Eugene ONeills Long Days Journey into Night
Critics have described Long Days Journey into Night as ONeills curtain call. The play at once returns to themes and characters in ONeills earlier dramas and brings them into a final, summational form. The play was written in part as a way for Eugene ONeill to express the world what his own family was like and in what sort of environment he was brought up in. ONeill wanted to create a play that would lay forth his own background in a forgiving nature, which is why he tried not to bias Long Days Journey into Night against any one particular character. The drama is very similar to ONeills family situation as a young man, but more importantly, it has become a universal play representing the problems of a family that cannot live in the present, mired in the dark recesses of a bitter, troubled past. Because of its deeply personal nature, ONeill requested that the play be published posthumously, which meant that the play was not revealed to the world until ONeills death in 1956, as his "curtain call". Long Days Journey into Night is set in the summer home of the Tyrone family, August 1912. ... Throughout the course of Long Days Journey into Night, we slowly find out that Mary is still addicted to morphine, much to the disappointment of her family members. The play is largely autobiographical and it resembles Eugene ONeills life in many ways. ... Like Tyrone, ONeills father was an Irish Catholic, an alcoholic, and a Broadway actor.