An Analysis Of The Characters’ Need Dilemma In Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953) is regarded as the father of modern American drama. He is the only American playwright who ever won the Nobel Prize for Literature, occupying a unique place in the American theater. Long Day’s Journey into Night is the representative work of Eugene O’Neill, winning the Pulitzer Prize after his death. Long Day’s Journey into Night is regarded as Eugene O "Neill’s most successful drama, which describes a day of the Tyrones at their villa in the summer day. Everything happened on this day makes them feel miserable and helpless. This drama’s plots are simple and there are a great number of language descriptions and action descriptions, which vividly demonstrate the relationship between the characters and their personalities. This drama focuses on the life of every family member and through the pains they suffered1 shows the family tragedy as well as the contradictions and confusions of their demand level. Based on the contradictions of the demand level between the characters and the confusion in their demand hierarchy in the drama, this paper demonstrates the existence of different levels of different people and the need of guidance of the demand levels, expressing the author’s hope in modern life and communication:under the guide of the demand theory, people can conduct a comprehensive study of one’s need and find out a way which can reach a person’s overall development and interpersonal harmony.This article can be divided into three parts:introduction, the main body and conclusion.The first part is the introduction which gives a brief description of Eugene O’Neill’s life, the content of his play Long Day’s Journey into Night and the criticism at home and overseas. Previous study generally focuses on feminism, religious doctrine, symbolism and Freud’s psychoanalysis. However, this paper is from a new perspective, namely, Maslow’s hierarchy theory and motivation theories to analyze the characters’psychology and their present situations, which highlights the necessity to understand people’s need level and the appropriate guide of a person’s need level. The ultimate goal of this paper is to achieve a person’s full-round development and the harmony of the world.The second part is the main body of this paper, which consists of five chapters.The first chapter introduces Maslow’s theory of motivation and hierarchy of needs. Under the guidance of Maslow’s theory of motivation, the hierarchy of needs and self-realization, the paper analyses the roots of the contradictions between the characters and the contradictions in their own. The self-realization theory sets a good end for the character’s self-development.The second chapter analyses the confusions of the need hierarchy of the characters and family influences character’s needs hierarchy and personalities in Long Day’s Journey into Night. This chapter illustrates the miserable lives of Tyrone’s families, because their needs are not satisfied, which reflects that the childhood experiences have great influence on people’s outlook on life, family and their need hierarchy. This chapter also analyses the inner confusion of character’s need hierarchy and the contrast of the need hierarchy between the characters, to be specific, the need level’s stagnation of them, the contradiction of the need hierarchy between the husband and the wife and the confusions of the families. Under the guidance of Maslow’s need hierarchy theory, the paper analyses the effects of the need hierarchy on human cognition, their mental development and personal relationship.The third chapter discusses the social economic environment and public opinion environment, highlighting social influences on people’s hierarchy of needs, which emphasizes the society’s important role to people’s needs, personality and mental health. This chapter discusses the responsibility of the society, i.e. guarantees the basic needs of people and guides the values of its members.The fourth chapter discusses the way out of the dilemma and confusion. This chapter discusses the realistic significance of the drama Long Day’s Journey into Night and puts forward a solution to solve the characters’ problems. Namely, with the theory of Maslow’s need hierarchy, the paper analyses the need dilemma of the characters and the solutions to their problems, emphasizing that people should try to get to the highest need level of human, i.e. the overall self-development. Only by realizing that can Mary, Tyrone and their sons reach a harmonious development.The third part is the conclusion summing up the main ideas of the paper, highlighting the importance of the psychological analysis of literary characters, the guiding role of hierarchy of need to the physical and psychological development of humans and the need of adapting consciously to the society. In addition, the paper puts forward the highest need of self- realization, which helps people to achieve full-round development and the harmony of the world.