Long Day's Journey Into Night
Long Day's Journey Into Night is the story of a day in the life of a loving but dysfunctional Irish-American family as it is torn apart by addiction, resentment, and regret. It is also Eugene O'Neill's most autobiographical play, hence his insistence that it not be published until after his death. Winner of the 1957 Pulitzer Prize.
Tropes used in Long Day's Journey Into Night include:
- Author Avatar: O'Neill spent a great deal of his early adulthood at sea, battled with alcoholism and depression, and suffered from tuberculosis, just like Edmund.
- The Disease That Shall Not Be Named: Literally. Edmund tries not to speak about his illness, as he believes it could be his mother's final breaking point.
- Downer Ending: It is implied that the end scene has been and will be repeated many, many more times.
- Fatal Flaw: See above.
- Generation Xerox: Perhaps one of the morals of the play, sad as it may be.
- Ignored Epiphany
- Incurable Cough of Death: Actually Tuberculosis.
- Lampshade Hanging: "What a bastard to have for a father! Christ, if you put him in a book, no one would believe it!"
- The Ophelia: Mary, especially in the last scene. Mostly due to the morphine.
- James: The mad scene. Enter Ophelia!
- Parents as People: And how. Mary and James are depressingly human.
- Shout-Out/Literature: Edmund compares himself to a seagull.
- Shout-Out/To Shakespeare: Too many to count; the Tyrones are a family of actors, after all.