My Theatre Appreciation students at East Mississippi Community College and I have studied "Long Day’s Journey into Night." After we watch an act from a recorded performance, I lecture on the content and lead in the class discussion.
Aristotle, who studied Greek dramas, would see "Long Day’s Journey into Night" as a good play because it meets his three unities: the unity of action (one single plot), the unity of time (the action takes place in a single day) and the unity of place (it’s the same place throughout).
The story takes place in James Tyrone’s summer home in August 1912. James and Mary have two adult sons, Jamie and Edmund. There’s never a dull moment in their interactions.
This week’s Vaughan’s Vocabulary quizzes on words that I found while studying LDJIN, written by Eugene O’Neill in 1955.
1. acidly (ASS-id-lee)
A. coldly
B. adagio style
C. prominently
D. when remarks are given sharply, sourly or ill-naturedly
2. scowling (SCOW-ling)
A. howling
B. pretending
C. when the brows are drawn down in a sullen, displeased or angry way
D. with bravado
No. 1, acidly, is D. A stage direction for Mary reads “A trifle acidly.”
No. 2, scowling, is C. A stage direction for Tyrone reads “Scowling.”
3. boodle (BOO-dul)
A. the derriere
B. a large quantity of something, especially money
C. Cheshire cat
D. a poisonous bug
4. consumption (cun-SUMP-shun)
A. a medical disorder causing the body to be wasted away
B. residue
C. remorseless
D. brackishness
No. 3 is B and came from Dictionary.com. Edmund tells about a Standard Oil millionaire rebuking one of Tyrone’s tenants because his pigs intruded into the millionaire’s ice pond. “If I needed any proof that our ruling plutocrats, especially the ones who inherited their boodle, are not mental giants, [this incident] would clinch it.”
No. 4 is A. Hippocrates believed that it was called consumption because the disease seemed to consume the individual who had it. Inquiring about his brother, Jamie’s line is: “He [Doc Hardy] thinks it’s consumption, doesn’t he, Papa?”
5. mollifyingly (moll-uh-FIE-ing-lee)
A. in an agitating manner
B. in a haughty, arrogant manner
C. in a manner to soften in feeling or temper
D. None of the above
In Act I of "LDJIN" is the first time I’ve ever seen “mollifyingly.” After accusing Jamie of being the worst influence on his brother, the stage direction has Tyrone to say his line mollifyingly. No. 5 is C.
Editor’s Note: Don Rodney Vaughan, Ph.D., teaches journalism, interpersonal communication and public speaking at East Mississippi Community College and is the pastor of Mt. Vernon Baptist Church in Webster County. Contact him at dvaughan@eastms.edu.
