Eugene O'neill's Long day's journey into night analysis Essay

Eugene O'neill's Long day's journey into night analysis - Essay Example The play mostly consists of painful admissions and bitter exchanges amongst the family until problems after problems pile together and the family gets engulfed in complete despair. It is said that O’Neill based the characters off himself, his older sibling and both their parents. James Tyrone Sr. was born in Ireland but his family migrated to the United States of America when he was just eight years old. Two years later, his father abandoned the family and went back to Ireland where he died with rat poison in his system. It was thought to be suicide but James remained adamant that it was not. Being fatherless forced him to get employed so he could support himself, which led to him having a strong work ethic. Also, having to work for money led him to having a great appreciation to it, almost going overboard and turning miserly. He does not seem to have any worries in his life but his greatest fear is losing all his money and ending up in a poorhouse. The play proves this by showing him to be dressed in shabby clothes as he seems to wear the clothes till they are worn out and cannot be used any further. He was a famous actor during his youth when he toured the United States of America with Mary. But playing the same character repeatedly let him to being unable to develop further as an actor and he was not able to go higher in the acting industry much to his everlasting regret. However, despite being sixty five years old, he has managed to retain his good looks and even looks younger than his age. Despite no longer being an actor, his mannerisms are those similar to one but that does not make him pretentions or even temperamental. This is because of â€Å"his humble beginnings and Irish farmer forbears† (ONeill 2). He is a healthy man in spite of smoking cigars and being a perpetual alcoholic. Mary is fifty four years old but, despite the age, still remains pretty. She loves her husband James