A Survey of American Drama

Questions Group B

1) Are the crippling sorrows of what Freud called family romances tragic or are
they not primarily instances of strong pathos, reductive processes that cannot, by
definition, manifest an authentic transfiguring nobility (Bloom 4).
Think about it and argue your point. Do you think the play is a tragedy? What
qualifies or disqualifies the play form belonging to the genre? Remember our
definition of melodrama from an earlier session and think about whether Long Days
Journey into Night also contains melodramatic elements?
2) The peace of the absolute can be bought only at the cost of blindness to the
actual (Trilling 20). Do you agree with this statement about the play?

Works Cited
Bloom, Harold. Introduction. Blooms Modern Critical Views: Eugene ONeill.
Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. 1-12.
Trilling, Lionel. Eugene ONeill. Blooms Modern Critical Views: Eugene ONeill.
Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. 13-20.

A Survey of American Drama

Questions Group B