text: Eugene O'Neill's play "Long Day's Journey Into Night" is a Pulitzer award winning, autobiographical play about his family. I must admit that though Eugene O'Neill is considered by some to be the father of American Theater, I did not enjoy reading this play. The Tyrone family's insane dysfunction with their constant bickering and apologizing was very annoying and frustrating to read. I also disliked the fact that after four acts of continuous yelling and tension O'Neill offered no conclusion. The day in the life of the Tyrone family gets progressively worse until it finally peaks and the play just ends. No happy ending, no hope for the future, just despair. "Long Day's Journey Into Night" is a wholly depressing read that I really could have done without. However, after learning more about Eugene O'Neill's background, and the extent to which the play is based on his life, I began to have a greater appreciation for this play. O'Neill did lead a very hard life, therefore the frustration and despair I felt while reading this play demonstrates O'Neill's talent to engage his audience and to convey the emotions of the characters in a very real manner. While O'Neill's depressing end did not satisfy my craving for a happy ending, it was appropriate for the play as Eugene's own family never got a happy ending. I did like the clever way O'Neill showed the Tyrone family's desire but inability to forget their troubles through the dialogue. At the beginning of the play the audience is presented with a normal, loving family. The audience soon however, gets the suspicion that something isn't quite right, and that the family is tense. Slowly the family's skeletons are exposed through arguments between the family members, but the characters always feel regretful for bringing the subject up. Thus showing that no matter how hard the Tyrone family tries to pretend that all is well, their skeletons are always with them and resurface to continually remind them of the truth. Although I still believe "Long Day's Journey Into Night" to be thoroughly disheartening to read, the reader's emotional response to this play leaves no doubt to O'Neill's exceptional writing. 
  