Mary's Isolation in "Long Day's Journey Into Night"

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer discusses that all the characters of the play 'Long Day's Journey into Night' are trapped by their family history and their inability to break out of the family cyclical arguments, however, no one is more trapped than Mary. The writer suggests that
it seems possible that Mary was always lonely. The writer discusses that as a child she may have structured her world around the idea of being a nun because of a guaranteed community, but even in a convent, Mary would have had to know how to connect with others. Further, the writer notes that at every turn she has made choices that isolate herself. Mary chose a stand-offish man for a husband, and has made choices throughout her adult life that have kept her lonely.

From the Paper:

"One soon finds out that Mary has significant problems. When the play opens, she has very recently returned home from a sanatorium where she was treated for addiction to morphine. As the day goes on in the play, it becomes apparent that Mary has returned to taking morphine, and quite a lot of it. Mary has an excuse for her addiction: her husband was too cheap to pay for a good doctor after her second son was born, and that doctor got her addicted. Mary may have started with morphine to ease the pain of childbirth and its aftermath, but now it is apparent that she uses it as an escape from reality. Her need to escape is so great that she is in complete denial about her son Edmund's case of tuberculosis -- even though her father, whom she loved dearly, died of tuberculosis himself."

Sample of Sources Used:

• O'Neill, Eugene. Long Day's Journey Into Night. Published post-humously. New Haven: Eastern Press, 1955.

More papers on Mary's Isolation in "Long Day's Journey Into Night":

• Essay # 44372 : "Long Day's Journey Into Night"
• Essay # 33845 : "Eugene O'Neil's "Long Day's Journey Into Night"
• Book Review # 92226 : "Eugene O'Neil's "Long Day's Journey into Night"

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