Long Day's Journey into Night Symbols
O'Neill is the writer of a famous play, Long Day's Journey into Night. In this article, Long Day's Journey into Night symbols will be discussed. So, Long Day's Journey into Night main symbols are:
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1. Fog:
- Fog is a symbol of oblivion and self-deception. It represents the gradual destruction of the Tyrone family in Long Day's Journey into Night. Each character in the story has a deep connection with the prevailing outside fog.
- For example, Mary uses the word, fog, in the sense of the escape from her present reality. She wants to forget the present sorrows of her marital life. Mary feels sad for having morphine addiction, Edmund's illness plus his negative thinking, and Jamie's negative approach towards life. Also, she feels disappointed for her husband's miserliness and lack of understanding as a spouse. She only remembers her past for happiness when she was single. Besides, Mary remembers her desire of becoming a nun and a pianist. She merely feels peace in her past.
- Mary appears as a semi-mad woman during her imagination-based talking at the end of the play. The family watches her imagined talk with Therese (her fellow nun) and gets extremely tense. Mary gets insane at the rise in the density of the fog in the play.
- So, the symbol of fog represents the development of tragedy for Tyrone family.
2. Foghorn:
- Foghorn is a symbol of alarm for the peaceful minds in Long Day's Journey into Night. It is a kind of forceful voice that makes a sinner aware of his/her sins. It makes a person feel guilty for his/her misdeeds and cause the return of a person to his/her present reality of life. Unusually, Mary and Edmund are examples of hating foghorn in this play.
- Edmund says that he loves fog for it allows a person to get escape from reality at present. Also, he loves it for the oblivion which a person feels in its presence. So, Edmund wants to remain inattentive of everything in his life. In this way, the foghorn is annoying for Edmund due to its purpose of reminding faults and calling back someone to the actual world.
- Then, Mary also dislikes it and expresses her hatred for it in the play as well. She says that the foghorn is annoying for reminding one of his/her faults. Also, it is detestable for her for warning as well as calling someone back to the real world. However, she adds that it lost its power over her because it does not remind her anything now. Also, Mary says that it is just an ugly sound for her with no meaning.
- Therefore, the foghorn (an anti-fog sound) indicates the approaching tragedy for the characters in the play.
3. Religion:
- In Long Day's Journey into Night, the symbol of religion plays its role through many characters but most significantly by James Tyrone.
- James Tyrone argues with his sons on the topic of religion. He admits that he does not go to church on Sundays regularly. Further, his speaking is about his daily pleads with God as a Catholic person despite his irregular church-going activity. Then, Mr Tyrone states that he has been praying for his wife since her addiction (for the past twenty-three years). Mary is also a firm believer of God. Also, she expressed a strong desire of becoming a nun since her school days. Mrs Tyrone mentions the name of Virgin Mary a lot in the play. Her prominent devotion appears when she talks in her semi-mad appearance to her imagined fellow nun (Therese) about that past peace after her prayer to Virgin Mary in some shrine.
- Besides, Jamie and Edmund behave as atheists (disbelievers of God). They are the symbols of atheism. Still, they use the words of God and St. Peter in their oft-quoted oaths.
- So, the characters show their differences regarding religious behaviour within the story.
4. Poison:
In Long Day's Journey into Night, the symbol, poison, indicates the unique negativity of some characters. Mr James Tyrone uses the word, poison, most of the time. For example, he accuses his wife that she always blames others except herself when she takes that poison (drug) in her body. Also, he tells Edmund that Jamie would poison Edmund's life by using his damned, ironic, and toxic snake's tongue. Mary Tyrone also uses this symbol but only for Jamie. She says that Jamie uses a poisonous tongue when he is drunk. So, the symbol of poison shows extreme negative aspects of some characters in this play.
Conclusion:
In short, fog, foghorn, poison, and religion are main Long Day's Journey into Night symbols that represent the tragic conditions of Tyrone family in an impressive way.