Symbols and Symbolism in Long Days Journey into Night :: Long Days Journey into Night

   Symbolism is used throughout O ¹Neill ¹s Long Day ¹s Journey into Night, a portrayal of the   author ¹s life.   The three prominent symbols, the fog, the foghorn, and Mary ¹s glasses, represent the characters ¹ isolation from reality.   The symbols in  ³Long Day ¹s Journey into   Night ² 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, O'Neill 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 ¹s 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 ¹s 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 ².   This escape is similiar to the morphine she takes, and the foghorns are the family ¹s 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 don't 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 ¹s glasses symbolize her inability to see things clearly.   She frequently misplaces them, and really doesn ¹t want to find them