Illnesses In Modern Western Society

Eugene O’Neill is the greatest American dramatist. Long Day’s Journey into Night ishis autobiographical work, once regarded as "the best American tragedy". Through thedetailed description of a series of events which occurred from morning till midnight inthe Tyrones, the play reflects the successive circular relationship of love and hate,blame and understanding, blame and forgiveness in this ordinary but specialmiddle-class family and it shows the hopelessness of life and tragedy of the characters.Illness often comes in the form of metaphor. American author and critic Susan Sontagpointed out in Illness as Metaphor: The metaphor and myths of illness can killpeople(Sontag98). Illness itself tortures mind and body, the symbolic meaning thatmetaphor adheres to illness gives more pressure.Though there are lots of studies of Long Day, there are few articles which analyzethis play from the perspective of illness as metaphor. This thesis is aimed to analyze theillness metaphors in this play with the method of close reading, and show the influenceof illness as metaphor upon the characterization. Concerning the analysis of characterswith illness, this thesis is aimed to explore three kinds of illnesses. One is Edmond’stuberculosis; his disease is symbolic of the quality for the poet or the artist as well as anillness caused by the repressed passion. Another is Mary’s mental illness; her illness canbe a symbol of the loss of a sense of belonging and the loss of hope in life. The last oneis little Jamie’s measles, his disease is symbolic of the fear of life and the ugliness ofhuman nature. Concerning the influence of disease as metaphor upon thecharacterization of other characters in this play, this thesis discusses three people as thefollowing: cynical adult son Jamie, miserly and irresponsible father Tyrone and theindifferent doctors.The causes of the illnesses of the characters in the play can be traced down to somefundamental roots. Through the above analysis, it is also revealed in money-oriented capitalist society the pursuit of profits is the goal of life for some people. The oncecherished things and feelings are lost and there is no true love even in the family. Theillnesses in the Tyrone’s family are actually symbolic of the diseases of the society andof the capitalist system which have a lot of problems with no solutions. Besides, theunperfected social welfare state is also the root of the family trouble. As a result, peoplelike the Tyrone’s worry about their survival in this society.