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Symbolism is used throughout O+Neill+s Long Day+s Journey into Night, a portrayal of the author+s life. The three prominent symbols, the fog, the foghorn, and Mary+s glasses, represent the characters+ isolation from reality. The symbols in |Long Day+s Journey into Night X are used to substitute illusion for reality. Although Mary is the character directly associated with living in illusion, all characters in the play try to hide from the truth in their own ways. At the beginning of the second act, ONeill notes a change in setting which has taken place since the play opened. No sunlight comes into the room now and there is a faint haziness in the air.
This haziness or fog obscures one+s perception of the world, and it parallels the attempts of each member of the family to obscure or hide reality. Tyrone, for example, drinks whiskey to escape his son+s criticism of how cheap he is. The reference to fog always has a double meaning in this play, referring both to the atmosphere and to the family. Much of the activity carried on by the Tyrone family is under-handed and sneaky, they are always attempting to put something over on somebody and obscure the truth. This brings us to the second symbol, the foghorn. Mary says she loves the fog because it hides you from the world and the world from you, but she hates the foghorns because they warn you and call you back X.
This escape is similiar to the morphine she takes, and the foghorns are the family+s warnings against her addictions. When they discuss the mother, Edmund resents Jamie's hinting that she might have gone back to her old habit; and Jamie is angry with Edmund for not staying with her all morning. Although they both think that she has started using dope again, they dont want to have to admit it. Because the men in the family all try so hard to deny the truth and to blame each other or the mother for her affliction, it appears that they all feel some guilt and some responsibility for what has happened to her, and to themselves.
Even when confronted with the truth (that the mother is using drugs), they all still try to act as if everything were all right, to deny the reality and live in illusion. Mary+s glasses symbolize her inability to see things clearly. She frequently misplaces them, and really doesn+t want to find them because that would force her to face reality, which she desperately tries to hide from. Hearing the mother moving around upstairs, Tyrone tells Edmund he shouldnt pay too much attention to her tales of the past. The father says, Remember shes not responsible, and Edmund replies that it was the fathers stinginess thats responsible. When Tyrone tells Edmund to take the mothers comments about the past with a grain of salt, we see an example of how two people can look at the same thing but see the thing very differently.
The mother considered her former home wonderful, her father noble, her convent days the happiest, her piano playing outstanding, her desire to be a nun sincere. But the father says that she was mistaken, that she didnt see things as they really were. ONeill probably felt that these memories were the illusion the mother needed to make reality tolerable; as she remarked earlier, her medicine kills the pain so she can go back to the past when she was really happy. These symbols in this play were very effective; providing the hazy atmosphere and confusion, or the obscured reality. They were integral parts of the play, because they were the root of the family+s conflict and confusion.
ONeill rarely misses an opportunity to show in the conversation and action of the Tyrone family the conflict which each feels internally regarding the others. It appears that none of them can do or say anything without hurting the others; usually on purpose Death of A Salesman Many symbols are incorporated into the play Death of a Sales man and they in turn relate to both character and theme. The hose, tape recorder and th e seeds are some of these symbols. The hose in Millers drama directly relates to the theme of d each. The hose is a line attached to the gas main in Willys house which allows him to said f the gas. This action can be seen as Willys suicide wish, and escape from the realities of life.
As seen in the loss of his job and his failure to succeed. The hose also represents grief and deception. For when Linda, Willys wife, finds the hose, she is distraught over its in tended purpose. The deceptive nature of the hose is apparent when Willy is confronted about it by Biff his son and Willy denies its existence. A similar denial is also evident when Willy is confronted with the tape recorder in Howards office.
The tape recorder signifies the change in Willys life through h the advancement of technology. It also represents the end of Willys career. This is brought about when Howard, Willys boss and godson, shows the tape recorder to Willy and are ars to be more interested in the sound and technology of the machine instead of Willy, who i s fighting for his job. Howard no longer need s Willys services and without concern fires him. This, to Willy, was like, eating the orange and throwing away the peel.
However, Willy is partly to blame, as he does not accept change and wants to remain in the pas t. This is foreshadowed in the scene where Willy is left alone with the tape recorder and is unable to shut it off. Willy believes in using his old techniques and style to succeed. N evertheless, in hi job, it is not what you know, but it is who you know. Willy is not up to date with the business nor technology. Yet, Willy still has hope, and wishes to leave some fo rm of support behind for his family as illustrated in his planting of the seeds.
Willy feels that he must leave something behind something for Biff. In Willys imaginary world he wants Biff to be magnificent and he symbolic all y plants seeds in his garden. In spite of such an action he is doomed to fail. Willy sta rts planting the seeds at night, but at night there is no sun shining and this seems very od d as seeds require light to grow.
What else is strange is the fact that Willys house is boxed in between large apartment buildings and is covered by the shadows cast by them. It is even t that no light will fall on Willys garden. Willys attempt to plant and grow seeds is futile, but he persist in his attempt to seek reconciliation and forgiveness. Thus the hose, tape record er and the seeds are all symbolic of Willys dreams gone sour, and his inability to live in the present.
His death is inevitable and is mirrored by his life.
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Research essay sample on Journey Into Night Tape Recorder
