Table of ContentsIntroductionThe Fog and the FoghornMary and the MistMary and the FoghornConclusionWorks CitedIntroductionFog appears in many of Eugene O'Neill's works. In Long Day's Journey into Night, O'Neill uses not only fog but also the foghorn as a symbol. This article will analyze the function of the fog and foghorn in the play, with particular attention to Mary Tyrone. Using secondary literature, I will highlight the parallels first between Mary and the fog, then between Mary and the foghorn. Finally, I intend to discover which of the two symbols most directly refers to Mary and serves as a parallel to her mental state. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayThe Fog and the FoghornMary and the FogThe first time the fog motif appears is when Mary is talking to her husband shortly after returning from the sanatorium: “Thank God the fog is gone,” she said. (O'Neill 17) Due to Mary's past, the statement seems to present a faint glimmer of hope that she will "resist temptation this time" and overcome her morphine addiction. (Tiusanen 285) Already at this point, a connection can be made between Marie's morphine addiction and the fog motif. (Scheibler 131) Mary returns from the sanatorium and the sun is shining (cf. O'Neill 10), which gives hope that all is well. Later, when Mary loses control of her addiction, the fog becomes thicker, and by the end of the play, darkness is omnipresent. (cf. Falk 181) Mary's conversation with Cathleen also highlights the connection between Mary's mental state and the fog. Mary doesn't listen to Cathleen at all, but instead waxes lyrical about the past and only talks about the fog: "It wasn't the fog that bothered me, Cathleen," she says. “I really like the fog. […] It hides you from the world and the world from you. You feel that everything has changed and nothing is what it seemed. No one can find or touch you anymore. (O'Neill 123) According to the production, Mary speaks these words in a dreamy manner (O'Neill 113); the fog seems to him a way to escape from reality. Mary likes the idea of ​​being hidden and protected by the fog. The fog helps her escape into the past and dream of being a nun or a concert pianist. Mary calls herself a "godly girl" and emphasizes her lifelong desire for a "respectable home." (111) She indirectly blames her husband for her situation and unfulfilled dreams: “I could have gone – if I hadn't fallen in love with Mr. Tyrone. Or maybe I would have become religious. I had two dreams. Being a nun was the most beautiful thing. Becoming a concert pianist was the other. (113) There are no dreams fulfilled in Mary's life; she lives in regret and loneliness, and longs for a true home, a place where one “is never alone” (Bogard 428). She tells Edmund: “In a real house, you are never alone. You forget that I know from experience what a house looks like. (O'Neill 80) Scheibler argues that there is a strong connection between the fog and Mary's morphine addiction. “For Mary, [the fog] is the realm of the imagination, of her narcotic dreams,” writes Schiebler, while “the drugs kill the senses until she can only vaguely discern the objects of the reality". (131) Edmund also recognizes this connection: "The hardest thing to bear is the white wall she builds around herself," he says, referring to the moment when Mary takes her morphine and retreats into her dreams . "Or it's more of a fog bank in which […], 1968. 285.