a friend of ignorance

a friend of ignorance


A Friend of Ignorance
In the book, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, the author, Eugene O’Neill, characterizes Edmund as someone who uses alcohol and blame to fill his need of ignorance is bliss. Many things are said and done to reach a state of ignorance for Edmund. Edmund can push the blame on to anyone in his family or his mom’s drugs addiction. One thing that all the male Tyrones do is use alcohol to numb the pain of their seemingly miserable lives. Edmund does not want to face reality, so he finds a way to go around it.
From the beginning of the play Edmund tries to push the attention from himself to others.
Edmund: I mean, you wouldn’t have wanted them.
Mary: Don’t. I can’t bear having you remind me.
Edmund: Don’t take it that way! Please, mama! I’m trying to help. Because it’s bad for you to forget. The right way is to remember. So you’ll always be on your guard. You know what’s happened before (46).

This shows that he was taking attention from him being sick to others, and their faults, like his mother’s drug addiction. His idea is that if it is out of sight, that it is out of mind. His mom’s problems are the most prevalent in this family. By him continually bringing it up, he gets his problems off his mind. This shows that his mom is very concerned about what people think about her, and he realizes that she is an easy target, and once drugs are brought up, it is hard to make the conversation change.
Any time when his mom was fusses over him, he pushes the attention elsewhere. Back to his mom, to distract from him, once again.
Edmund: You forget I have an appointment with Hardy,
Listen, Mama
Mary: You can telephone and say you don’t feel well enough…
…Edmund: Mama! Please just listen! I want to ask you something! You- your’re only just started. You can still stop (95).
It’s so very easy for Edmund to simply bring up her drug addiction and all previous talk is forgotten as a new one has started. If he were to instead bring more...

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