IndexIntroductionThe Fog and the FoghornMary and the FogMary 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 the fog but also the foghorn as a symbol. This article will analyze the function of the fog and the foghorn in the play, with particular attention to Mary Tyrone. With the help of secondary literature I will highlight the parallels first between Mary and the fog and then between Mary and the foghorn. I intend to ultimately 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 Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The Fog and the Fog HornMary and the FogThe first time the fog motif appears is when Mary speaks to her husband shortly after his return from the sanatorium: “Thank goodness the fog is gone,” she says. (O'Neill 17) Because of Mary's past, the statement seems to present a faint glimmer of hope that she will "resist the temptation this time" and come to terms with her morphine addiction. (Tiusanen 285) Already at this point a connection can be made between Mary's morphine addiction and the reason for the fog. (Scheibler 131) Maria returns from the sanatorium and the sun is shining (see O'Neill 10), which gives hope that everything will be fine. Later, when Mary loses control over her addiction, the fog thickens and by the end of the play the darkness is pervasive. (see 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, instead waxing lyrical about the past and talking only about the fog: "It wasn't the fog that bothered me, Cathleen," she says. “I love fog. […] It hides you from the world and the world from you. You feel that everything has changed and nothing is as it seemed. No one will be able to find you or touch you anymore." (O'Neill 123) According to the caption, Mary speaks these words dreamily (O'Neill 113); the fog seems to her like a way out of reality. Mary likes the idea of ​​being hidden and protected by the fog. The fog helps her escape into the past and dream of becoming a nun or concert performer. Mary calls herself “a pious girl” and emphasizes her constant desire for a “respectable home.” (111) She indirectly blames her husband for her situation and her unfulfilled dreams: “I might have left, if I hadn't fallen in love with Mr. Tyrone. Or I could have become a nun. I had two dreams. Being a nun was the most beautiful thing. Becoming a concert pianist was something else.” (113) There are no dreams fulfilled in Mary's life; he lives with regrets and loneliness and longs for a true home, a place where someone is “never alone” (Bogard 428). He tells Edmund: “In a real home you are never alone. You forget that I know from experience what a house is like. (O'Neill 80) Scheibler argues that there is a close connection between the fog and Mary's morphine addiction. “For Mary [the fog] is the realm of the imagination, of her narcotic dreams,” Schiebler writes, while “the drugs kill the senses until she can only dimly discern the objects of reality.” (131) Edmund also recognizes this connection: “The hardest thing to accept is the blank wall he builds around himself,” he says, referring to when Mary takes morphine and retreats into her dreams. “Or it's more like a fog bank where you hide and get lost.” (154) Scheibler's idea that "even innocuous questions and observations can penetrate the wall of fog around one and destroy the illusion" confirms the appropriate use of fog as a symbol. The fog hides you only superficially […], 1968. 285.