“Long Day ‘s journey into Night” is a drama written by American playwright Eugene O’Neill. Judging from the short extract from this drama, we can say that it tells a story of a family of four, Mary, Edmund, Jamie and Tyrone.
The description of the characters gives a clear picture of their way of life and traits of characters. Mary is a drug addict who constantly blames herself for her son’s illness while Tyrone is quite a wealthy man, but what he cares about is alcohol. That’s why, he is so furious and fuming most of the time. Edmund, who seems to be the youngest son, is not very talkative. His speech is brief. Mary’s language is high and there are hardly any contractions. The woman uses such phrases as “I wonder”, “I hope”, “I suppose”. Tyrone, on the other hand, is less educated. He uses simple words in his sentences.
On the whole, the mood of the episode is gloomy and sad. In the beginning of the extract Mary is described as an automaton -looking out, with a blank and far-off quality in her voice. She seems to be absorbed in her thoughts and anxiety. The writer uses such words as sad and lost – печальный и растеряный, sobbingly – всхлипывание, helplessly -беспомощно to create the dull mood of the episode.
A great number of symbols, allegory and imagery is used in the drama. Fog can represent the ambiguity of the situation, the isolation of the characters from the real world. Author uses the words “foghorn” and “bells” as a way of implying the sense of addiction. The sounds of the harbour intrudes into character’s world calling them back to reality. Alcohol and morphine are also symbols of distraction from reality. The title of the drama itself contains symbols, such as day and night which represent the bright and the dark sides of life. Characters live in a vicious circle, first, they feel bad, then they start regretting and apologising, then, again, they feel bad and so on. The way of their lives is similar to the effect of drugs and morphine. At first, you feel far-off from reality, then all your troubles come back to you. The translator can face difficulties while translating this episode. It’s very important to convey the language of the characters. For example, Mary’s speech “He doesn’t seem to have any appetite these days-У него в последнее время пропал аппетит and Tyron’s language ” That drunken loafer has tried to pick the lock with a piece of wire. . . – Этот пьяница-лодырь пытался сорвать замок проводом . . . differ noticeably in the drama.