Abstract
This paper briefly examines Eugene O'Neill's use of various types of realism in several of his plays. The paper points out that, in general, O'Neill did not deal with the preoccupations of the external world but rather with his own preoccupations, which were derived not from these personal demons but from his religious treatment of them. The paper then relates that the realism in "Desire under the Elms" involves aspects of Freudian psychology, as seen in the character Eben's Oedipal complex. The author concludes that the realism of the setting and of the speech patterns of the play makes the action seem all the more universal and a mirror of human psychology more than anything separate and unique to the characters in the play.

From the Paper
"As O'Neill became more famous in his early years as a playwright, he also became increasingly conscious of his public position and increasingly articulate about his ideals and hopes for American drama. As often happens, after his initial success he achieved notoriety as critics questioned some of his work, such as "All God's Chillun" for its racial theme or "Desire Under the Elms" for its supposed immorality. His reputation then reached new heights with the production of "Strange Interlude" in 1928, a play that took more than five hours to present."

Tags:greeks immoral, oedipal complex, farmhouse deep-seated

Abstract
The paper posits that Eugene O'Neill's play, "Beyond the Horizon", is a naturalist expression, while his play, "The Hairy Ape", is much more expressionistic, though each has elements of the other. The paper examines both works in order to demonstrate O'Neill's use of both naturalism and expressionism.

From the Paper
"Naturalism is considered an artistic movement that seeks to represent an ordinary, every day reality to convey an artistic or universal thematic message. In theater, this refered to the illusion of reality as represented through detailled sets fuelled by the grandiose imagery of the dialogue itself and the unpoetic effusive literary style which also gives rise to expressionism. In this sense, reality gives way to heightened reality and this represents the transitionary phase and the distinction between naturalism and expressionisim, a distinction best revealed through specific study of the literary works of O'Neill that contain elements of both. Whereas naturalism is a faithful and detailled representation of reality, expressionism becomes the overstated and heightened state of reality that would evoke the most poweful human response."

Tags:reality, environment, nature, characters

Abstract
This paper begins by providing an overview of the life of Eugene O'Neill and looks at the literary trends during his time. It then compares and contrasts works from his two distinct career phases, showing how when the author came out of the influence of European thinkers and writers, he managed to write some of his best plays. The plays that are compared are "The Emperor Jones" and "A Long Day's Journey into Night".

From the Paper
"In this play, the author illustrates the one man's journey into the heart of darkness where he meets his fears in form of apparition and finally comes to accept his humanity. The Emperor in this case is Jones who has been controlling an island ruthlessly; robbing the natives of their wealth and making them believe he was an invincible god-like being. When he learns of a revolt brewing, he runs into the forest and loses his way. This journey is the most important part of the play as it reveals the inner struggle that every man goes through when choosing between right and wrong, good and evil. Doris Falk explains: "The progress of Jones is progress in self understanding; it is the stripping off of the masks of self, layer by layer, just s bit by his emperor's uniform is ripped from his destiny, himself in nakedness." (67) Jones is stripped of the front that he had put on for so long. It is when that identity is gone, that Jones is forced to question and accept his own limitations. He is a human being with all the same desires, urges and fears that every man experiences and it is when he realizes how helpless he is without his fake identity that he becomes more human and humble. Expressionist plays have a different rather subjective way of dealing with real problems and issues. For example, fears in this case have been projected as apparitions or ghosts that haunt Jones and remind him of his weaknesses. "They are black, shapeless, only their glittering little eyes can be seen. If they have any describable form at all it is that of a grub worm about the size of a creeping child. They move noiselessly, but with deliberate, painful effort, striving to raise themselves on end, failing and sinking prone again." (Scene II, 28)
Some other important issues have also been raised in the play especially race and racism. Threading it with the issue of identity, the author explains that Jones' belief that he had the same powers, as a white man was a faulty one since it negated the significance of his own black race. Because he denied his race and shunned it and since he was certainly not white, the man lost his identity completely and was lurking in the dark, looking for an identity and a sense of belonging. While reminiscing about his criminal past, the protagonist thinks about Jeff, the white man he had murdered."

Tags:long, day, journey, night, emporor, jones

Abstract
This paper analyzes, compares and contrasts the theme's seen in Eugene O'Neill's "Iceman Cometh" and Richard Wright's "Native Son". The paper explains that both works contain a theme about radical politics even though the conclusions arrived at in each piece is different.

From the Paper
"O'Neill mentions The Movement very early to let readers know that this play is not only about individuals, but also political action groups, that have not successfully reached their goals in life. In act 1, Parritt says: "I hung around pool rooms and gambling joints and hooker shops, where they'd never look for a Wobblie, pretending I was a sport." Later in the same act, Harry Hope berates Slade: "Crazy is right! Yah! The old wise guy! Wise, hell! A damned old fool Anarchist I-Won't-Worker!" Later in act 1, Hope says again to Slade: "You bughouse I-Won't-Work harp, who asked you to shove in an oar?" Here again he is identifying and making fun of Slade's IWW past."

Tags:characters, failure, labor, union, socialism, failed, perfect, solution, hope, dream, past

Abstract
This paper discusses Eugene O'Neill's plays, "Long Day's Journey Into Night" and "The Iceman Cometh", in terms of their common themes dealing with how the inevitable tragedies of life can trigger self-destructive behavior in people, and whether human happiness depends on denial and consoling lies or confrontation with reality.

Abstract
The paper begins by looking at the characters who are similar to the Greek characters, but have differences as well. According to the writer, the plot differs from the Greek myth, but captures many of the same archetypal premises set forth by the story of Hippolytus and Phaedra.

From the Paper
"O'Neill's play is set in rural New England during the 1850's. The main characters are Ephraim Cabot, his son Eben Cabot, and his two brothers Simeon and Peter. The Cabots work a farm and Simeon and Peter grow wary of laboring through the stone-plodded fields of New England. Eben, the youngest of the three has vowed to himself that he will one day take back the land that once belonged to his mother, who is dead. Eben believes that his father intently overworked his mother, creating her death so he could have say so over who will be heir to the farm. When Ephraim goes out of town for a spell, Eben offers Simeon and Peter three hundred dollars a piece to leave town. The elder brothers decide to take the money and run to California to work in the gold mines. Half of Eben's equation is solved, but Ephraim returns home married for the third time to a lady named Abbie."

Tags:plot, character, theme, archetype

Abstract
This review of Eugene O'Neil's "Long Day's Journey Into Night", describes how the characters use denial as a temporary escape from their problems. Whether it be denying personal qualities, such as stinginess, a bad decision, or an unhealthy addiction, their denial only makes their problems worse. O'Neill uses the Tyrone family and their denial to show how avoiding issues is not going to solve or make them disappear. Though denial may be a temporary escape from a problem, in the long run it is futile.

From the Paper
"It is common knowledge that "The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem." Unfortunately, in Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night", many of the characters find the first step to be the hardest. Instead of facing reality, James Tyrone, Edmund, Jamie, and Mary continue to deny their problems in hopes that they will go away. Each of the characters uses denial as a temporary escape from their problems and the reality of the world rather than facing their problems and solving them."

Tags:addiction, Eugene, O'Neil, dysfuntional, families

From the Paper
"The decline of the family is a primary theme in both Eugene O'Neill's drama Long Day's Journey into Night and William Faulkner's novel The Sound and the Fury, and in each case the theme is linked to a general decline in society at large. For Faulkner, this decline is inextricably linked with the fact of slavery in the South and its aftermath, while for O'Neill the decline is bound with the failure of the Irish-Catholicism of New England. The Compson family was once a proud and patrician southern landholding family which has deteriorated now into madness, moral decay, and greed, while the Tyrone family similarly exhibits the worst of modern civilization. In both stories, money has become the new god of society, to the detriment of the ties of family.


In the beginning of Long Day's Journey into Night, we find..."

Abstract
This paper examines the relationship between Eugene O'Neill and James Tyrone, his character in the play, Long Day's Journey. It contends that there is a direct connection between O'Neill and Tyrone. It looks closely at the conflicts within the Tyrone family and within O'Neill's own family.

Abstract
In the play "A Long Day's Journey Into Night", Eugene O'Neill uses fog imagery to suggest that motivations and secret (offstage) lives of each character is partially obscured because each character refuses to really see or hear the others' stories. The paper shows that this refusal to pay attention symbolizes the repeated blame, contempt and self-deception each character practices to deny his or her own complicity in the failure of his or her dreams. Fog is an apt metaphor for this family trait because through fog one can see the general shapes or outlines of things, but the details and the substance of things is mostly hidden. In the paper, the themes of inability to empathize and blame are also explored to varying degrees in O'Neill's plays "Desire Under the Elms" and "Strange Interlude", but arguably the literary techniques employed by O'Neill in "Long Day's Journey" more effectively exploit the dramatic tension these themes create.

From the Paper
"By Act III, fog has rolled in and a foghorn sounds offstage. In response to Mary's complaint about the foghorn, Cathleen agrees that it sounds like a "banshee." (98). The Oxford English Dictionary defines a banshee is a supernatural being supposed by Irish peasantry to wail under the windows of a house where "one of the inmates is about to die." With the metaphorical equation of foghorn (which is heard off-stage) and banshee, O'Neill foreshadows the literal death by consumption of Edmund and probably of Mary's whose morphine addiction returns by the end of the day. Both of these deaths will occur offstage, somewhere outside the scope of the play."

Tags:Tyron, Ephraim