not merely through plot and characterization, but through the linguistic dynamics of familial interaction. Culpeper’s (2005, 2011) impoliteness theory was examined in selected excerpts from the play to analyze how power relations and ideological conflicts are constructed and contested through dialogue. The analysis demonstrated that impoliteness strategies function as discursive mechanisms through which shifting authority within the Keller family is negotiated, particularly as Joe’s moral transgressions are progressively exposed. The findings revealed that Miller’s critique of the American Dream is inseparable from the play’s linguistic architecture: the patriarch’s gradual loss of authority is enacted through language as much as through action. This study contributes a stylistic perspective to the scholarship on modern American drama, arguing that dialogue serves as a primary site through which ethical collapse, familial disintegration, and societal disillusionment are simultaneously constructed and revealed.
Ghorban Sabbagh, M. R. & Bahari, F. (2026). The Fractured American Dream: A Socio-Stylistic Critique of All My Sons. Journal of Applied Language and Discourse Studies, 1(1), 73–84. https://doi.org/10.22034/jalds.2026.740798
MLA
Ghorban Sabbagh, M. R., & Bahari, F. "The Fractured American Dream: A Socio-Stylistic Critique of All My Sons", Journal of Applied Language and Discourse Studies, 1, 1, 2026, 73–84. doi: 10.22034/jalds.2026.740798
HARVARD
Ghorban Sabbagh, M. R., & Bahari, F. (2026). 'The Fractured American Dream: A Socio-Stylistic Critique of All My Sons', Journal of Applied Language and Discourse Studies, 1(1), pp. 73–84. doi: 10.22034/jalds.2026.740798
CHICAGO
Ghorban Sabbagh, M. R. & Bahari, F., "The Fractured American Dream: A Socio-Stylistic Critique of All My Sons." Journal of Applied Language and Discourse Studies, 1 1 (2026): 73–84, doi: 10.22034/jalds.2026.740798
VANCOUVER
Ghorban Sabbagh M. R., Bahari F. The Fractured American Dream: A Socio-Stylistic Critique of All My Sons. Jalds. 2026;1(1):73–84. doi: 10.22034/jalds.2026.740798