An endless tragedy.

Long Day's Journey into Night, written by Eugene O`Neill, is at least for me a complete tragedy based on a family which is constantly struggling against a plethora of problems and situations. It is quite frustrating how the family cannot find the solutions for their problem, in fact, the more we read, the more complicated turn the situations, falling in a permanent cycle where this family cannot escape.

 

To begin with, the plot is focused on the Tyrone family, where problems and negative situations are always present. First of all we have James Tyrone who is the father of this family. The main problem with this character is that he is the kind of person who criticizes his family without helping the members of it, moreover, he is extremely stingy even when it comes about family, in fact, James is the main cause of his wife Mary. Mary, who is the mother in this family, suffers of a dangerous addiction related to morphine. Even when she has been in a treatment to overcome her situation, she cannot quit morphine. Mary is affected by the past in a lot of situations during the play, making her vulnerable and unable to overcome her problems, mostly the one which is about her younger son  Edmund, who has tuberculosis. Edmund, as said before the younger son of this family, has a very poor quality health and as a matter of fact Edmund is actually the creator of the play, or at least his representation since the character is very similar to him in a lot of ways. Edmund  has two brothers, James Jr. his older brother who is known for being alcoholic and his daughter Cathleen, who seems to be an amiable person.

 

This play is a representation of a family full of defects and problems, however, this fact is not the main point of this. At first, I thought that it was about a tragedy, where the protagonist sooner or later would overcome the problems and difficulties which they have been trough, nevertheless, the “bad news” seems to never meet an end. We can appreciate a family where problems are pointed out, but solutions do not appear to be suggested by any member of this family. We can see how the beautiful image of a healthy family present in the past turns into a chaotic family in the present. Every member of this family is trapped in their personal past,  carrying it to their present lives and making it a fake reality where they cannot escape, in fact, in my personal opinion this is the main reason why they cannot overcome the problems. The tragedy present here somehow shows how people can try to evade the reality telling each others pleasant lies about their condition where in reality all of the members are destroyed inside, and that is the main reason of the existance of the fog, yes, a fog which actually makes the member to be apart from the reality, apart of what really matters, making them to fall in a permanent lie. In this particular point something particular aroused my interest, if we are talking about a fog, it means that actually it is not an impossible barrier to overcome as a giant wall would be, and this is the interesting point here, because being trapped in a fog means that somehow they want to be trapped there, they know in the deep of their hearts that the reality is not what they tell each others, however, they trap themselves in this fog just no not face the real problems which are actually destroying the entire family.In addition, this play seems to be a autobiography of O`Neill, reflecting somehow, his life.

 

 

As a personal reflection, I strongly believe that every family has problems, however, the most important thought in our minds MUST be to face and overcome them, even when this play represents all the opposite. Also, it show us the fact that sometimes reality is to cruel to be accepted and faced,and due to that we choose to live in a permanent lie, that is why I think that somehow our minds are invited to realize about this reality and situations, making us to think about this endless tragedy and what would we do in a similar situation.