Long Days Journey into Night - Eugene O'Neill

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Choose one of the following topics to write about. You will need to compose a two page, typed paper using one piece of formal literary criticism for this piece. You should double space the paper and make the font no larger than 12 pt. Use a standard font. Make sure you use proper MLA formatting. Choose a topic from the following list:

1. Historical Reading: How does O'Neill's play reflect his experience or beliefs?

2. Biographical Reading: How does the text reflect the author's experience or beliefs?

3. What effect does the setting have on the characters? The plot? The theme?

4. Identify a conflict within the play that reveals a thematic idea within Long Days Journey Into Night? Person - vs - Person, Son - vs - Parent, Person - vs - society, Person - vs - Self, and Person - vs - Fate.

5. What role does allusion have withing this text? What idea does O'Neill' help us to see through his use of allusion? You may want to focus particularly on quotes from Rosetti or Baudelaire or Shakespeare.

6. Are there important elements of the setting, symbolic elements, that illustrate a thematic idea within the play? (fog, watered down whiskey, temporary summer home, bad help, lights off, etc.)

7. What internal conflicts challenge one of the main characters? Consider the thoughts, feelings, and ideas that affect him or her.

8. What external conflicts affect one of the main characters?