This blog is part of Assignment of Paper-108: The American Literature
Table of Contents :
- Personal Information
- Assignment Details
- About Author
- Abstract
- Research Question
- Keywords
- Introduction
- Mary Tyrone’s Morphine Addiction
- Alcoholism in the Tyrone Men
- Addiction as a Coping Mechanism
- The Psychological and Social Aspects of Addiction
- Conclusion
Personal Information :
Name:- Sagarbhai Bokadiya
Batch:- M.A. Sem 2 (2024-2026)
Roll no:- 24
Enrollment Number:- 5108240009
E-mail Address:- sagarbokadiya513@gmail.com
Assignment Details :
Unit-1 :- Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night
Topic :- "The Absurdity of Human Existence in Waiting for Godot"
Paper Code:- 22401
Paper - 108:- The American Literature
Submitted to:- Smt. Sujata Binoy Gardi, Department of English, MKBU, Bhavnagar
Date of Submission:- 17 April 2025
Research Question
Eugene O’Neill:
Born: October 16, 1888, in New York City, USA.
Died: November 27, 1953, in Boston, Massachusetts.
Major Contribution: Revolutionized American drama with realism and deep psychological themes.
Themes: Addiction, family dysfunction, existential despair, fate, and human suffering.
Famous Works:
- Long Day’s Journey into Night (1956, posthumous) – Autobiographical family drama.
- The Iceman Cometh (1946) – A portrayal of hopeless dreamers in a bar.
- Mourning Becomes Electra (1931) – A retelling of Greek tragedy in a modern setting.
- Beyond the Horizon (1920) – His first Pulitzer Prize-winning play.
Awards:
- 4 Pulitzer Prizes for Drama.
- Nobel Prize in Literature (1936) – First American playwright to receive it.
Personal Struggles: Battled alcoholism, depression, and family tragedies.
Legacy: Considered one of America’s greatest playwrights, influencing modern theater with his raw and emotional storytelling.
Abstract:
Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night is a deeply personal and tragic portrayal of addiction and family dysfunction. The play explores how substance abuse—primarily Mary Tyrone’s morphine addiction and the men’s alcoholism—acts as both a coping mechanism and a destructive force within the Tyrone family. Each character turns to addiction to escape their guilt, regrets, and emotional pain, yet their dependence only deepens their isolation and suffering. O’Neill presents addiction not merely as a physical affliction but as a symptom of deeper psychological wounds, exposing the cyclical nature of self-destruction. Through raw, emotional dialogue and an intimate setting, the play examines how addiction erodes relationships, distorts reality, and traps individuals in patterns of denial and despair. This paper analyzes the role of addiction in Long Day’s Journey into Night, arguing that O’Neill uses substance abuse to illustrate the inevitability of dysfunction in a family haunted by its past.
Key Words:
Addiction, Substance abuse, Morphine dependence, Alcoholism, Coping mechanism, Psychological trauma, Family dysfunction, Emotional isolation, Regret and guilt, Self-destruction, Denial and blame, Unresolved past, Existential despair, Illusion vs. reality, Cycle of addiction.
Mary Tyrone’s Morphine Addiction
Mary Tyrone’s morphine addiction is one of the most tragic and central elements of Long Day’s Journey into Night, symbolizing both personal and familial destruction. Introduced to morphine after a difficult childbirth, Mary’s dependence on the drug becomes her primary means of escape from the painful realities of her life. Rather than confronting her regrets, loneliness, and shattered dreams, she retreats into an illusionary past where she can momentarily find comfort. However, this escape comes at the cost of her relationships, as her addiction isolates her from her husband and sons, exacerbating the family's dysfunction.
Throughout the play, Mary oscillates between lucidity and intoxication, reflecting the cyclical nature of addiction. In her sober moments, she acknowledges her problem and expresses guilt over the pain she causes her family. However, as the play progresses, her relapses become more frequent, and she withdraws further into herself. Her longing for the past, especially her days in the convent as a young girl, highlights her deep dissatisfaction with her present life. She resents her marriage to James Tyrone, blaming his miserliness and obsession with money for their unhappiness and her addiction. This bitterness fuels her dependency on morphine, creating a vicious cycle of regret and escapism.
Mary’s addiction does not only harm her but also deeply affects her family. Her relapses trigger emotional responses in her husband and sons, ranging from anger and frustration to pity and helplessness. The men turn to alcohol as their own form of escape, making addiction a shared family affliction. Instead of supporting each other, the Tyrones become trapped in a pattern of blame, denial, and self-destruction. Mary’s inability to break free from her addiction serves as a metaphor for the family's inability to move forward, reinforcing the theme of inevitability and despair.
O’Neill portrays Mary’s addiction with deep psychological complexity, showing that it is not merely a physical dependency but a symptom of deeper wounds—failed dreams, lost love, and unfulfilled desires. She is a tragic figure, both victim and perpetrator of her suffering. Her fate is sealed not just by morphine but by the emotional scars that make her seek refuge in it. In the end, as she drifts further into her illusions, Mary becomes the ultimate representation of how addiction consumes both the individual and those around them, leaving behind only fragments of what once was.
Alcoholism in the Tyrone Men:
In Long Day’s Journey into Night, alcoholism is a dominant force shaping the lives of James Tyrone and his sons, Jamie and Edmund. Much like Mary’s morphine addiction, alcohol serves as a means of escape, allowing the men to momentarily avoid their regrets, disappointments, and emotional pain. However, instead of providing relief, their excessive drinking only intensifies the dysfunction within the Tyrone family, reinforcing patterns of denial, resentment, and self-destruction.
James Tyrone Sr., the patriarch, turns to alcohol as a coping mechanism for his failed artistic ambitions and lifelong financial insecurity. Once a promising stage actor, he sacrificed his potential for commercial success, choosing to perform the same role repeatedly for financial stability. His bitterness over this decision manifests in his alcoholism, which, in turn, fuels his controlling and miserly behavior. Rather than confronting his family’s suffering, he uses alcohol to dull his guilt and emotional detachment.
Jamie Tyrone, the eldest son, is the most self-destructive of the three. He drinks excessively not only out of habit but as a way to drown his resentment toward his father, his failed career, and his lost potential. Unlike his father, Jamie does not attempt to justify or hide his drinking—he openly embraces his reckless lifestyle. He resents Edmund, his younger brother, and even admits that he wishes to drag him down the same path of failure. Jamie’s alcoholism is deeply tied to his self-hatred, making him the most tragic example of addiction as a force of ruin.
Edmund Tyrone, the youngest son, also struggles with alcohol, though his drinking is more restrained compared to Jamie’s. Facing a tuberculosis diagnosis and haunted by existential despair, Edmund drinks to numb his pain and to cope with his alienation from his family. His love for poetry and literature suggests a deeper sensitivity, yet he, too, turns to alcohol as an emotional crutch. His drinking reflects his internal struggle between hope and despair, mirroring the larger theme of human suffering in the play.
Together, the alcoholism of the Tyrone men showcases the destructive cycle of addiction within the family. Instead of offering support, their drinking deepens their divisions, making honest communication nearly impossible. Alcohol becomes a substitute for emotional connection, leading to bitter arguments and missed opportunities for healing. In the end, much like Mary’s morphine addiction, their alcoholism highlights O’Neill’s central theme—that the Tyrone family is trapped in a cycle of self-destruction, unable to break free from the weight of their past.
Addiction as a Coping Mechanism:
In Long Day’s Journey into Night, addiction is not merely a destructive habit but a coping mechanism that the Tyrone family members use to escape their pain, regrets, and unfulfilled desires. Eugene O’Neill portrays substance abuse—Mary’s morphine addiction and the men’s alcoholism—as both a symptom and a cause of their suffering. Each character turns to addiction as a way to numb emotional wounds, yet their reliance on drugs and alcohol only deepens their despair and isolates them further.
Mary Tyrone’s morphine addiction serves as her refuge from reality. She uses the drug to retreat into the past, particularly to her memories of youth and the convent, where she once felt pure and hopeful. Her addiction shields her from the pain of her current life—her failed dreams, her troubled marriage, and the death of a child. However, rather than alleviating her suffering, morphine traps her in a cycle of denial, making it impossible for her to fully engage with her family or confront her problems.
Similarly, James Tyrone and his sons turn to alcohol to escape their own disappointments. James Sr. drinks to suppress his guilt over his miserliness and his failed artistic potential. Jamie drowns his sorrows in alcohol, using it to mask his resentment, self-loathing, and deep-seated belief in his own failure. Edmund, facing illness and existential despair, drinks to find temporary relief from the weight of his condition and the dysfunction of his family.
O’Neill presents addiction as a tragic but inevitable response to the Tyrone family’s suffering. Instead of addressing their problems directly, they seek solace in substances, reinforcing their inability to heal or move forward. Addiction becomes their shared language, a way of coping with the unbearable truths of their lives. Yet, instead of bringing them together, it isolates them, making genuine communication and recovery impossible. In the end, Long Day’s Journey into Night suggests that addiction, while providing temporary escape, ultimately intensifies the very pain it seeks to erase, leaving the Tyrones trapped in an endless cycle of regret and self-destruction.
The Psychological and Social Aspects of Addiction:
In Long Day’s Journey into Night, Eugene O’Neill presents addiction as a deeply ingrained psychological and social struggle rather than just a physical dependency. Through the Tyrone family’s battles with substance abuse, the play explores how addiction stems from unresolved trauma, emotional pain, and dysfunctional relationships. Each character turns to addiction not merely out of weakness but as a means to cope with their inner turmoil and external circumstances. However, rather than providing relief, their dependence on substances exacerbates their suffering, leading to cycles of guilt, isolation, and self-destruction.
Psychologically, addiction in the play is rooted in feelings of regret, unfulfilled dreams, and emotional wounds. Mary Tyrone’s morphine addiction stems from her disappointment in marriage, her grief over losing a child, and her longing for the past. Instead of facing reality, she retreats into drug-induced illusions, demonstrating how addiction often serves as an escape from pain. Similarly, James Tyrone Sr. drinks to numb his guilt over his miserliness and lost artistic potential. Jamie and Edmund, both carrying the weight of their father’s failures and their own struggles, use alcohol as a way to suppress their feelings of inadequacy and existential despair. Their addictions are not just about physical cravings but about avoiding painful truths they cannot confront.
On a social level, addiction in the Tyrone family reinforces dysfunction and emotional distance. Rather than offering support, the family members blame, resent, and enable one another. Mary’s morphine use isolates her from her husband and sons, making honest communication nearly impossible. The Tyrone men, instead of addressing their problems or helping Mary, drink excessively, worsening their conflicts and deepening their emotional wounds. Addiction becomes both a personal and collective affliction, creating an environment where denial and self-destruction thrive.
O’Neill portrays addiction as a force that both stems from and perpetuates suffering, illustrating how psychological trauma and social dysfunction reinforce one another. The Tyrone family’s inability to break free from their addictions symbolizes their larger inability to escape the past. In the end, Long Day’s Journey into Night suggests that addiction is not just an individual struggle but a deeply intertwined psychological and social issue, making recovery nearly impossible in an environment filled with blame, regret, and unspoken pain.
Conclusion:
In Long Day’s Journey into Night, Eugene O’Neill presents addiction as both a symptom and a cause of the Tyrone family’s suffering. Through Mary’s morphine dependence and the men’s alcoholism, the play explores how addiction functions as a coping mechanism for unresolved trauma, regret, and emotional isolation. Rather than confronting their pain, the characters retreat into substance abuse, deepening their dysfunction and preventing any chance of healing.
Psychologically, addiction in the play is driven by inner turmoil—Mary’s longing for the past, James Sr.’s bitterness over lost artistic potential, Jamie’s self-destructive tendencies, and Edmund’s existential despair. Socially, addiction erodes family bonds, creating a cycle of blame, denial, and isolation. Instead of providing relief, it intensifies their suffering, leaving them trapped in a repetitive pattern of regret and self-destruction.
O’Neill’s portrayal of addiction is not just about physical dependency but about the deeper emotional wounds that drive people toward substance abuse. By the end of the play, the Tyrone family remains stuck in their addictions, unable to escape their past or change their fate. Long Day’s Journey into Night ultimately suggests that addiction, when intertwined with psychological pain and family dysfunction, becomes an inescapable force—one that destroys both the individual and the relationships they hold most dear.
Works Cited:
- Gelb, Arthur, Gelb, Barbara. "Eugene O’Neill". Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 Jan. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Eugene-ONeill. Accessed 2 March 2025.
- Hinden, Michael. “The Pharmacology of ‘Long Day’s Journey Into Night.’” The Eugene O’Neill Review, vol. 14, no. 1/2, 1990, pp. 47–51. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/29784382. Accessed 2 Mar. 2025.
- SEWALL, RICHARD B. “LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT.” CrossCurrents, vol. 29, no. 4, 1979, pp. 446–56. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24458074. Accessed 2 Mar. 2025.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Long Day’s Journey into Night". Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Dec. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Long-Days-Journey-into-Night-play-by-ONeill. Accessed 2 March 2025.
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