A Long Day’s Jounrney Into Night, is a tragic play written by none other than Eugene O’neill. The play takes you through one day of life in the Tyrone familly summer home, and as the day advances so does the extreme emotional and psychological torment that each member of the family faces. The most evident inner struggle presented is Mary. Like many of the female characters in the modernist works we’ve read so far, she thrives in the past. Sometimes it brings comfort, like her days at the convent, or some moments bring bad memories like the death of her second son. This event largely contributed to Mary’s morphine addiction. One of Mary’s weakest points is that she can’t bear the thought that the death of her son was just a terrible accident, so she blames her eldest son Jamie. Morphine also helps Mary to slip away from her regret she feels every day for not doing what she wanted in life. One regret Mary frequently thinks of is that she should have never given birth to her youngest son Edmund.
Tyrone: Mary! For God’s sake, forget the past!
Mary: Why? How can I? The past is the present, isnt it? It’s the future,too. We all try to lie out of that but life won’t let us. I blame only myself. I swore after Eugene died I would never have another baby. I was to blame for his death. If I hadn’t left him with my mother to join you on the road, because you wrote telling me you missed me and were so lonely, Jamie would never have been allowed, when he still had the measles to go into the baby’s room. I’ve always believed Jamie did it on purpose. He was jealous of the baby. He hated him.
Mary has a difficult time truly taking responsibility for things, which is evident when she holds a grudge against her son, who was seven when he “killed” his brother. Although it is obvious Mary loves her husband James, she often makes remarks that show she lives with some regret for marrying him.
Mary: And I love you dear, inspite of everything. But I must confess James, although I couldn’t help loving you, I would have never married you If I’d known you drank so much. I remember the first night your barroom friends had to help you up to the door of our hotel room,and knocked and then ran away before I came to the door. We were still on our honeymoon, do you remember? … I didn’t know how often that was to happen in the years to come, how many times I was to wait in ugly hotel rooms. I became quite used to it.
A major theme in Mary’s life is loneliness. A large part of her morphine addiction is her trying to fill a void she feels inside, perhaps her goals in life that never came through, or the child she lost. She has a good enough marriage and sons that truly care for her, but within Mary is isolated in the past, and her loneliness doesn’t subside even in the presence of company. When Mary’s family leaves she expressed her feelings:
It’s so lonely here. You’re lying to yourself again. You wanted to get rid of them. Their contempt and disgust aren’t pleasent company. You’re glad they’re gone. Then Mother of God why do I feel so lonely?
A problem of Mary’s that surfaces in many conversations throughout the play is she doesn’t feel at home anywhere. She complains to her husband that he was too cheap to build a proper house, or buy a decent car, everything is a bargain. As expressed in the previous block quote, Mary does get momentary relief in being alone, however the feeling of lonliness and homelessness looms. While talking with her servant Cathleen, Mary says, “I doubt if they’ll come back for dinner. They have too good an exuse to remain in the barrooms where they feel at home. ” Maybe Mary is envious that the men can feel at home elsewhere while she can’t belong in her own house, and the only place she can reside is a doped up world of fog.
