Setting and Paradox

SETTING In a home that has so much pain and suffering one would hope that there would be someone holding a light, but in O’Neill’s despondent setting of a home that always is having the lights turned off there is no illumination to be found. James Tyrone is a cheapskate and he feels that the only way to live the American dream is by shutting off his lights to save money and essentially his family, but in doing so he lives in a masked and fake world. The darkness that James Tyrone promotes is what is eating away at his family. No one has a clear vision of the damage that has been done to one another and they having harder time repairing each other because the dark setting gives them all preconceived notions that are false and blind.

PARADOX The craftsmanship of Eugene O’Neill is prominent in his ability to weave in a multiple paradoxes through out his play. Every action that one character takes towards a healthier lifestyle is somehow negated by either one of their family members or himself. When Edmund tries to ease up on the consumption Jamie and James both continue to drink with him, even though they both “love” him. The aspect of paradox is even more prominent when James offers Edmund up to a sanitarium, but it is actually a cheap and rather meaningless operation. His choices are futile. Edmund then is insulted but does little for himself to change his predicament. He feels like he can change for the better and find a meaningful life but he takes almost no initiative to discover it. He wants an interesting and successful life dropped into his lap, which is exactly how you don’t achieve a respectable and meaningful life. The characters of the play talk and act in circles that only spiral down towards a life of decay.