Paradox

O’Neil uses paradoxes in Long Day’s Journey into the Night in order to represent the relationships between the members of the Tyrone family in an appropriate manner. The Tyrone’s do love each other, they are family after all. Although there is a screen held up between each member of the family. Jamie loves his brother Edmund more than he hates him, but Jamie forever attempts to suppress Edmund’s potential and happiness. When your own brother truly wants the worst for you, all hope has been lost. In addition, Mary Tyrone claims throughout the play that she loved her husband dearly, all while she despises James for apparently placing her in her present state. She feels as though her life would have been changed drastically if they had never met, but yet, she does love him dearly.