of a rouge and coquette, God bless her” (Baym 1353) cast suspicion on Mary’s memories, on the audience’s understanding of the past, and on the credibility of both characters. This cycle of continual reinterpretation through dialogue portrays the past as changeable, continually influential, and never fully knowable, and forces the audience into subjective truths and disputed memories that “hovers over the seemingly hopeless present of the Tyrones” (Szeliski 51). “O’Neill not only challenged the distinction between the past and present, he also broke down the barrier between stage and spectator that had been erected along with the proscenium arch” (Szeliski 51). The man’s struggle with self, fate and the past is a common theme among many modernist writers. Through O’Neill’s experimentation of eliciting an emotional response through his realistic settings and characters, we learn more about the “common man.” We all struggle with our pasts and our place in this world. At least through works like A Long Day’s Journey into Night we know that we are not alone in having a “dysfunctional” family with problems and conflicts. We all have problems, struggles and fears. These elements are just a part of life. Life is taking our past and learning from it so that we can live our present and prepare for a future. ...
