Family Conflict in "Long Day's journey into Night'

The American Literature 

 Name: - Rinkal Dangar 

Roll No: - 18

Semester: - 2(Batch 2022-24)

Enrolment number: - 4069206420220007

Paper No: - 108

Paper name: -  The American Literature 

Paper code: - 22401

Topic: - Family Conflict in  "Long Day's journey into Night'

Submitted to: - Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

Date of Submission:- 31/03/2023

Email Address: - dangarrinkal0609@gmail.com

Introduction of Eugene O'Neill:

 

Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953) was an American playwright who is widely considered to be one of the most important and influential dramatists in the history of American theater. He is known for his pioneering work in the development of modern American drama, which challenged traditional theatrical conventions and explored complex psychological and social issues.

O'Neill was born in New York City and was the son of a famous actor, James O'Neill. He dropped out of college and spent several years working as a seaman, which gave him a unique perspective on life and human nature. He began writing plays in the early 1910s and quickly gained recognition for his innovative approach to theater.

Throughout his career, O'Neill wrote a series of groundbreaking plays that tackled difficult subjects such as addiction, family dysfunction, and the nature of human existence. Some of his most famous works include "The Iceman Cometh," "A Long Day's Journey into Night," and "Mourning Becomes Electra."

O'Neill's work had a significant impact on the development of modern American theater and continues to be celebrated and studied today. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1936, making him the first American playwright to receive the prestigious award. Despite his success, O'Neill struggled with personal demons throughout his life, including alcoholism and depression, which is reflected in his deeply personal and introspective plays

Introduction of the Play:

"Long Day's Journey into Night" is a play written by Eugene O'Neill, which was published posthumously in 1956. The play is widely considered as a masterpiece of American drama and has received numerous accolades and awards.

The play depicts a single day in the life of the Tyrone family, consisting of James Tyrone Sr., his wife Mary, and their two sons, Jamie and Edmund. Set in the summer of 1912, the play takes place in the family's summer home in Connecticut and follows the family's struggles with addiction, illness, and their dysfunctional relationships.

The play is heavily autobiographical, drawing from O'Neill's own experiences with his family, particularly his relationship with his mother, who struggled with addiction. The characters in the play are deeply flawed and struggling to come to terms with their past and present circumstances, making it a powerful exploration of human psychology and family dynamics.

"Long Day's Journey into Night" is known for its powerful, poetic language, its complex characters, and its exploration of the human condition. It is a deeply moving and poignant play that continues to be celebrated and studied today.

Major Characters of the Play: The major characters of "Long Day's Journey into Night" are the members of the Tyrone family:

James Tyrone Sr. - The patriarch of the family, a successful actor who is now miserly with his money. He struggles with guilt over his past choices and the death of his infant son.

Mary Tyrone - James's wife, who is addicted to morphine and haunted by memories of her past. She is a fragile and tragic figure who longs for escape from her addiction and her troubled family.

Jamie Tyrone - The older son, a heavy drinker and cynic who resents his father's cheapness and struggles with guilt over his own failures.

Edmund Tyrone - The younger son, a writer who is ill with tuberculosis. He is idealistic and hopeful, but also deeply affected by the dysfunction of his family.

The play is largely autobiographical, drawing heavily from Eugene O'Neill's own life and family. The characters are complex and flawed, each struggling with their own demons and the weight of their shared history. Their interactions throughout the play are tense and fraught, as they confront the painful truths of their past and present.

Conflict Theory

    

Conflict is a basic fact of social life. Competing sets of interests contribute to the dynamic nature of social life, which, in turn, causes conflict and induces social interaction. In any given society, each person pursues his or her individual social interests. The family, much like any other social unit, demonstrates among its members the same competing interests observed in other social groups in society. Interaction in daily life is cast in conflicting desires and wants. Conflict theory was first clearly conceptualized in the political philosophy of Karl Marx. Marx determined that conflict was the most fundamental principle of social life in human history and argued that social life passes through stages that lead to revolution. According to Mars, revolution occurs because we all have a need for material goods, a need that is driven by competition for resources. This competition, or conflict, ultimately divides people into two groups: the rich (who have power and access to resources) and the poor (who lack power and access to resources). Conflict in society generally occurs between those who own the means of production and those who have only their labor to sell. Those who control the means of communication perpetuate ideologies that serve their own purposes and hold the position that "We are rich because we deserve it, we worked hard for it, and those who are below us are in that position because they have not worked hard enough." Seeking to avoid a revolt, the rich attempt to create an ideological framework (or an ideological cast) to maintain the status quo and prevent workers from realizing that they are being exploited.

In Salegy: Understanding a Diners Society, Andersen and Taylor examine the family unit from the perspective of family conflict theory. They view the family as an institution governed by power relationships that ultimately reflect social inequalities within the society as a whole. Klien and White see conflict as a dialectic. The outcome of conflict is growth and nourishment, and in the family, as in society, growth leads to cooperation. Therefore, cooperation is ultimately another form of conflict. When we negotiate after a conflict, our interests temporarily coincide. Eventually, however, conflict reoccurs, and constant negotiation is thus required to achieve growth and mutual understanding Conflict theory offers the idea that, rather than order, conflict and friction strengthen relationships between family members by creating opportunities for communication and negotiation. This dialectic may eventually lead to dialectic wherein the members of a family or couple may attain deeper understandings of each other. This dialectic is demonstrated in O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night.

Look, how sick the fog is …All the people of the world could pass by, and I would never Know.

The Conflict always have been inside Marry as she selected James in spite of her career and Passion for Music which caused Tragedy into her life that the fog is representing the darkest side of her life where she is feeling disappointed by her life.

Family Conflict 

The play is founded upon endless conflict. The father, James Tyrone, is a miserly man who seems to have 

failed everyone in the family, including his wife, Mary. After giving birth to their son, Edmund, Mary is in great pain, and James sends her to “an ignorant quack of a cheap hotel doctor” because he is inexpensive (89). The doctor prescribes Mary morphine, and she ultimately becomes addicted to it. James also fails in his marriage to Mary because he is always away from home and drinks too much. In addition, James fails his younger son, Edmund, in sending him to a cheap, second-rate sanatorium rather than to a more expensive venue when he is diagnosed with TB. Edmund rails against his father, “But to think when it’s a question of your son having consumption, you can show yourself before the whole town as such a stinking old tightwad” . He also fails his older son, Jamie, by turning him into a drunkard. This becomes obvious when Mary tells him “Since he first opened his eyes, he’s seen you drinking, always a bottle on the bureau in the cheap hotel rooms. And if he had a nightmare when he was little or a stomachache, your remedy was to give him a teaspoonful of whisky to quiet him”.

Conflict Caused by Jealousy between Siblings 

From a different perspective, James faults Jamie for corrupting Edmund in being “the worst influence on 

him” Jamie admits to Edmund, “Mom and Pop are right. I’ve been a rotten influence. And the worst of it is, I did it on purpose…to make a bum of you…. Never wanted you to succeed and make me look even worse by comparison. I Wanted you to fail. Always jealous of you” 

Conflict Caused by Jealousy between Parents 

Finally, this conflict develops into a jealous rivalry between Mary and James with regard to their children. 

Mary says “I know why he wants to send you to a sanatorium…to take you away from me! He’s always tried to do that. He’s been jealous of every one of my babies! He kept finding ways to make me leave them. That’s what caused Eugene’s death. He’s been jealous of you most of all. He knew I loved you best”. 

Conflict within the Mother (Interior Monologue) 

The conflicting nature of the family members is also evident in the mother’s self-monologue and resignation 

to her drug addiction. When James and her sons leave the house, she calls out,”Goodbye. … [She thinks] it’s so lonely here.… You’re lying to yourself again [in a bitter soft contempt]. You wanted to get rid of them. Their contempt and disgust aren’t pleasant company. You’re glad they’re gone. [She laughs] Then, Mother of God, why do I feel so lonely?”. In a sense, this is characteristic of family life, but it is hidden. A motif of fog persists throughout the play and functions as a hiding place for Mary that represents an internal rather than external condition. Mary says that she loves the fog: “it hides [her] from the world and the world from [her]. [She] feels that everything has changed and nothing is what it seemed to be. No one can find or touch [her] anymore” (100). Drugs allow Mary to make her irrevocable exit into the fog, a state of dazed nothingness. She tells James, “Don’t leave me now, at least until one of the boys comes down. They’ll all be leaving me so soon.” To this, James replies, “It’s you who are leaving us, Mary”. 

Conflict Caused by the Lack of a Home 

Home is the center of family life, but James has failed to secure such a center for his family. Edmund blames 

his father, Tyrone, for his mother’s addiction to dope. He says to his father: I know damn well she’s not to blame!

Conflict between the Past and the Present (Life over Time) 

There is an overwhelming sense of the passage of life and the relationship between the past and the present in 

the play. This becomes clear in the “re-memory”of experiences Mary and James negotiate as they go back and forth discussing innocent childhood dreams of the past and shared nightmares of the present. In what follows, the two characters suddenly return to their past in sharing a kiss. James kisses Mary and immediately recognizes her as the innocent young girl he married. Mary looks at her hands and notices how they have become disfigured by rheumatism (which necessitated the drugs). She sees her fatigued, worn-out body and begins to long for the impossible, a return to 

the innocence that life caused her to lose over time. She reminisces about her wedding gown, which, to her, signifies the youth, beauty, innocence, and life she had before her incessant pain. 

"I haven't touched a piano in so many years,it was not possible with these crippled fingers, even if I wanted to. For a time after my marriage I tried to

keep up my music. But it was hopeless. One-night stands, cheap hotels,

dirty trains, leaving children, never having a home—"

 

That's the dialogue where Mary regrets all her past and the time she has lost by the things after her marriage.

Conclusion 

The play ultimately alludes to the idea that we have to accept the things in our lives that we cannot change. 

Regardless of the bitterness and blame that permeates the family’s dialogue, each of the family members is emotionally invested in and dependent on one another. Mary says, “James, we’ve loved each other. We always will. Let’s remember only that and not try to understand what we cannot understand, or help things that cannot be helped. The things life has done to us we cannot excuse or explain” . This statement illustrates the sense of maturity (rather than evasion) that life offers the couple over time. Life bruises them, yet they continue to love and accept each other. 

In his 1972 review of the play, William C. Young wrote, “the Tyron family’s tragedy is undergirded by love.” Despite the conflicts in their relationships, “there is genuine love in the midst of the apparent hate” by all the faults, Edmund forgave his brother for all the mistakes he had made.

 Overall the novel is the reflection of family lives, where women have sacrificed,Men are Jealous and Ugly inside.

Thank You.