Wednesday, February 28th

Introduction to O’Neill and Long Day’s Journey Into Night; Consideration of the text, Acts 1 and 2 – characters, plot, and setting 

Assignment for Wednesday, February 28th

Read Long Day's Journey Into Night, focusing on Acts 1 and 2

(please see the "Course Materials" page for more information about the preferred edition)

Watch documentary film: American Experience: Eugene O’Neill, Directed by Ric Burns (2006) 

Available at libraries in the Minuteman Consortium, at Brandeis, and elsewhere 

Available for purchase on Amazon Prime https://www.amazon.com/American-Experience-Eugene-ONeill-Documentary/dp/B000CNEQWI/ref=tmm_dvd_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=. 

Available for rental on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=eugene+o%27neill+documentary&i=instant-video&crid=1XUNOCNXKNH5D&sprefix=eugene+O%27Neill%2Cinstant-video%2C337&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_2_14 (and included in documentary film subscription on Prime, which has a 7-day free trial)

Read "Eugene O'Neill," by Steven F. Bloom, from Twentieth-Century and Contemporary American Literature in Context, Linda De Roche, Editor, Bloomsbury, 2021

Reflection Prompts

1. What did you learn from the documentary about O'Neill that influenced your reading of Long Day's Journey Into Night?

2. O'Neill describes the setting in great detail.  How do these details affect your reading of the first two acts?

3. What plot elements are established in the first two acts? What compels you to read on?

4. What about the Tyrone family dynamics in the first two acts seems like typical family dynamics? What seems unusual? Dysfunctional?

5. With which of the four Tyrones are you most sympathetic in the first two acts? With which of them are you least sympathetic?

6. What is Cathleen's role in the first two acts? How does her character influence your impressions of the Tyrones?