Early modern Blog

For my blog assignment, I choose the play by Eugene O’ Neill entitled “A Long Days Journey into the Night” .This play to me represents the social status of many families whom lived during the early 1900′s. during the early 1900′s many individuals were plagued with anxiety and dysfunction which tended to disrupt the normal status of the individual, in this case, the entire family. this play incorporates many themes which include addiction which results in the dysfunction of the entire family whom struggles to maintain there respect and love throughout the night. the story takes place around midnight in Connecticut USA.  The addictions include Alcoholism and morphine addiction which forces the family against each other which results in each family member seeking affection and encouragement from each other but only ends in a conundrumof internal conflict and resentment. the story presents a family of Irish immigration with has a modest status of wealth and a economic standing. The story takes place before the during World War I in which the father Tyrone developed a military like physique and status. Because of the war, many families lived in a realm of anxiety due to the deaths and disastrous consequences of the war. Because the US wa s in a transitional state of isolatism which ended due to the sinking of the  RMS Lusitania, many families like previously stated, were in a flux of anxiety while the tensions of the war proceed. The story provides an insight to the practice of medicine at the time. The story or play provides information that morphine addiction was common like with Mary where the synthesis diacetylmorphine commonly known as heroin was synthesized as a substitute for morphine addiction and as a cough suppressant. As a interesting side note, along with aspirin, Bayer lost the trademark rights to heroin under the 1919 Treaty of Versailles following the German defeat in World War I. Along with the pharmaceuticals drugs, the mycobacterium which is known to cause the infection tuberculosis was common among individuals during that time. In the story, the younger son, Edmund, was thought to have caught the infection during his time working as a merchant navy solider during the first world war. The play is all the more tragic because it leaves little hope for the future, much like many individuals felt during the  first world war. I really like this story because i can relate to some of the dysfunctional aspects of this family and the trials and tribulations that they endure. The Tyrone family is not a unique family, and it is easy to identify with many of the conflicts and characters. Here is a quote by Ric Burns. “In America before World War I, there was a cultural resistance to theater dealing with serious things,” says Burns. “After the carnage of the war, there was a tremendous reaction to the shallowness of Broadway. O’Neill decided to be true to what he knew best–granite reality.”  which is all so true. Subjectively speaking, i think that this play was excepted among the African American cultures due to there pass and current state of term oil dealing with the stress and tension from oppression. Again, subjectively speaking that their culture could easily identify that although tension will cause stress and discomfort, which again could be associated with any family helped many African American families to cope and deal with their own trials and tribulations.

Here is a link to my quote:

www.neh.gov/news/humanities/2006-03/darkjourney.html

Advertisement