Central Theme of the play is The Past, Reminiscence and Repentance.
This play is about a family who lives together but cannot get themselves out of the past as most of its characters are obsessed with nostalgia especially Mary, who takes drugs to ignore the present.
Eugene O'Neill was the son of a disappointed father and a drug addicted mother. He had an elder brother who was alcoholic. O'Neill wrote this play to explain that no one can help things life has done to us and that's how you just lost your true self perpetually and eternally.
Analysis of the play:
The play “A Long Day’s Journey In to Night” is about a family who is going through its rare tragedy, but in many ways, their strives and struggles are universal.
This play focuses on the past, on the regrets, and on the loss especially from Mary. This play also raises a sense of despair, helplessness, and negativism. As for Mary, the past is the present and the future too. Each member of the Tyrone family struggles with their own evil and simultaneously tries to help each other. Sometimes they communicate by yelling at each other without actually saying what they mean. They just feel helpless and keep on arguing with each other all the time.
Act 1 Summary:
In August 1912, James and Mary Tyrone stroll into the living room of their summer home after having breakfast in the morning. Mary is 54 seems to look in good health but her body is showing restlessness as her hands are continuously jiggling. On the other hand, James is satisfied and tells his wife that he is happy to see his wife healthy. Ruining this good mood, James ceases to listen to his sons, indignantly supposing that they are cackling at his expenditures.
At the end of the act one Mary says that she has been feeling weakened and anxious since morning. At this Edmund suspects Mary. Once Jamie goes out Mary then sits in "a fit of nervous panic" her eyes dilated and her hands "driven by an insistent life of their own."
Act 2 Summary:
On the evening of the same day, Edmund commands the housekeeper to call James and Jamie for lunch and to wake Mary up. Jamie enters parlor and asks about Mary. Edmund tells Jamie that Mary is in the spare room. Edmund and Jamie get into a long debate after that Mary enters the living room. Edmund does not observe that Mary is less confused and her eyes have gained spark. In the ending of act two scene one James advises Mary to have the strength to keep on. Mary does not understand this and asks James about its meaning upon which James exists the living room while saying "It's no use now".
Doctor Hardy calls Edmund and says that he wants to see him at four.
Jamie asks his father what the doctor Hardy said about Edmund? James tells Jamie that Edmund is certainly having consumption. Mary asks Edmund to promise her to abstain from alcohol which is ultimately destroying his health.
Act 3 Summary:
It's almost night; Mary spends time with Cathleen as she wanted someone to talk to. Foghorn was bleating through the window but Mary admits that she would not mind alchohal tonight. Under the influence of alcohol, Mary tells Cathleen about James and how they both fell in love with each other. Mary again gets lost in nostalgia and realizes that she always talks about the past.
Act 4 Summary:
Edmund clumsily enters into the hall which is dark as James always turns the lights off in order to save money. This raises a clash between them. James feels sorrowful at Edmund's fragileness and turns all the lights on. They get indulge into another conversation and then they hear Mary coming downstairs and they pray to God to stop Mary from coming down into the hall and James confesses to Edmund that your mom is nothing but a ghost that haunts the past. As this scene winds up, Jamie enters the hall stumbling and recites poetry in a repeating manner. Mary then enters and talks about Mother Elizabeth. Mary says that Mother Elizabeth asked me if I still want to be a nun after living. But I fell in love with James. For Mary, taking drugs was just a way to avoid the present. Meanwhile her family members feel helpless. And the curtain closes.
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