Long Day’s Journey into Night
by Eugene O’Neill

Long Day’s Journey into Night: Flashbacks 1 key example

Key Examples in Long Day’s Journey into Night

Act Three
Explanation and Analysis—A Musician's Hands:

In Act 3, Cathleen prods a delirious Mary, asking questions about her past. In a long and beautiful monologue, Mary describes her hands by flashing back to her childhood in the convent:

They were a musician's hands. I used to love the piano. I worked so hard at my music in the convent—if you can call it work when you do something you love. Mother Elizabeth and my music teacher both said I had more talent than any student they remembered. My father paid for special lessons. He spoiled me. He would do anything I asked. He would have sent me to Europe to study after I graduated from the Convent. I might have gone—if I hadn't fallen in love with Mr. Tyrone. Or I might have become a nun. I had two dreams. To be a nun, that was the more beautiful one. To become a concert pianist, that was the other.