Long Day’s Journey into the Night Introduction Long Day’s Journey into the Night is a descriptive play about a dysfunctional family in the year 1912 August in Connecticut. This story is a rough depiction of the author’s family history. The main characters in the play are James Tyrone and Mary who are the parents of two middle-aged men Edmund, the eldest son and Jamie. In the novel, Mary who is a long time addict finally returns home from treatment. Mary has been a morphine addict since the birth of his first son Edmund deteriorating her health. The state of her marriage with Tyron doesn't seem to help either due to their financial hardships and his somewhat stingy behavior. Long Day’s Journey is an American literary text that is of great importance in the greater understanding of drug addiction and the effects it has on the family and society as well as the events that took place in 1912. Discussion The family structures in America are evolving from the traditional nuclear family to more complex families that include multigenerational and extended families. The effects of drug abuse have its toll on all family members at the financial, psychological and physical level (Lander, Hawsare, Bryne). At the individual level, there is the loss of dreams and ambitions. As seen in the text, Edmund finds Tyrone home playing solitaire (O’Neill 109). They converse and argue about their dreams and pasts. Jamie then comes home drunk and gets a blow from Edmund for mouthing off their mother. He also admits that he has not been the best son or brother due to his jealousy and that he presents his own life. Edmund later gives him another blow for taking a crack at his mother who was carrying her wedding dress oblivious of the people watching her confessing that her marriage to Tyrone James was happy for a time. This above text example highlights various facts about how the individual is affected in the family. To begin with, Edmund and Tyrone show how they have lost some of their dreams from the past due to the inability to actualize their plans. Additionally, as children in the family, they have lost their virtues. Jamie admits that he has not been the best son and brother and has been even bad mouthing their mother. These moral degradation examples are another effect that drug addiction has on families. There is a heavy toll that drug addiction has on the family finances. In the text, we see Edmund and Jamie always complaining about the electricity bill and having to pay the bills (O'Neill 109). This is a pointer at the financial difficulty that the family goes through. Yet despite the complaining about electricity bills, Jamie is seen having a bottle of whiskey and more in the reserve while their mother also has a reserve of her own morphine shots in the room. Edmund is also unable to afford medication for tuberculosis. Edmund had been coughing violently for a while and everyone suspected it was tuberculosis. Even though the disease was curable at that time, this would mean that he would go to the sanitarium which was way out of their budget (O’Neill 103). Psychologically, there is depression and suicidal thoughts that come with drug addiction. This is a link that is strongly associated with drug abuse (Dragisic, Dickov, Dickov, Mijatovic). We can see Mary numerously wishing for death and at one point hopes that she will overdose unknowingly since she cannot consciously bring herself to overdose (O’Neill 105). Additionally, there are constant arguments always between family members which makes the home unfit for living in. Addiction also makes family members selfish. Mary takes time to treat Cathleen so that she can help her get her morphine dosage. Mary "bribes" and convinces Cathleen into taking her to the store to get her alleged prescribed dosage of morphine (O’Neill 101). Later on, she engages her in a conversation about her childhood. This reveals a lot of regrets that surrounds addiction. Mary mentions how she lost her father to tuberculosis and feels miserable for getting married to Tyrone instead of becoming a nun. Tyrone is an alcoholic and through his years of abuse the children, Jamie and Edmund, have also grown to become alcoholics. The use of drugs and alcohol leads to the children in a family performing poorly in school. Jamie is seen as the star of the family. The parents, Mary and Tyrone, have lots of hope in him and the teachers praise him for the fine brain he has. Unfortunately, Jamie begins drinking alcohol while in school which prompts the teachers to expel him (O'Neill ). The teachers are saddened that they had to expel him and mention that he has a bright future if only he takes life seriously. This loss of education later in the play leads to Jamie and Edmund discussing their dreams and their lost past. This shows how drug addiction leads to regret and poor school performance for the children. As a piece of historical preservation of devastating effects, the Long Day’s Journey into the Night highlights the plague of tuberculosis that affected America immensely in the late 19th and early part of the 20th century. The early 19th century was a breakthrough year as a cure for tuberculosis was discovered and this made the disease curable therefore saving many lives (Murray, Schraufnagel, Hopewell 1750). Before the discovery of a cure, nearly 110,000 people died every year in America due to tuberculosis. As seen in the text, Mary's father died due to tuberculosis which did not have a cure at the time of his death. Additionally, the play is based around 1912, we can see Edmund is also suffering from the same condition to show how the disease was a serious menace during the period. On the other hand, one can argue that the text is not important as an American literary text since it does not highlight the positive aspects and children can also get spoilt despite good parental behavior. For instance, Mary lived a comfortable life where her father always provided her with everything she ever wished for. Her mother, on the other hand, was pious and very conservative. None of them were addicts yet Mary ended up being a mess of a mother (O'Neill 99). Therefore, poor children and the family outcome cannot be emphasized on drug addiction but rather chance and as such the text does not highlight a serious problem. This counterargument is true that drug addiction is not the only aspect that leads to poor family outcomes. However, based on recent statistics, drug addiction is leading to increasing costs to the American people. In 2017, drug and alcohol abuse cost America about $740 billion due to crime-related activities, lost productivity and increased the cost of health care (National Institute on Drug Abuse). Additionally, there are about 8.7 million children in America who live in households that have at least one parent who is addicted to drug or alcohol abuse (Lipari and Van Horn). In 2017, there were 70,237 deaths that resulted from drug and alcohol abuse overdose (National Center for Health Statistics). These statistics reveal a burgeoning issue in American society that has to be handled with care. There may be more reasons and other factors that lead to poor family outcomes but drug and alcohol addiction is a factor that can easily be identified and appropriate strategies put in place to mitigate the issue. Conclusion In conclusion, it is evident that disagreements in a family have very severe consequences to all the members of the family. In the text, Mary was an addict due to her unhappy marriage, Tyrone was an alcohol addict due to his miserable state at work while Jamie and Edmund had disagreements due to taking sides of parental favor and also neglect from the parents. Thus these vital issues as well brought out should be the first to be addressed by the society to bring up good, happy, healthy, discipline and mentally stable children. Despite there being other factors that can lead to poor family outcomes drug and alcohol addiction is a factor that can be dealt with easily since it can be identified directly and the effects are widely documented and there are various intervention strategies that have been developed over time. Works Cited Dragisic, Tatjana, Dickov Aleksandra, Dickov Veselin, Mijatovic Vesna. Drug Addiction as Risk for Suicide Attempts. Materia Socio-Medica: 27(3): 188–191. Web. 2015. Retrieved from doi: 10.5455/msm.2015.27.188-191 Lander, Laura, Hawsare Janie, Bryne Marilyne. The Impact of Substance Use Disorders on Families and Children: From Theory to Practice. Social Work in Public Health: 28(0): 194–205. Web. 2013. Retrieved from doi: 10.1080/19371918.2013.759005 Lipari, Rachel, Van Horn Struther. Children Living with Parents Who Have a Substance Use Disorder. 2017. Retrieved from https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/report_3223/ShortReport-3223.html Murray, John, Schraufnagel Dean, Hopewell Philip. Treatment of Tuberculosis: A Historical Perspective. ATS Discoveries Series. Web. 2015. Retrieved from https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1513/AnnalsATS.201509-632PS National Institute on Drug Abuse. Trends & Statistics. 2017. Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics National Center for Health Statistics. Overdose Death Rates. 2019. Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates O'Neill, Eugene. "Long Days Journey Into Night". 1912. Retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.182217/2015.182217.Long-Days-JourneyInto-Night_djvu.txt
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