Freedom of Choices in Eugene O’Neill’s "Long Day’s Journey into Night"

Abstract

The present research is about the Tyrone family’s hopeless review of their past, the circumstances, choices and actions that have shaped the course of their lives and relationships to the present dismal realities troubling them. The thesis is more about the freedom of choices of individual characters as a single person is responsible for life. Society, community or religion do not play important role to make one’s life. The research work also studies how the certainties and scientific reasoning that ruled the nineteenth century smashed into anxiety, absurdity disintegration, chaos, and uncertainty. As existent beings, each character identify with the world through their thoughts and perceptions. Hence, the research deals with how an individual character develop a unique understanding a sense of awareness of the nature and destiny of man. According to existentialism, truth is not what it is but what appears to a particular person. Therefore, as the theory implies, one truth has innumerable aspects depending on the type of person because individuals finally must make their own choices without any help from external standards as laws, ethical rules and traditional philosophy. Using existentialism as a framework, this thesis will focus on solitariness, suffering and creativity, all of which point to the importance of individual consciousness choices and actions that have shaped the course of their lives and relationships to the present.