The Key Character Mary Tyrone in Long Days Journey into Night by Eugene O´Neill

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Families are complex and complicated things. They can function as individuals or come together to function as one entity. There is always at least one person in a family that is the glue of the family, what causes it to function properly or improperly in some cases. In the case of Long Day’s Journey into Night written by Eugene O’Neill, it is Mary Tyrone that is the proverbial family glue that causes the family problems through and through. Since Mary blames everyone but herself, that seems to point out that perhaps she herself is the one to blame for the issues. All four of the major characters in the play, the Tyrone family, have their individual issues of alcoholism, illness and addiction that affect the family as a whole. Overall, it is Mary and her issues that bring the family together while tearing it apart at the same time, making her the central character. This also makes the chiefly to blame for the family woes. At one point in the play, Mary defends her actions by claiming that nothing can change the course of things that are meant to happen in life, that a person has no control over their fate. That is untrue. People inherently have choices to make that guide them through their lives, which can be influenced by outside people and decisions, but there is never a chance to not choose where you will go. Ultimately, each person has to make a choice to move forward in their life, and sometimes there is never a good choice, just a less bad one to make. A situation is reached because of one’s previous choices, not because one’s fate is resolute and already decided how you end up. That is decided by the route the individual chooses to take. There is always a choice. Mary is the central character in the play, if for no other ... ... middle of paper ... ...self now. Mary claims multiple times throughout the play that no one can help what life has done to them. Earlier in this paper, presented is the idea that her view is incorrect because every person has a choice. If one believes Mary’s view, than the play is in sense fatalistic because all of the characters (except Edmund) are stuck and are unable to break free of the habits that they develop due to heredity and environment. But if one believes that it is the choices a person makes and not fate, than there is not a fatalistic viewpoint on the play. Overall, Mary Tyrone is the central character in Long Day’s Journey into Night written by Eugene O’Neill. It is through her blaming everyone else that the reader can come to the conclusion that Mary herself is to blame for the family’s woe’s. And through not believing Mary’s view of fate, the play cannot be fatalistic.

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