Long Day's Journey Into Night

Act III explores Mary’s situation more fully, explaining elements of her and Tyrone’s past that explain the present. This explanation is driven by Mary’s morphine use, as the play makes it clear that Mary becomes nostalgic while under the influence of the drug, leading her to delve into her childhood, education, marriage, and the development of her current family. The rest of the family escape into alcohol and avoid confrontations, with the exception of Edmund’s admission in this Act to his tuberculosis. Mary’s openness and reflection while under the influence show a combination of The Importance of Love and Support, Deflection and the Challenge of Confronting Problems, and Inebriation as a Form of Escape and Denial.

As a child, Mary implies that her father spoiled her, meaning he bought her whatever she wanted and usually focused on purchasing quality items. Mary’s mother claimed that Mary’s father did not prepare her for marriage, saying, “She’ll expect her husband to give her the moon. She’ll never make a good wife” (106). Though Mary does complain about Tyrone’s frugality, it does not seem that it is a major factor in the relationship. More so, Tyrone’s specific unwillingness to pay for a good doctor for Mary after giving birth to Edmund began a sore spot for Mary’s perception of Tyrone. It is likely that Tyrone’s frugality, such as buying the car secondhand and employing men like Dr. Hardy and Smythe, are just a few of the many things Mary has “forgiven” over their 36-year marriage. Mary clings to the fact that Tyrone has never committed adultery, which is the bare minimum expectation of any monogamous relationship, noting, “[T]here has never been a breath of scandal about him. I mean, with any other woman” (97). However, the fact that Mary needs to specify that there have not been any scandals with other women implies that there have been scandals that did not involve adultery. Her stories of how Tyrone would stay out late drinking with his friends and arrive home incapacitated carry with them the likelihood that Tyrone developed a reputation for his drinking, which is a scandal of itself.

An interesting element of this act is the comparison between addiction to alcohol and morphine addiction. Though each of these conditions is a chemical and psychological dependence on an intoxicating substance, regular consumption of alcohol is considered normal in the play, and, in Cathleen’s words, even beneficial in comparison to abstinence. When Cathleen notes that she would prefer a “trauneen” (a person who misuses alcohol) to a “teetotaler” (a person who abstains from alcohol), it is implied that she is speaking a norm of the time. Tyrone insists that most people who drink heavily can drink heavily without inviting undue concern or scorn from family and friends, but Mary’s memories of Tyrone coming home drunk, as well as Tyrone’s discovery that Jamie has tried to break into the cellar to get more alcohol, imply that the men in this family rely on alcohol for more than lighthearted social lubrication. The entire family misuses some substance, but Mary’s addiction is the only one that attracts attention and concern from the whole family. Even Jamie’s acknowledged misuse of alcohol is mentioned more as a passing shame than a major issue, whereas Mary’s morphine addiction involves and worries every member of the family.

Nearing the end of the Act, Mary contemplates suicide again, as she did during her withdrawals prior to the events of the play, saying to herself, “I hope, sometime, without meaning it, I will take an overdose” (113). This suicidal ideation cements the seriousness of Mary’s depression and anxiety, as well as the more concerning nature of her addiction. Though the men drink to an excess, they never express a desire to escape from their lives to the point of suicide, while Mary does. Nonetheless, the comment Mary makes before contemplating suicide is “I must go upstairs. I haven’t taken enough” (113), which mirrors Jamie and Edmund’s desire for a second drink before lunch, as well as Tyrone’s insistence on heavy drinking after his conversations with Mary. In each case, the person in question identifies the purpose of the substance use as a means of diverting them from the concerns with which they need to grapple.

One aspect of Mary’s approach to her family members that is purposefully contradictory is her desire to be alone as opposed to her desperate need for company. Though she comments to Cathleen on fog, “It hides you from the world and the world from you. You feel that everything has changed, and nothing is what it seemed to be. No one can find or touch you anymore” (90), she is referring more to the fog created in her mind by the morphine. The dulling of her senses that she gets from painkillers effectively hides “the world” from her, and her frustration is that it does not, like fog, hide her from the world. Her desire for everything to change and for no one to touch her reflects her current situation with her family, in which she is perpetually under surveillance as the men try to gauge how far her addiction has progressed.

The issue within this metaphor is Mary’s understanding of what is needed to recover from her addiction. As in reality, addiction is best addressed with the support of a community, and Mary is desperate for that sense of community. Even by bringing Cathleen with her to town, then having drinks with her, shows that Mary wants to reach out and connect with those around her to dampen her desire for the “fog” of the morphine. However, after Mary goes on a tangent about Tyrone, lamenting the past and overstepping the friendly conversation she is having with Cathleen, Cathleen predictably asks to leave. Mary is caught in a vicious cycle in which she feels alone and needs morphine to dull her sadness, but, once she takes morphine, she cannot sustain a connection with those around her because she slips into nostalgic daydreaming. Her family, like Cathleen, is made uncomfortable by this behavior, and Mary is left alone again.