Review of 'Long Day's Journey Into Night' - an American Family Drama

Eugene O’Neill, a famous play-write and author in the 19th century, related most of his work, including A Long Day’s Journey into Night, to his personal life. The play, Long Day’s Journey into Night, takes place in the Tyrone’s summer home. It features the four members of the family throughout the course of an August day in 1912. Each family member deals with a certain addiction and how it hinders them throughout the day. The script shows the disfunction of the family and how they deal with the obstacles that have been thrown in their path. The long day ends with the youngest Tyrone son being diagnosed with tuberculosis and the revelation, although it is already foreshadowed, that Mary Tyrone has relapsed in her addiction and taken morphine. Eugene O’Neill had a rough childhood because of his father’s famous acting career. The lifestyle that came along with Eugene’s father influenced the lives of his family members with the use of drugs and alcohol. The author faced many tragedies that he often poured into his work, however this piece of literature is specifically about his life, using the same first names and addiction problems that his own family was consumed with. He manages to put emphasis on points that are important to him by repeating dialogue’s through the play. O’Neill’s past gives way to the themes that are present in this literary work: the psychological effects of the characters and how it impacts the reader, O’Neill’s personal feelings for his own family expressed through the Tyrone family, and the cultural impacts on this literary work, such as, Catholicism, Irish stereotypes, and other famous authors. With all the themes tied together the message O’Neill is portraying about addiction and its ability to project dishonesty and suspicion upon those closest to it, as well as denial among one’s self, is abundantly clear and passionately explained.

The Role of Emotions of the Characters in the Play

The goal of every author is to evoke a specific feeling or share a certain idea with the reader, the message of, addiction that the author wants to portray is dependent on the reader’s perspective at the time the literary work was read. Medical professional Albert Rothenberg, M.D. wrote, “A careful evaluation of over 120 segments of dialogue, chosen at random and evenly distributed throughout the play, by myself and a series of psychologists and psychiatric judges, revealed that the major defenses manifested by three of the characters—the mother, father, and younger son—were denial, projection onto others and rationalization or intellectualization.” Patterns of defenses by characters are experienced by readers in different ways depending on the time it is read. This generally states that when a character in a literary work is defensive over something in any way, it can be a cause tension for the reader or it can relieve tension for the reader depending on the mindset the reader is in. Another word for the relief of tension is catharsis, this is often present in novels however there is no catharsis in Long Day’s Journey into Night, the tension just builds and builds, and then the story just ends. This is also similar to an audience’s reaction to dissonance and consonance in music; there is an atonal sound that does not resolve into a major or perfect chord. The relief of tension is most commonly found when a character’s defensiveness is similar to the ones characteristically found in oneself. When O’Neill writes about his own troubling past, something that can be seen is the want of the characters to be trusting of one another even though they are not. After breakfast, the family breaks off and the scene focuses on individual conversations between the family members. Mary Tyrone comes back downstairs from her afternoon “nap” while James Tyrone and his son, Jaime Tyrone, are out in the front of the house gardening, the youngest brother who stayed in the dining room greets his mother when she comes down and proceeds to converse with her.

“It’s stupid. It’s just that I wasn’t asleep when you came in my room last night. You didn’t go back to your and Papa’s room. You went in the spare room for the rest of the night.” 

The hesitation to speak of his mother’s strange actions from the previous night show the denial the youngest son feels toward her. When Edmund “blurts out guiltily” it is apparent to the reader that he doesn’t want to accuse his mother of relapsing, wanting to see the good in her. Edmund’s relationship with his mother is more trusting than Jaimie’s relationship with his mother. The diction used in the beginning of his commentary, “It’s stupid” implies that he wants his mother to not confirm his suspicion and prove him wrong. The mistrust and implication of Edmund’s word provide the tension in this scene. Denial is not only present in the person addicted but also in those who don’t want to believe someone they love is under the control of drugs.

Significance of the Setting in the Play

The setting of Long Day’s Journey into Night plays a crucial role in the psychology that relates to the characters and how the reader interprets them. English professor Louis Charles Stagg stated in his short summary analysis, “Usually preferring expressionism, the language of poetic symbolism, and a faith in the dignity of man, O'Neill also enriched his art by an understanding of the 'new psychology,' an enlarged awareness of all conscious and unconscious realities—not merely Freudian—resulting in a ‘new depth of seriousness, a new vitality ... and the free use, in stagecraft and acting, of experimental techniques which completely ignored the `well-made' conventions, and called directly upon the subconscious responses of the audience.” It is apparent O’Neill understood complex emotions, which is evident in the development of the characters throughout the day. The robust sentiments of the Tyrone family as they impose a feeling of concern and sadness upon the audience, reveal Eugene’s thoughts on how emotions drive man’s behavior. The setting becomes darker as the day progresses into night and the family gives in to their addictions. At this point in the story all the Tyrone men are drunk or on their way to being drunk. Edmund and James argue about money or rather its lack of use, the men share a drink as Edmund begins to recite a poem he knows.

“The fog was where I wanted to be. Halfway down the path you can’t see this house. You’d never know it was here…As if I was the ghost belonging to the fog, and the fog was the ghost of the sea. It felt damned peaceful to be nothing more than a ghost within a ghost'

The fog begins to surround the house and makes it difficult to see the house, this is a metaphor of the family’s addictions clouding their judgement on what is right and wrong. The metaphor continues as Edmund describes himself as “the ghost belonging to the fog” which shows the control alcohol has over him; it makes him powerless. The setting also suggests that as the fog closes in on the family their window of opportunity to change and improve is closing. The characters supporting their crutches by allowing the darkness to consume them figuratively and literally as James Tyrone refuses to leave on more than one light bulb and Mary Tyrone’s lack of compassion and care, thus condemning themselves. Their addictions leading them not to care about their own wellbeing, allowing them to succumb even more to it.

Autobiographical Background of the Story

Eugene O’Neill’s childhood was not ideal, his brother died of the measles, he never had a proper home because he moved around so much, and his family was addicted to drugs and alcohol. Most authors draw from their own experiences to create an embellished story or situation similar to their own, O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night is different because this is a direct reference to himself. He does not make the reader infer too much because the points he is trying to make are fairly clear. MIT lecturer Anne Fleche stated, “The relationship between character and dialogue is thus reciprocal in mimetic drama and serves two major functions: to disclose character (to describe, define, and limit it) and to determine those elements of the material world that will contribute to the character's self-expression.” The meaningfulness of the dialogue is analyzed, specifically the realism in the character environment, and the expressionistic projection of consciousness. In this particular work of literature, O’Neill was describing his exact childhood, using the first names of his family. His dialogue provides insight into his feeling on his personal life in a way that is not directly spoken.

“…He thinks money spent on a home is money wasted. He’s lived too much in hotels. Never the best hotels, of course. Second-rate hotels'

In this conversation, Mary Tyrone is discussing her feeling of her home situation in regard to her husband’s career, making her attitude clear in the stage directions. However, the reader can infer that the O’Neill is writing about his own resentment towards his living situations when he was young. O’Neill writes, “He doesn’t understand a home…And yet, he wants a home.” James O’Neill, Eugene’s father, was a well-known stage actor at the time Eugene was born. The family spent most of their time on the road, soon after Eugene turned seven, he was sent to boarding school. The setting of the novel is the summer home of the Tyrone family, but Mary is often pointing out how it doesn’t feel like home. Mary’s feeling lost and not belonging to a set place is representative of Eugene and how he felt growing up. The message O’Neill is trying to convey is relatively straight-forward.

O’Neill grew up with contrasting cultures, his father was Irish-American, and his mother held many catholic beliefs, this is ironic when looking at how the family lived. The play Long Day’s Journey into Night follows an Irish American family and how their pride that does not allow them to be honest about their addictions. Authors Joyce Moss and George Wilson wrote, “Drinkers prized their ability to hold their liquor; James Tyrone’s outrage at the idea that alcohol ever interfered with his family life or his work is entirely believable…After discovering his mother’s addiction to morphine, O’Neill strove to be especially pious for a time, then abandoned his faith at age fifteen.” Those who believed in the catholic faith were people who were generally more conservative and reserved than others. The Irish stereotype is the opposite, the people of that culture are portrayed as loud, boisterous drunks. The combination of these two can be found in the Tyrone’s family, the different ideals contrasting each other ironically. The author brings humor into the Irish aspect of his play by adding commentary on the pranks pulled by the Tyrone’s Irish tenant, Shaughnessy.

Mary: Heavens, what a terrible tongue that man has!

Tyrone: the damned old scoundrel! By God, you can’t beat him!

In the early 1900’s, Irish Americans were among the working class, James O’Neill, Eugene’s father, was among the few that was able to make a better life for himself. James Tyrone is the fictional character that represents James O’Neill. This scene that depicts the Irish culture is representative of Eugene’s sense of nationalism towards Ireland. Although at the same time, James Tyrone is very prideful of his status in America which contrasts his sense of nationalism because he denies his Irish culture when he denies his addiction to alcohol. Along with Irish culture comes the Catholic faith that was present in Eugene O’Neill’s mother, Ella O’Neill. Irish immigrants in the 1900’s regarded the catholic religion with as much fervor as they regarded their own culture. The daughters of affluent Catholic families, Ella O’Neill, were likely to attend convent schools. Eugene grew up learning about his family’s strong beliefs hence when he found out about his mother’s morphine addiction, which contrasted her childhood teachings, he went pious.

The works of past writers are often times referenced or used as inspiration. William Shakespeare is often referenced in Long Day’s Journey into Night making O’Neill’s interest in him evident. English professor J. Chris Westgate writes about the unconscious pull O’Neill felt towards Shakespeare, “Shakespeare was part of O'Neill's ‘nurture,’ given the ways that O'Neill encountered Shakespeare's plays, and therefore he turned subconsciously and perhaps compulsively to those plays to quiet the ghosts of his family.” This play can be construed as a way for O’Neill to confront his past in a way he was comfortable with. Shakespeare’s plays were remedial and assisted Eugene in dealing with his history regarding his family by referencing Othello and Hamlet, the two plays that seemed most important to him. These plays allowed O’Neill to get comfortable with the style of his own work of literature and the day long setting he created for it. Towards the end of the script when the characters have no choice but to admit to their addictions and realities is when O’Neill begins to reference Shakespeare more frequently.

'The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings. The praise Edwin Booth gave my Othello. I made the manager put down his exact words in writing. I kept it in my wallet for years. I used to read it every once in a while until finally it made me feel so bad I didn’t want to face it anymore. Where is it now, I wonder?”

In reference to the characters, this shows that they are well read, however it is difficult for the reader to decide if the O’Neill family enjoyed reading or if this is just a trait of the author. Going back on the point of the author using Shakespeare to draw on his own family in order to remember and confront his issues with them, “The praise Edwin Booth gave my Othello… his exact words in writing” show the importance of this quote to the author. The way he refers to “my Othello” discloses O’Neill’s personal feelings on that character and how the play helped him reflect. While the character Edmund “used to read it every once in a while” suggests Eugene did something similar to that but struggled with facing the reality of his childhood hence the character losing track of the written down quote.

In conclusion, most writers draw from their own life experiences and put it into their work, often times that is what makes a piece of literature wholesome. The best told story has truth or personal significances to it that help bring it to life. O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night allows his readers into his life and into his mind, opening up about himself in the only way he knew how. The Tyrone family was really O’Neill’s family and the dishonesty and abuse, not only of drugs but of each other, allows the reader to make their own judgements on how Eugene perceived his life. The past of this author effected his work and his mind substantially, it allowed him to think and perceive the world in a different way. The good and bad philosophies and influences that Eugene O’Neill grew up with and not being able to express at that time how he was feeling bled through into his writing. Although something positive came from O’Neill’s dreadful childhood, he let it consume his life and constantly focused on the negative, even though he wanted better for himself. The past is the past and although it does shape a person it should not dictate or control every aspect of their life, that does not lead to happiness, and without happiness life is dreary and meaningless.

Works Cited

• Edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom. Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. Print.
• Fleche, Anne. 'Long Day's Journey into Night: The Seen and the Unseen.' Drama Criticism, edited by Janet Witalec, vol. 20, Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center, Accessed 13 Mar. 2019. Originally published in Mimetic Disillusion: Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams, and U.S. Dramatic Realism, The University of Alabama Press, 1997, pp. 25-42.
• Moss, Joyce, and George Wilson. “Long Day’s Journey into Night.” Literature and Its Times: Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events that Influenced Them, vol. 3: Growth of Empires to the Great Depression (1890-1930’s), Gale, 1997, pp. 218-224. Gale Virtual Reference Library, Accessed 11 Mar. 2019.
• Rothenberg, M.D., Albert “Long Day's Journey into Night: A Study of Psychological Form.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 28 Dec. 2017, Accessed 13 Mar. 2019.
• Stagg, Louis Charles. 'Long Day's Journey into Night: Overview.' Reference Guide to American Literature, edited by Jim Kamp, 3rd ed., St. James Press, 1994. Literature Resource Center, Accessed 22 Mar. 2019.
• Stilling, Roger J. 'Eugene O'Neill.' Nobel Prize Laureates in Literature, Part 3, Gale, 2007. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 331. Literature Resource Center, Accessed 18 Mar. 2019.
• Westgate, J. Chris. 'Tragic inheritance and tragic expression in Long Day's Journey into Night.' Eugene O'Neill Review, vol. 30, 2008. Literature Resource Center, Accessed 18 Mar. 2019.