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Fatalism and Resignation
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LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Long Day’s Journey into Night, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
In Long Day’s Journey into Night, O’Neill showcases how hard people will work to avoid confronting their guilt. This dynamic is most evident in the way Mary tries to keep her family from focusing on her addiction. First and foremost, she takes attention away from her morphine habit by staunchly denying that she is headed toward yet another relapse. However, her denial isn’t enough to placate her worried family members, and so she accuses them of distrusting her. This is a way of deflecting their suspicions by forcing them to pretend—along with her—that nothing is wrong. Of course, once they begrudgingly give her their trust, she relapses. Then, once she’s high, she continues to blame them for her own shortcomings, finding it even easier to avoid taking responsibility for her actions. In fact, after she’s taken morphine, she goes even further with her guilt-tripping, ultimately accusing James—in a roundabout way—of driving her to addiction, and Jamie of killing her second-born son, who died of measles as a baby. In turn, O’Neill shows the audience the extravagant lengths people will go to in order to cope with their own sorrows without having to face their feelings of guilt and culpability—even if doing so means destroying their own familial relationships.
Because Mary has relapsed so many times, her family members pay close attention to her at the beginning of Long Day’s Journey into Night. When Edmund notices her walking around the house at night, he fears she’s reverting to her old ways, recalling that she used to get up late and go into the guestroom to inject morphine. When he confronts her about this, though, she guilt-trips him for distrusting her. “For heaven’s sake,” she replies, “haven’t I often used the spare room as my bedroom? But I see what you thought. That was when—” Feeling remorseful, Edmund interrupts, saying, “I didn’t think anything!”
Nonetheless, Mary accuses him of distrusting her, bitterly adding that it would “serve [him] right if it was true” that she was using the drug again. “Mama! Don’t say that! That’s the way you talk when—” Edmund begins, but Mary cuts him off and says, “Stop suspecting me! Please, dear! You hurt me!” It’s worth noting here that Mary hasn’t actually started using morphine yet, but her nervous behavior is a clear indication that she is nearing another relapse. Nonetheless, she hasn’t broken down, suggesting that her intense response to Edmund is an attempt to convince herself that everything is still okay. Indeed, she wants to deny the possibility of a relapse, as if she isn’t already on the cusp of succumbing to her craving.
While it’s true that Mary wants to deny the possibility of yet another relapse, it’s also evident that something else is at play in her conversation with Edmund. When she says “you hurt me,” for example, the audience gets the uneasy feeling that she’s purposefully trying to manipulate him into feeling ashamed for even suggesting she might relapse. By doing this, she slyly convinces him to ignore his misgivings. Even though it’s logical for him to suspect her of relapsing, she makes it seem as if he’s being cruel, and this keeps him from following up on his suspicion. In this way, she uses blame as a way of enabling herself to do the very thing her family is afraid she’ll do: relapse.
Knowing his mother is worried about his own illness, Edmund tries to make her promise that—if he’s diagnosed with something serious—she won’t turn to drugs as a way of coping. “Of course, I promise you. I give you my sacred word of honor!” Mary says. But then, with what O’Neill calls a “sad bitterness,” she adds, “But I suppose you’re remembering I’ve promised before on my word of honor.” Interestingly enough, Edmund vehemently denies this, saying, “No!” As such, he proves how successful Mary has been in guilt-tripping him into feeling bad about “suspecting” her. After all, Edmund surely has heard her “promise” on her “sacred word of honor” before, but he goes out of his way to make it seem like he’s not worried or suspicious. In keeping with this, when Mary says she’s going upstairs to lie down—something she used to say when she was using morphine—he gives her an “instinctive look of suspicion” before looking away “ashamed of himself” and going outside, thereby affording her a moment alone—an opportunity she takes advantage of by going upstairs and injecting morphine.
Once Mary finally relapses, she becomes less subtle about blaming her loved ones for her own hardships. In one argument, she blames her husband, James Tyrone, for turning Jamie, their eldest, into an alcoholic. “You brought him up to be a boozer. Since he first opened his eyes, he’s seen you drinking,” she says, failing to recognize that Jamie has also witnessed her own substance abuse. “When you have the poison in you, you want to blame everyone but yourself!” James replies. This is quite true, as made evident by what Mary says when discussing the death of her second-born child, Eugene, who died as a baby. Indeed, she says she should never have left the child alone with her mother, but that she did so because James invited her on the road (there is, it’s worth noting, an unspoken accusation even in this small detail). When she was gone, she upholds, Jamie went into Eugene’s room and infected him with measles—something Mary claims Jamie did on purpose. Of course, this is a ridiculous thing to say, but it indicates just how willing she is to blame her loved ones for her misfortune.
What’s more, she even manages to suggest that she never would have become addicted to morphine if James had hired a more expensive, knowledgeable doctor who—in the aftermath of Edmund’s complicated birth—would have known what to do to ease Mary’s pain without introducing her to morphine. As she spins this hypothetical scenario, the audience sees how determined she is to avoid taking responsibility for her own addiction. And though everyone in the Tyrone family denies their vices—the three men insisting they aren’t alcoholics even as they drown themselves in liquor—it’s clear Mary’s way of dealing with her problems is the most tragic, since she cruelly tries to manipulate her loved ones into shouldering the burden of her despair. In this way, O’Neill spotlights the ways in which using denial and blame to avoid guilt can ravage personal relationships.
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Denial, Blame, and Guilt ThemeTracker
The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Denial, Blame, and Guilt appears in each act of Long Day’s Journey into Night. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
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Denial, Blame, and Guilt Quotes in Long Day’s Journey into Night
Below you will find the important quotes in Long Day’s Journey into Night related to the theme of Denial, Blame, and Guilt.
Act One Quotes
What strikes one immediately is her extreme nervousness. Her hands are never still. They were once beautiful hands, with long, tapering fingers, but rheumatism has knotted the joints and warped the fingers, so that now they have an ugly crippled look. One avoids looking at them, the more so because one is conscious she is sensitive about their appearance and humiliated by her inability to control the nervousness which draws attention to them.
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This explanation of Mary appears at the beginning of the play’s first act. O’Neill makes a point of calling attention to her “nervousness,” emphasizing the extent to which she appears unsettled and agitated. Of course, the audience will later learn that some of this “nervousness” has to do with the fact that she is yearning to relapse, though she hasn’t yet succumbed to her desire to take morphine. As such, she can’t manage to keep her hands “still,” constantly fidgeting with her “warped” fingers. O’Neill goes out of his way in this moment to spotlight the harsh effect time has Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque
TYRONE
You’re a fine lunkhead! Haven’t you any sense? The one thing to avoid is saying anything that would get her more upset over Edmund.
JAMIE
Shrugging his shoulders.
All right. Have it your way. I think it’s the wrong idea to let Mama go on kidding herself. It will only make the shock worse when she has to face it. Anyway, you can see she’s deliberately fooling herself with that summer cold talk. She knows better.
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James and Jamie have this conversation after Jamie mentions in front of his mother that Edmund’s illness is most likely more serious than she thinks. When Mary leaves, James calls his son a “lunkhead” for risking “upset[ting]” Mary, who is especially sensitive about Edmund’s condition. However, Jamie disagrees with his father about the fact that they should protect Mary from bad news. “I think it’s the wrong idea to let Mama go on kidding herself,” he says, expressing his belief that denying the truth will only “make the shock worse” in the end. This idea is worth keeping in mind Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a
You’ve been the worst influence for him. He grew up admiring you as a hero! A fine example you set him! If you ever gave him advice except in the ways of rottenness, I’ve never heard of it! You made him old before his time, pumping him full of what you consider worldly wisdom, when he was too young to see that your mind was so poisoned by your own failure in life, you wanted to believe every man was a knave with his soul for sale, and every woman who wasn’t a whore was a fool!
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In this passage, James tries to blame Edmund’s disappointing life on Jamie. Claiming that Jamie led his younger brother into “rottenness,” he refuses to consider the fact that Edmund has made his own decisions. Instead, he takes out his disappointment in Edmund on Jamie, saying that he made the boy “old before his time” by showing him the “worldly wisdom” of Jamie’s own life on Broadway. Of course, this completely strips Edmund of any personal agency whatsoever, but James doesn’t care about such matters. Rather, he cares about making Jamie feel guilty for what he’s done. In turn, he creates Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusant
Yes, this time you can see how strong and sure of herself she is. She’s a different woman entirely from the other times. She has control of her nerves—or she had until Edmund got sick. Now you can feel her growing tense and frightened underneath. I wish to God we could keep the truth from her, but we can’t if he has to be sent to a sanatorium. What makes it worse is her father died of consumption. She worshiped him and she’s never forgotten. Yes, it will be hard for her. But she can do it! She has the will power now! We must help her, Jamie, in every way we can!
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James says this to Jamie in one of the play’s first straightforward conversations about Mary’s addiction. When he says, “This time you can see how strong and sure of herself she is,” the audience learns that this is not the first time she has come home after trying to recover. What’s more, James emphasizes the importance of Mary’s “nerves,” suggesting that she has “control” of them in a way she’s never had before. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily the most helpful viewpoint he could adopt as someone trying to support a loved one struggling with addiction. After all, it’s unlikely Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molest
Still […] people like them stand for something. I mean they have decent, presentable homes they don’t have to be ashamed of. They have friends who entertain them and whom they entertain. They’re not cut off from everyone.
She turns back from the window.
Not that I want anything to do with them. I’ve always hated this town and everyone in it. You know that. I never wanted to live here in the first place, but your father liked it and insisted on building this house, and I’ve had to come here every summer.
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Mary speaks these words to Edmund after looking out the window and seeing their neighbors drive by. As they pass, she considers the fact that these people have “decent, presentable homes they don’t have to be ashamed of.” In turn, she implies that this is what she wants. Going on, she speaks enviously about the fact that her neighbors have “friends who entertain them and whom they entertain,” insinuating that she herself feels a profound lack of companionship. And as if it’s not already clear that she yearns for this social lifestyle, she adds, “They’re not cut off from everyone.” Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit bea
EDMUND
Anyway, you’ve got to be fair, Mama. It may have been all his fault in the beginning, but you know that later on, even if he’d wanted to, we couldn’t have had people here—
He flounders guiltily.
I mean, you wouldn’t have wanted them.
MARY
Wincing—her lips quivering pitifully.
Don’t. I can’t bear having you remind me.
EDMUND
Don’t take it that way! Please, Mama! I’m trying to help. Because it’s bad for you to forget. The right way is to remember. So you’ll always be on your guard. You know what’s happened before.
Miserably.
God, Mama, you know I hate to remind you. I’m doing it because it’s been so wonderful having you home the way you’ve been, and it would be terrible—
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During this exchange, Edmund tries to convince his mother to consider the fact that her unhappiness and loneliness isn’t all James’s fault. She, for her part, has tried to argue that she feels isolated because her husband has never provided her with a proper, “presentable” home. However, Edmund points out that even if James had given her such a place, the family wouldn’t have been able to entertain guests because of her morphine addiction, which would have certainly rendered even the nicest house unpresentable. As soon as he says this, though, she acts hurt, telling him she “can’t bear having” Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officii
MARY
Her hands fluttering.
It makes it so much harder, living in this atmosphere of constant suspicion, knowing everyone is spying on me, and none of you believe in me, or trust me.
EDMUND
That’s crazy, Mama. We do trust you.
MARY
If there was only some place I could go to get away for a day, or even an afternoon, some woman friend I could talk to—not about anything serious, simply laugh and gossip and forget for a while—someone besides the servants—that stupid Cathleen!
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After Edmund says it’s important for his mother to “remember” her past struggles instead of denying the hardships she has undergone, Mary shames him for suspecting her of relapsing. “It makes it so much harder, living in this atmosphere of constant suspicion,” she says, making her son feel wretched for simply showing concern. By doing this, she forces Edmund to pretend that he actually trusts her, ultimately manipulating him into backing off and giving her the privacy she needs to relapse. Then, once she has gotten him to stop talking about how she must not “forget” the past, she tries Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia e
Act Two, Scene One Quotes
Because he’s always sneering at someone else, always looking for the worst weakness in everyone.
Then with a strange, abrupt change to a detached, impersonal tone.
But I suppose life has made him like that, and he can’t help it. None of us can help the things life has done to us. They’re done before you realize it, and once they’re done they make you do other things until at last everything comes between you and what you’d like to be, and you’ve lost your true self forever.
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Mary says this after Edmund asks why she’s constantly picking on Jamie. Unbeknownst to him, she has already relapsed. As such, she rambles on angrily about Jamie, lamenting the fact that “he’s always sneering at someone else, always looking for the worst weakness in everyone.” This, it seems, is a technique to shift attention away from herself so that her family members don’t notice she’s gotten high, though Jamie himself has already put this together. However, she is also quite contemplative when she’s high, which is why she suddenly shifts tones and says, “But I suppose life has made him Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti
Oh, I’m so sick and tired of pretending this is a home! You won’t help me! You won’t put yourself out the least bit! You don’t know how to act in a home! You don’t really want one! You never have wanted one—never since the day we were married! You should have remained a bachelor and lived in second-rate hotels and entertained your friends in barrooms!
She adds strangely, as if she were now talking aloud to herself rather than to Tyrone.
Then nothing would ever have happened.
They stare at her. Tyrone knows now. He suddenly looks a tired, bitterly sad old man.
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Mary says this to James, randomly exploding with a tirade about how she doesn’t see their summer house as a true “home.” Although she and her family are fully installed in the house and treat it like an actual residence, she refuses to accept the idea that it is a welcoming, accommodating place. Instead, she insists that her husband is forcing her to “pretend” that “this is a home.” Worse, she actively blames James for not wanting to “help” her. “You won’t put yourself out the least bit!” she accuses him, suggesting that he “never wanted” a home. “You should Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. L
You’re to blame, James. How could you let him? Do you want to kill him? Don’t you remember my father? He wouldn’t stop after he was stricken. He said doctors were fools! He thought, like you, that whiskey is a good tonic!
A look of terror comes into her eyes and she stammers.
But, of course, there’s no comparison at all. I don’t know why I—Forgive me for scolding you, James. One small drink won’t hurt Edmund. It might be good for him, if it gives him an appetite.
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In this passage, Mary sees that Edmund has been drinking. Scared about his health, she lashes out at James, whom she says is “to blame” for her son’s ill-advised habits. “How could you let him?” she asks. “Do you want to kill him?” Saying this, she acts like Edmund doesn’t have any personal agency, ignoring the fact that he is the one who ultimately decides whether or not he drinks. Furthermore, when she asks James if he remembers her father, she accidentally reveals that she is more worried about Edmund than she’s willing to admit. Indeed, although she claims that Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptat
Act Two, Scene Two Quotes
The family are returning from lunch as the curtain rises. Mary is the first to enter from the back parlor. Her husband follows. He is not with her as he was in the similar entrance after breakfast at the opening of Act One. He avoids touching her or looking at her. There is condemnation in his face, mingled now with the beginning of an old weary, helpless resignation. Jamie and Edmund follow their father. Jamie’s face is hard with defensive cynicism. Edmund tries to copy this defense but without success. He plainly shows he is heartsick as well as physically ill.
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This passage appears just after lunch, at the beginning of Act Two, Scene Two. By this point, all of the Tyrones know that Mary has relapsed. As such, the audience sees the various ways in which each Tyrone man has processed the bad news. James, for his part, tries to avoid “touching” or “looking” at Mary, as if refusing to acknowledge her will make the trouble disappear. “There is condemnation in his face,” O’Neill writes, “mingled now with the beginning of an old weary, helpless resignation.” It’s worth noting O’Neill’s use of the word “old” in this sentence, as it Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenet
TYRONE
You ought to be kicked out in the gutter! But if I did it, you know damned well who’d weep and plead for you, and excuse you and complain till I let you come back.
JAMIE
A spasm of pain crosses his face.
Christ, don’t I know that? No pity? I have all the pity in the world for her. I understand what a hard game to beat she’s up against— which is more than you ever have! My lingo didn’t mean I had no feeling. I was merely putting bluntly what we all know, and have to live with now, again.
Bitterly.
The cures are no damned good except for a while. The truth is there is no cure and we’ve been saps to hope—
Cynically
They never come back!
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This argument between James and Jamie takes place after Jamie speaks ill about his mother. Enraged that she has relapsed once more, he voices his disappointment without bothering to mask his contempt, which is why his father reacts so strongly. After all, James and Mary always try to act civilized, even when tensions are running high. As such, James is appalled to hear his son saying bad things about his wife, and he reminds Jamie that Mary would be the first one to “weep and plead” for him if James were to kick him out. “Christ, don’t I know that?” Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque
It was my fault. I should have insisted on staying with Eugene and not have let you persuade me to join you, just because I loved you. Above all, I shouldn’t have let you insist I have another baby to take Eugene’s place, because you thought that would make me forget his death. I knew from experience by then that children should have homes to be born in, if they are to be good children, and women need homes, if they are to be good mothers. I was afraid all the time I carried Edmund. I knew something terrible would happen. I knew I’d proved by the way I’d left Eugene that I wasn’t worthy to have another baby, and that God would punish me if I did. I never should have borne Edmund.
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Mary says this to James while talking about their shared history. High on morphine, she speaks at length about the hardships that have befallen the Tyrone family. Regarding Eugene—their second child, who died as a baby—she upholds that the boy’s death was her “fault.” However, she then tries to shift responsibility onto James by saying, “I should have insisted on staying with Eugene and not have let you persuade me to join you, just because I loved you.” By saying this, she guilt-trips James for asking her to come on the road with him (thereby forcing her to leave Eugene Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo
But some day, dear, I will find it again—some day when you’re all well, and I see you healthy and happy and successful, and I don’t have to feel guilty any more—some day when the Blessed Virgin Mary forgives me and gives me back the faith in Her love and pity I used to have in my convent days, and I can pray to Her again— when She sees no one in the world can believe in me even for a moment any more, then She will believe in me, and with Her help it will be so easy. I will hear myself scream with agony, and at the same time I will laugh because I will be so sure of myself.
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Mary says this after suggesting to Edmund that she doesn’t “understand” herself because she can “no longer call [her] soul her own.” In this moment, she suddenly becomes optimistic and says that she will someday “find” her soul again. Interestingly enough, though, she says she’ll only be able to do this when the rest of her family is “healthy and happy and successful.” Although this might seem like a kind and generous thing to say, it’s worth noting that Mary puts the onus on her family members to change, telling Edmund that she herself won’t improve until he, his father, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas de
Act Three Quotes
Mary is paler than before and her eyes shine with unnatural brilliance. The strange detachment in her manner has intensified. She has hidden deeper within herself and found refuge and release in a dream where present reality is but an appearance to be accepted and dismissed unfeelingly—even with a hard cynicism—or entirely ignored. There is at times an uncanny gay, free youthfulness in her manner, as if in spirit she were released to become again, simply and without self-consciousness, the naive, happy, chattering schoolgirl of her convent days.
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As the day wears on, Mary gets higher and higher on morphine. By the time this passage appears, it is evening, meaning that she has become even more withdrawn and strange than before. This is made evident by the fact that she is “paler,” her eyes shining with an “unnatural brilliance” that has only intensified throughout the day. Indeed, these are physical manifestations of the fact that she has “hidden deeper within herself and found refuge and release in a dream.” This, it seems, is the effect she’s after—the feeling that she has removed herself from the world. For her, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti sol
But I forgive. I always forgive you. So don’t look so guilty. I’m sorry I remembered out loud. I don’t want to be sad, or to make you sad. I want to remember only the happy part of the past.
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In this passage, Mary tells James that she will never forget all the nights he left her alone to go out drinking. She will, however, “forgive” him. “So don’t look so guilty,” she says, adding that she’s sorry she brought it up. “I want to remember only the happy part of the past,” she says. This line is a perfect summary of how she conceives of time and her personal history. Not wanting to deal with conflict or hardship, she tries to focus only on “happy” things, like when she was a young girl in the convent. This is why Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores su
Act Four Quotes
Tyrone is seated at the table. He wears his pince-nez, and is playing solitaire. He has taken off his coat and has on an old brown dressing gown. The whiskey bottle on the tray is three-quarters empty. There is a fresh full bottle on the table, which he has brought from the cellar so there will be an ample reserve at hand. He is drunk and shows it by the owlish, deliberate manner in which he peers at each card to make certain of its identity, and then plays it as if he wasn’t certain of his aim. His eyes have a misted, oily look and his mouth is slack. But despite all the whiskey in him, he has not escaped, and he looks as he appeared at the close of the preceding act, a sad, defeated old man, possessed by hopeless resignation.
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When the curtains open on the play’s fourth act, the audience beholds James as he sits at the table and drunkenly plays a game of cards against himself. O’Neill makes a point of accentuating James’s drunkenness in this moment, noting that the old man is incapable of playing cards with any kind of “certain[ty].” Interestingly enough, the fact that James is playing cards with himself at all is a perfect representation of the self-defeating habits that he and his family members indulge. Indeed, he is distraught over Mary’s relapse, but his only real response is to get drunk. As such, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possi
I suppose it’s because I feel so damned sunk. Because this time Mama had me fooled. I really believed she had it licked. She thinks I always believe the worst, but this time I believed the best.
His voice flutters.
I suppose I can’t forgive her—yet. It meant so much. I’d begun to hope, if she’d beaten the game, I could, too.
He begins to sob, and the horrible part of his weeping is that it appears sober, not the maudlin tears of drunkenness.
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Jamie says this to Edmund after having drunkenly uttered offensive things about Mary. When Edmund punches him in the face for what he’s said, Jamie admits that he was wrong to disparage their mother. “I suppose it’s because I feel so damned sunk,” he says, admitting that he allowed himself to get his hopes up about her sobriety. This is why he has so much trouble forgiving her, he says. What’s more, his feelings are extra complicated because he began to think—before Mary relapsed—that if she could quit morphine, he might be able to stop drinking. As such, he’s not Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligend
Did it on purpose to make a bum of you. Or part of me did. A big part. That part that’s been dead so long. That hates life. My putting you wise so you’d learn from my mistakes. Believed that myself at times, but it’s a fake. Made my mistakes look good. Made getting drunk romantic. Made whores fascinating vampires instead of poor, stupid, diseased slobs they really are. Made fun of work as sucker’s game. Never wanted you succeed and make me look even worse by comparison. Wanted you to fail. Always jealous of you. Mama’s baby, Papa’s pet!
He stares at Edmund with increasing enmity.
And it was your being born that started Mama on dope. I know that’s not your fault, but all the same, God damn you, I can’t help hating your guts — !
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Jamie says this to Edmund before passing out drunk in the parlor. Having prefaced this monologue by telling Edmund he needs to warn him about himself, he confesses that he has always been out to get his little brother. Indeed, he insists that he purposefully steered Edmund off-track by making his own “mistakes look good.” What’s most interesting about this moment, though, is not the idea that Jamie actually thinks this, but that he has internalized his parents’ narrative that he is a bad influence. After all, he himself has already pointed out that Edmund is “stubborn” and that the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi neces
MARY
Looking around her.
Something I need terribly. I remember when I had it I was never lonely nor afraid. I can’t have lost it forever, I would die if I thought that. Because then there would be no hope.
She moves like a sleepwalker, around the back of Jamie's chair, then forward toward left front, passing behind Edmund.
EDMUND
Turns impulsively and grabs her arm. As he pleads he has the quality of a bewilderedly hurt little boy.
Mama! It isn’t a summer cold! I’ve got consumption!
MARY
For a second he seems to have broken through to her. She trembles and her expression becomes terrified. She calls distractedly, as if giving a command to herself.
No!
And instantly she is far away again. She murmurs gently but impersonally.
You must not try to touch me. You must not try to hold me. It isn’t right, when I am hoping to be a nun.
He lets his hand drop from her arm.
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In this passage, Mary walks around the parlor while holding her wedding dress. As she “moves like a sleepwalker,” she tries to remember what she’s looking for, saying, “Something I need terribly. I remember when I had it I was never lonely nor afraid.” Once again, then, the audience sees how badly Mary wants to find something—a lifestyle, a home, a drug, anything—that will banish her loneliness. However, there is nothing in the entire world that can rid a person of loneliness, which is why she doesn’t even know what she’s looking for. Recognizing that his mother is completely removed Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Volup
