O’neill’s Traumatic Memories And Tragic Outlook On Life In Long Day’s Journey Into Night

As a perfect representative of American drama in the20thcentury, Eugene GladstoneO’Neill (1888-1953) is a great tragic writer. He wrote more than50plays in thirty years from1913to1943. He won the Pulitzer Prize for four times and remained the only playwright inAmerica who won the Nobel Prize for Literature. All the50plays are tragedies except Ah,Wilderness. O’Neill’s creation source mainly comes from the miserable family life in hischildhood and personal life experience during his adulthood. Each tragedy is permeated withO’Neill’s unique understanding of the life, social reality, religious belief and the relationshipbetween Man and God. O’Neill’s later writings are especially deserved to be mentioned, inwhich he abreacts his inner sadness by means of playwriting. During the later period, O’Neill’splays are concerned with intricate family relationships, his mourning on the past and death.Drama brings psychological solace and peace for O’Neill.The autobiographical play Long Day’s Journey into Night is written in tears and blood. Itis O’Neill’s remembrance and understanding of his family and relatives. This play is aboutO’Neill’s family members whose experience winds him like a nightmare including father’sstinginess, mother’s morphine addiction, and elder brother’s cynicism. O’Neill chooses theform of reminiscence to vent the trauma hidden in his heart such as unhappy childhoodexperience, unharmonious family relationship and extreme sorrow of losing relatives. Besides,as an Irish descendant, O’Neill describes the image of Irish people and the economic, culturaland religious conflicts they suffer. The national collective trauma also exerts a profoundinfluence on O’Neill’s writing and his life philosophy. He will continuously seek the sense ofbelonging for his tragic life as his ancestors. Bitter memories about the nation and his familymake O’Neill so heartrending that only writing can relieve inner anxiety and discomfort.Although torturous life experience leaves O’Neill enduring memories, his hidden determinationto make life meaningful can clearly be seen. But his understanding of life is mainly tragic.O’Neill develops a tragic view of life during his journey to find the true meaning of life, whichhas a close relation with his traumatic experience. His tragic outlook on life mainly includestwo aspect: mysterious power behind life; the binary oppositions between love and hate, pastand present, illusion and reality.Although there have been many monographs and essays discussing about O’Neill’s stageperformance and plays, his traumatic experience is often overlooked. This thesis aims toexplore the origin of O’Neill’s tragic outlook on life from the perspective of traumatic memory.Through the analysis of O’Neill’s memories about his family trauma, collective trauma, thesource of trauma, and the application of symbolic images, the author will interpret this autobiographical play from a new perspective. Tragic life of the four family members isendowed with another kind of meaning: tragedy breeds hope and persistence; dream providesthe confidence for survival in despair. This thesis is designed to reveal the influence oftraumatic memories on O’Neill’s life view. Meanwhile, it is also warning people to deal withadversity bravely and seek psychic dependence for our heart in despair.