Long Day's Journey Into Night

James Tyrone is a representation of O’Neill’s father, James O’Neill, who, like Tyrone, was a successful actor in the late 19th century. However, he purchased the rights to a play, in which he starred, and sacrificed his artistic integrity and ability to make a large profit from continued performances. He earned the praise of other notable actors of his time, like Edwin Booth, but now he does not seem to have the skill needed to retain the spotlight in his industry. His most notable traits are frugality and addiction to alcohol, as he drinks heavily in the second half of the play while consistently ranting about the costs of various goods and utilities. Edmund reveals that Tyrone owns about $250,000 worth of property, though Tyrone claims this is all mortgaged property, meaning he owes quite a bit of money considering that the play takes place in 1912. This shows that Tyrone likes to present an outwardly successful façade to acquaintances while he leaves his family struggling at home.

With Mary, he notes that he purchased her a car, but Edmund and Mary both explain that physical goods cannot make up for the home and lifestyle that Tyrone has failed to provide for his family. Tyrone’s intentions are good, but he fails to understand the needs of his wife and children, frequently blaming them for not taking care of their issues of isolation and anxiety themselves. His role in the play is stoic, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge or handle the problems that he has caused over the years, while simultaneously professing, in brief moments, his love for his family. Tyrone’s drinking habit is clearly a mechanism designed to distract him from these problems, as he drinks most frequently when he is addressing Mary and Jamie’s addiction and Edmund’s illness.

Mary is a representation of O’Neill’s mother, Mary Ellen Quinlan, who married James Tyrone in the late 19th century during his time as a prominent actor. She attended a religious school, and she planned to become a nun and a pianist before meeting and marrying Tyrone. For most of their marriage, she traveled with Tyrone as he toured as an actor, and her second child, Eugene, died of the measles, which he caught from Mary’s first child, Jamie, during one such tour. As a result, Mary blames Tyrone and Jamie for Eugene’s death, and she questions whether she should have had another child. After Edmund’s birth, Mary was prescribed morphine as a painkiller, and she developed an addiction. Though she has been hospitalized for this addiction multiple times, and she has just returned from one such hospitalization when the play begins, she is relapsing over the course of the play.

Mary functions as an embodiment of the family’s struggle, as she is tormented by her decisions in life. Her regret over marrying Tyrone suggests that she would prefer to go back in time and choose not to marry or have children. This desire is unsettling for her husband and children, but it is the product of years of neglect, as Mary complains frequently of loneliness. Her character is reminiscent of Minnie Wright in Susan Glaspell’s Trifles, a play published in 1916, in which Minnie laments how she can no longer sing because of her oppressive husband. Instead of Tyrone being oppressive, Mary instead laments her inability to play the piano due to rheumatism in her fingers, which causes the joints to swell and deform. Like Minnie, Mary perceives her marriage as the cause of her loss of music, which is a key reason for her regret over her marriage. Had she not married, Mary could have enjoyed playing the piano for longer without the constant disruption of living on tour with Tyrone.