Long Day’s Journey into Night, by Eugene O’Neil is a play that embodies an important theme: having a home and what it takes to have a home.
The characters within the play embody a set of multiple identities that also sets the tone of the dialogues. One of the main themes in the play is the importance of a home. All the characters in the play, more specifically Mary-the mother- has serious problems all of which are a result of not having a place where she could call home. A place for her to grow her kids, cook her meals, spend her time in peace while her husband works. It is the lack of a peaceful home that drives Tyrone – the father – away from the house and the kids to other worlds.
The play, however, starts off in a very typical morning where the family has had breakfast, and all seems very well. Tyrone and Mary have a very ordinary discussion about the future of the kids where the mother is worried, and the father tries to soothe her down. Although everything seems very normal, we can still sense the tension that lies in each word of the characters and the lines of the writer. The sarcastic and teasing comments of the characters about each other give us hints of possible problems, but it is not until the dialogue between the oldest son Jamie and the Tyrone that we understand there is a serious problem with the younger son-Edmund, and also we sense that Mary has a problem too.
As the play develops, Tyrone and Jamie often get into a fight about their faults, both accusing and insulting each other in serious language. However, in the end, they casually turn back to talking normally when Mary appears at the door, or they think she might hear them. This makes us think that despite their fights and sudden outbursts, they are still bound together by a single thread that holds them strong- the woman of the play- Mary. This is an interesting motif in the play that the author chooses to include, given the fact that the play was written in a time where women rights were still being ‘discussed’ and feminism was very much widespread. In this sense, the author seems to be telling the men to take care of their wives and mothers and daughters, who are and will be the main circuit of a home.
Each of the characters has a problem with themselves, and each has their way of dealing with it. Tyrone likes to drink and is tight with money, with which he deals by being aggressive; Mary is unhappy and nervous because of her drug problem, which she deals with by ignoring and acting as if she has no such problem; Jamie is resentful and jealous, which he deals by becoming drunk and not caring for anything except maybe his younger brother; and Edmund is restless and sad, which he tries to dissolve by consumption and changing the subject. However, the one common thing that all these characters have in their problems is denial. They all deny they have problems and that they are not trying to get past these problems.
Another interesting point in the play is the mood of the characters: as the dialogues develop, we face very different suddenly shifts in their moods. In the beginning, the small dialogues between the characters seem to be playful teasing’s. But as the story develops, we feel the tension and awkwardness in the actions and the teasing of the characters. At one point they are angry and insulting each other, and then all of a sudden the mood changes and the same characters that were insulting now start to tease each other playfully and say how much they love each other. An example would be the last scene where Edmund and Tyrone are talking while playing cards. Edmund accuses his father of his mother’s situation telling him off by insulting him. Tyrone in return gets angry and says that Edmund is disrespectful. Then, all of a sudden, the two characters turn to their game, and one asks the other whose turn it is. This kind of sudden shifts happens throughout the play and because of this; we seem to lose control of what is happening until they pick up where they left off. These sudden mood shifts also show the imbalance of the characters and how they are psychologically unstable.
Within the play, all the characters have a background they are ashamed of and also a past that they long for. Tyrone, for example, is ashamed of having made bad deals, but also misses his times when he was very famous and talented as an actor. Mary is ashamed of her days when she was addicted and also longs for her days before she was married. Despite their bitterness and restfulness, all the characters put on a show, not just for the audience, but also for each other. It is a show within a show, where the characters hide their true thoughts and feelings from each other until they are provoked, and then they yell out on rage. After which they apologize and try to move on.The play is a good piece of work that can be analyzed not just regarding a literary work but also as a social and psychological piece of work. What the consumption of drugs and alcohol does to the psychology of a person, how the difference in characters affect the way the characters act within the society and in themselves. How their true identity is revealed only when they take in drugs or become drunk are all paths that can be followed in analyzing the characters. However, from a literary point of view, the characters reflect a set of fundamental themes and motifs that I think the writer tries to give us: the importance of having a peaceful home full of warmth and happiness. The importance of the mother and wife of the house has a place or “A Room of One’s own” ( Woolf) where she can be with herself and have something to do other than worry over her family. And also the importance of having a strong figure such as a father who watches over the family with generosity, warmth, love, and passion. O’Neill is very successful in sending these messages. A play very well written.