A Long Life's Journey Into Hell

Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night unifies a plebian family of struggling hopefuls through the wrenching conflicts tied to past mistakes they constantly weigh one another down with. Their entire existence is just one large stalemate; neither member willing to let up their guard. That isn’t to say the Tyrone’s don’t speak the truth to one another, but the truth they spread is a scarring burning one, meant not to relieve but to intensify their pain. The family feeds off this pain, they believe it resolves their own personal insecurities, but in reality it only amplifies it. They believe that if they blow out their loved one’s candle, theirs will glow brighter. It is this assumption that fuels their conflict, and leads to bitter feuds within the family lines. One of the more prominent conflicts, the elder against the younger, provides a strong starting point for other quarrels.

Perhaps the most prominent within the work is the constant conflict between James Tyrone and his first-born son, Jamie. O’Neill hints at James’s intentions by giving his son his own name, and through this reveals the idea of family legacy. It is this idea that the father knows best, and because of this is horribly distressed to see his son turn the opposite direction. Jamie sees his father’s disapproval as motivation for rebellion, and pushes himself even further from his father’s shadow. James, who had been a hard-working youth, must stand before his own son and see worthlessness. It is always the people most similar to us that threaten us most (Gale), and James cannot look into the shattered mirror. He pursues other options, yet each are vain and end in only further conflict. He sends out his wealth to Jamie, yet only becomes angered by his loose-pockets. Jamie does not comprehend the importance of money in his father’s eyes, and so his spending leads to further conflict. A flawed act of love only responded to with harsh disparity.

If this was not enough, O’Neill also provides further conflict through Mary and Edmund, the mother and youngest son. Internal turmoil runs abound between the shared relationships of these two characters, as Mary looks to her son as a replacement, the second model of her first baby boy. Although Edmund only receives the best treatment from his mother, he holds a grudge of hurt emotions, knowing that her love spurts only from the grave of his lost brother. This misdirected affection leads to emotional outbreaks in the play, propelling Edmund forward as more than just the younger sibling. Through all of Mary’s care, he only feels obligated to revolt and speak from his inner thoughts to express his unrequited feelings of false love and relayed affection. He feels he is receiving what he does not deserve or request, and this leads to increased conflict among the two traditional roles of loving mother and nurtured child.

These open and internal conflicts between what should be loving guides and their hopeful youth leads to emotional distress within the Tyrone family, and motivates them even further down the stubborn path of unmoving subjugation. Even if any member moved to requite the feelings of another, by this time their relative would not know how to respond. These grudges have been forged on their minds and have become the guidelines to their everyday lives. They only see their own faults, but the only solution they can muster is blame. This vicious cycle of family degradation keeps the Tyrone’s from ever moving forward; forgive and forget is unheard of, and so they must squander their days in unrelenting night. Because the Tyrones will not forgive each other, and will not even forgive themselves, for their past faults, they forge for themselves a miserable present (Gale). The constant warring of an obstinate family leaves the individuals involved with a sense of unfelt affection, lost direction, and constant darkness. No one family member will pay their due, and so the loved one’s at their side must pay the price. Eugene O’Neill forms for the Tyrones a constant shroud, a self-induced cloud of spite that never ceases to reprieve their suffering.

Bibliography:
Wren, Celia. "All in the family: 'long day's journey into night'. (Stage)." Commonweal. 130.11 (June 6, 2003): p20. Literature Resource Center. Gale. LEE COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM. 21 Sept. 2008

Curtain

Flowing folds of shadowy shades
Creasing lines to reach the tile
Intertwined and woven-deep
Crooked work of hailed style

Masquerade the lights on high
blind the lost and lead the wise
spread the linen wings to show
the hidden deapth where sun resides

So cut the ties of posh decor
unearth the passe stylings of old
rekindle light and restore
push aside the tattered folds