ong Days Journey into Night Thesis Statements and Important Quotes

Below you will find four outstanding thesis statements for Long Days Journey into Night by Eugene ONeill that can be used as essay starters or paper topics. All five incorporate at least one of the themes in Long Days Journey into Nightand are broad enough so that it will be easy to find textual support, yet narrow enough to provide a focused clear thesis statement. These thesis statements offer a short summary of Long Days Journey into Night by Eugene ONeill in terms of different elements that could be important in an essay. You are, of course, free to add your own analysis and understanding of the plot or themes to them for your essay. Using the essay topics below in conjunction with the list of important quotes from Long Days Journey into Night at the bottom of the page, you should have no trouble connecting with the play and writing an excellent essay. Thesis Statement / Essay Topic #1: The Persistence of the Past in Long Days Journey into Night Throughout Long Days Journey into Night by Eugene ONeill, the issue of the past is one that is brought up quite frequently, by the entire Tyrone family. Mary resents the fact that she has never had a home and that Tyrone was too cheap to find her a doctor who would have found another way to deal with her pain after childbirth, instead of simply prescribing morphine. The children are resentful of the way in which they were brought up, they dislike their mothers addictions and Tyrones money pinching ways. Their father, Tyrone, resents the fact that he took on a role that typecast him, and subsequently kept him from obtaining his big break. Through it all, Mary repeats that the past cannot be helped, that no one controls his or her own actions. What can be learned from the way in which the Tyrone family deals with the past? Are they the perpetrators of their own destiny? Thesis Statement / Essay Topic #2: Forgiveness in Long Days Journey into Night In Long Days Journey into Night there are many reasons for the Tyrone family to be at odds with one anther. Jamie and Edmund are always fighting, whether over their parents or issues between themselves. Tyrone and Mary are constantly bickering between themselves, or with their children. Even the maid is on the receiving end of Marys anger in the second act of the play. However, throughout their fights, it is clear that the family really cares about one another. Edmund and Tyrone make a compromise in terms of the sanitarium to which Edmund will be sent. Jamie finally admits his jealousy to Edmund, and Edmund forgives his brother for his willful acts. In which ways does the forgiving one another serve as a plot device? Does this make the family seem like enablers? Why or why not? Thesis Statement / Essay Topic #3: Escapism in Long Days Journey into Night Every character in Long Days Journey into Night has a personal issue that is very troubling to themselves and to the rest of the family (which alone can make for several great attempts at character analysis). Tyrone is a money-grubbing man who is so lost in his own tumultuous childhood that he refuses to see how he is hurting his family. Jamie is irresponsible and has never worked for anything in his life, letting his jealousy towards Edmund rule over him. Mary is still resentful of not becoming a nun or a concert pianist, and Edmund is suffering from the trials of tuberculosis. Each character avoids their problems in their own self-destructive way, whether through alcohol, drugs or loose women. Never does anyone face anything head on. What is it that ONeill is saying about avoidance in his play Long Days Journey into Night? Does it ever actually solve anything? How has their avoidance only worsened the problems of the Tyrones? Thesis Statement / Essay Topic #4: The Motif of Repetition in Long Days Journey into Night

Throughout the course of the play by Eugene ONeill, Long Days Journey into Night it seems that the Tyrone family is always having the same arguments over and over again. At times they are fighting over Marys addiction to morphine and the effects it has on the family, while at other times they are fighting over Edmund and his condition. Even the act of drinking seems like a mere repetition to the family. What other repeating themes are seen throughout this play? Draw a correlation between the repetition throughout the day and the title of the play. Do you think that instead of describing the day itself, the title is referring to the monotony of the lives of the Tyrones instead?

This list of important quotations from Long Days Journey into Night by Eugene ONeill will help you work with the essay topics and thesis statements above by allowing you to support your claims. All of the important quotes from Long Days Journey into Night by Eugene ONeil listed here correspond, at least in some way, to the paper topics above and by themselves can give you great ideas for an essay by offering quotes and explanations about other themes, symbols, imagery, and motifs than those already mentioned and explained. Aside from the thesis statements for Long Days Journey into Night above, these quotes alone can act as essay questions or study questions as they are all relevant to the text in an important way. All quotes contain page numbers or scene and act numbers as well. Look at the bottom of the page to identify which edition of the play they are referring to. If you cant be good, you can at least be careful. (I.i) None of us can help the things that life has done to us. (II.i) The past is the present, isnt it? Its the future too. (II.ii) If hes ever had a loftier dream than whores and whiskey, hes never shown it. (III) Everything looked and sounded unreal. Nothing was what it is. Thats what I wanted-to be alone with myself in another world where truth is untrue and life can hide from itselfI was set free! I dissolved in the sea, became white sails and flying spray, became beauty and rhythm, became moonlight and the ship and the high dim-starred sky. (IV) For a second you seeand seeing the secret is the secret. For a second, there is meaning. (IV) Happy roads are bunk. Weary roads are right. Get you nowhere fast. Thats where Ive got nowhere. Where everyone lands in the end, even if more of the suckers wont admit it. (IV) The Mad Scene. Enter Ophelia! (IV) It never should have gotten a hold on her! I know damned well shes not to blame! And I know who is! You are! Your damned stinginess! If youd spent money for a decent doctor when she was so sick after I was born, shed never have known morphine existed! (IV) Oh, were fools to pay any attention. Its the damned poison. But Ive never known her to drown herself in it as deep as this. Pass me that bottle, Jamie. And stop reciting that damned morbid poetry. I wont have it in my house! (2081) Source: Baym, Nina, ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Shorter 6 ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 2003

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"The Long Days Journey into Night"

Escapism in "Long Days Journey Into Night" Escapism is displayed in the play "Long Days Journey Into Night" through a very dysfunctional family who uses drugs, drinking, and fantasies to annul their pain. Drugs are used in this play by Mary. She uses opium to escape her surrounding life of her husband Tyrone, Jamie, and Edmund. In the play in Act III, lines 7-9, page 1390 in Vol. D of The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Mary says, "I must go upstairs. I havent taken enough. I hope, sometime, without meaning it, I will take an overdose. I never could do it deliberately." This statement clearly shows that she is miserable. She mechanically goes through the actions of loving her husband when she clearly struggles with it. Jackson R. Bryer, a critic and author of "'Hell Is Other People': 'Long Day's Journey Into Night,'" also explains how Mary escapes from her problems, ". . . her longing for isolation is an expression and implies the desire to escape the real world and envelope herself in a protective fog." This fog is exactly what Mary thinks she needs to annul the pain of her problems until she can deal with them later, which may never happen. Another way that this dysfunctional family uses escapism is through drinking. All the men are guilty for letting this interfere with their relationships between each other and Mary. Edmund is trying to deal with being sick and looking strong and healthy in front of his beloved mother who is already mopping herself up off the floor from being drugged all the time and Edmund cant deal with his father who is constantly down his throat all the time for not being following in his footsteps to be an actor, and Tyrone is upset about his family in general. Another quote used to support this point about Tyrone and how he escapes his problems is, "Whiskey offers him some solace, but he is never able to escape the recrimination of his sons, who hold him partly responsible for their mother's drug addiction." They all feed off one anothers faults and problems and the only way they can handle it is to escape to a fantasy. Fantasies are another route for escape in this play. I think the wedding dress towards the end of the play plays an important role because in Act IV, lines 24 and 25, page 1415, Mary says that she dug it out of an old trunk hidden in the attic and brings it downstairs for the men to see. She tells them that she wants to be a nun and then in the same act, lines 22 and 23, and page 1416, she tells Edmund not to touch her because she says, "It isnt right, when I am hoping to be a nun." She wants to look and be good for Mother Elizabeth who she loves because having faith and devoting her life to the Holy Mother meant that she remembered falling in love with James Tyrone and it was the happiest time of her life. Escapism is shown throughout the play "Long Days Journey Into Night" with a dysfunctional family who try to ignore their current state of life and use drugs, drinking, and fantasies to numb their misery. In the play "Long Days Journey Into Night, the actual reason for the characters escapism is their inability to deal with life's real problems. An example of their inability to handle lifes problems is shown in Act II scene 1 lines 90 - 119. Jamie confronts Mary about her drug use, which she denies. Edmund and Tyrone reject the possibility that Mary has a continuing drug problem despite the fact that there is physical evidence. In conclusion, it can be argued that the escapism is not because of a dysfunctional family, but for different real life reasons. The flaw with these arguments is that it does not focus on their family issues the way the authors did. Each of these three works; "The Awakening", "Long Day's Journey Into Night", and "A Streetcar Named Desire", show the dysfunctional nature of their family structures and how they try to escape from them. In "The Awakening" Edna Pontellier escapes from her husband and children. In "Long Day's Journey Into Night" the character's use drugs, drinking and fantasies to numb their pain. Finally, in "A Streetcar Named Desire" the characters use escapism to release themselves from the dysfunctional family relationships Blanche, Stella, and Stanley have encountered.

Dialogue As you begin to figure out the details of what your fellow diners are talking about as you overhear their conversation such as how the people they're discussing are related, what happened to them, how they assess the situation, what they think of each other, and, perhaps, what you think about them - so you figure out the details of a play as you listen to the characters interact. Dialogue helps to reveal characters and propels the plot. Language and voice go a long way toward establishing the personalities of the characters Inflection, pitch, and tone help to establish a character's feelings. Pauses in speech can be used to dramatic effect or to express a character's feelings, suggesting a character's thinking before responding or difficulty accepting an idea. Pauses can also create suspense, as the women's slow realization of Mrs. Wright's guilt, and their unwillingness to expose her, is shown through their hesitant dialogue with one another and with the men in Trifles. And because the play is usually meant to impart a message to that audience, the playwright constructs the characters' conversations and musings in such a way to ensure that the dialogue reveals both plot and important aspects of the characters. Dialogue can reveal misunderstandings as well as create dramatic irony, when the audience knows more about what's going on than the characters do. Similarly, it can reveal whether a character is honest or duplicitous. dialogue often employs metaphor and symbolism to suggest meanings beyond what the characters actually say.