After learning and getting on a personal level with Eugene O’Neill our class started to read his most famous masterpiece, Long Days Journey into night. Some would say that this was the play that wrapped up his life. He finally came out and expressed his horrible childhood, but using diffrenet characters. It was a reflection of his past.It was a play that expressed the hardship and tragic events that O’Neill went through. You can see the correlation between this play and his life through Edmand, the younger son in the family. The play also incorporated closed endings.
In the play Long Day’s Journey into Night, the day slowly descends argument by argument into the evening. As the day goes by, the Tyrone family’s fights get more frequent, and more severe. The style the play is written in, holds information from you, that is eventually revealed as the story of this troubled family progresses. Each member of the Tyrone family has a dramatic past. The most haunted of pasts however, belong to Mary, the morphine-addicted mother and wife, and her sons Jamie and Eugene. Mary throughout most of the play speaks of regret, and how she feels she has no home. As she further relapses into her addiction, she speaks her true feelings, through her rambling monologues. The end of the play just spirles downward. Mary abuses morphine, as the night goes on she becomes more wackey and that causes the men to drink more. Between Marys addiction and the mens alcohalism(their way to deal with Mary) at the end of the play the reader has no hope for this family to come over all of their problems.The men are drunk, marys running around in her wedding dress and you can tell that there is no green grass left on the other side. Your left with many emotions at the end of the play. In a way you feel bad for the children. You believe that there may be hope for them but when you see the shape they all are in you relise that they are just falling apart a no hope for the future. The end of Long Days Journey into night ends with an open ending, haveing the reader not know what the future will bring for the Tyrone family.What will happen to Mary and her addiction? Will the men in the family get over their alcohal problems and be able to face reality? Or face Mary? There were so many questions that were not answered. It left you hanging thinking the worst for this family.Open endgings was a great idea for this play, because it was like O’Neils life. There were so many questions that were left unanswered and O’Neil never totally understood why his mother was like that.

This video shows Mary and how hard she was to deal with,how much energy it took to somewhat understand her.

Written by Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie was a play about past experiences from one of the characters in the play. Right from the beginning of the play you are left with many questions. Laura is a shy girl whose mother struggles to find her the love of her life. The entire beginning of the play is written so the reader does not truly understand why laural is shy and does not interact with the outside world, she holds onto the things that she is familiar with and never steps out of her box. Her life is so not intact with the world to the point her mother and brother have to step in and find her a man to love. You soon find out in the middle of the play that laura is crippled and this has scared her life deeply. Williams wrote this play carefully and open endings are seen right from the start. You ask you’re self so many questions like why is Tom reflecting on the past and how come he is not with Laura and his mother but alone. This foreshadows on the ending of the play. Williams finishes it up with a heart breaking ending, having to see Laura fall into a deep liking for this so called “gentlemen caller” and this man is snatched right out of her life. When reading the play you begin to grow this gentleness and feel bad for Laura and her life and the ending just makes it more heart wrenching. Open endings are found at the end when Tom walks out on his family, to live the life he wants. Do we know if he gets there or if he ends up finding a love of his life? How about what happens to Laura and her mother? Do they find a man for Laura that will come into her life and take over the house? There are so many possibilities that are left for exploring at the end of this play. Many may think that Laura will go back to her life that she had once lived and never find the love of her life. Her mother would be heart broken and the family would struggle for survival. It was all apart of Williams’s genius plan to this play. Open endings were perfect because is brought a new beginning to a different chapter in this family’s life.

 

                                                                                

 

 

Desire Under the Elms by Eugene O’Neil was an intense play. From the beginning all the way to the last sentence. After doing studies on Eugene O’Neil I have become interested in reading his plays. In Desire Under the Elms“open endings” are evident. This was the modern attribute that stuck out in the play the most. The ending is where it gets good. You have Eben who ends up having an affair with his fathers new wife, Abbiof the play you see how it ends. You e.Soon Abbie is having Eben’s child, but tricks Ephraim into believing that it is his child. Once the child is born bigger problems come into the picture. The love bond between Eben and Abbie was so strong Abbie ends up killing her child. At the end of the play Eben ends up calling the sheriff on his lover and lies to the shefiff telling that he had a part in the killing of this child. The play ends with an open ending, when Abbie and Eben are taken away by the sheriff for the murder of their infant.

SHERIFF–Open in the name o’ the law! (They start.)

CABOT–They’ve come fur ye. (He goes to the rear door.) Come in, Jim! (The three men enter. Cabot meets them in doorway.) Jest a minit, Jim. I got ‘em safe here. (The sheriff nods. He and his companions remain in the doorway.)

EBEN–(suddenly calls) I lied this mornin’, Jim. I helped her do it. Ye kin take me, too.

ABBIE–(brokenly) No!

CABOT–Take ‘em both. (He comes forward–stares at Eben with a trace of grudging admiration.) Putty good–fur yew! Waal, I got t’ round up the stock. Good-by.

EBEN–Good-by.

ABBIE–Good-by. (Cabot turns and strides past the men–comes out and around the corner of the house, his shoulders squared, his face stony, and stalks grimly toward the barn. In the meantime the sheriff and men have come into the room.)

SHERIFF–(embarrassedly) Waal–we’d best start.

ABBIE–Wait, (turns to Eben) I love ye, Eben.

EBEN–I love ye, Abbie. (They kiss. The three men grin and shuffle embarrassedly. Eben takes Abbie’s hand. They go out the door in rear, the men following, and come from the house, walking hand in hand to the gate. Eben stops there and points to the sunrise sky.) Sun’s a-rizin’. Purty, hain’t it?

ABBIE–Ay-eh. (They both stand for a moment looking up raptly in attitudes strangely aloof and devout.)

SHERIFF–(looking around at the farm enviously–to his companion) It’s a jim-dandy farm, no denyin’. Wished I owned it!

From the quotes from the last scene don’t know whats going to happen to Eben and Abbie. It’s left open for the reader to figure out what they want to happen. I love open endings because an ending of a story or play can be based on the reader. Whats their attitude is at the time, are they happy, sad, or angry. You don’t know. There could be so many different ideas to the end of this play. Iexpecially liked how this one was set up this way because it gives the reader more room to explore this land under the Elms.

                                

                 Click on Picture to view clip from play

There is allot to be said about modern literature. Many find the strangeness of these poems and stories to be what draws them in the most. It has been extremely fascinating to read these works of art. Some are love stories, stories about a character finding themselves, murder, and then you get to Eugene O’Neil, and you have entered into this other land. His plays are magnificent. He has truly brought his plays to life. Over the past week in our class we have gotten on a personal level with Eugene. His childhood up in-till his death.  O’Neil was a true writer and you can see this in his plays. He brought in personal feelings and experiences and this makes his plays so interesting. You can almost find something to relate to. Back when O’Neil was writing his plays the world saw families to be perfect, without blemish and no anger within its walls. O’Neil made the reality of what families really are like, and put them out there for the world to see. At times when some of his plays were put on in a theater he would have the audience in tears. One time when “Long Days Journey into Night” was first acted out at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm’s, Sweden, when the curtains fell at the last scene the crowd was silent for what seemed to be hours, ending with a standing applause. It was one of the greatest plays of the time.O’Neil was a interesting person to understand. Not even his wife understood him at times. But it was his love and passion that captures the readers and draws them into his works.

In the play Streetcar named desire, open endings are found. It is interesting to see how this play ends. When reading this play I suggested that Blanche was going to commit suicide. Here’s this women who has lived an interesting life. She was married at a young age and soon found out that her husband was gay when he committed suicide. The death of her husband was what started this uuniversal downfall in her life. After his death it was hard on Blanche and she thought her husbands love towards men was on her behalf. She would have sexual intercourse with many young men when traveling in the town called Lowell. This was Blanches way of getting over this traumatic time in her life. When Blanche moves in with her sister and husband that where her life starts to really go down the tubes. Her secret life was now exposed and was ruining her reputation. This drove Blanche into going insane. To top it off the night Blanches sister goes into labor Blanche and Stanly are left alone at the house. When one thing led to another Stanly raped Blanche. A few days after Blanche tried to tell her sister but she didn’t believe her. This was the climax of her sanity. With the clues given in the play one would come to think Blanche was ready to explode. This is the pivotal part in the play when they call a doctor for Blanche and she ends up walking out the door, locked arms with this Doctor. One would say that this story line would have an end, but come to find out we will never know what happens to Blanche DuBois. So i would say that this is a prime example of open endings. It is clear to see that it is, it just takes some digging to get to the end to realize how open ended it truly is.

Blanche[ Holding tight to his arm]:

” Whoever you are- I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.

You find this attribute of “open endings” in allot of modern literature .In The Killers By Hemingway’s,you see that his story is a perfect example of open endings.The big question is if Ole Anderson ending up being killed by the killers Al and Max.? We will never know for sure what Hemingway’s was intending the end to be like. It was left open for the reader to explore the story and decide what they think would be a good ending. There is not set ending but there are many scenarios that one mind could make up. There is no wrong ending. Hemingway made this short story this way so the reader leaves off with that big question….Will the Killers come back to kill him?

Another example of Open Endings is found in The Hollow Men.This poem is interesting for the human mind. It’s hard to comprehend and to fully grasp these so called “Hollow Men”. Then whats the big question here? I would have to say the ending. Once again its left open. You can figure out by context clues that these ” Hollow Men” are trying to get to this kingdom.

” For Thine is the Kingdom”

You never know if the “Hollow Men” get to this Kingdom or heavenly place they want to get to. The poem ends with

For Thine is
Life is
For Thine is the
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper

The end of this poem talks about the end of the world. Not if they have reached this kingdom they have been trying to enter into. This is another great poem my T.S. Eliot giving an example of open endings. You will never know when “The Hollow Men” will enter into thy kingdom.

Recently, during my studies on my attribute i chose, i stumbled across this saying,”endings are important because they are the point where the reader must recognise that it is not reality but an imitation of it.”You find that in many books the endings are what tie the book up. It is extremely important to find out what happens at the end. In many of T.S. Eliot’s poems are open ended. At the end of Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock does he commit suicide or not? This poem ends sadly when you realise that Prufrock has failed. He questions himself and his thoughts and efforts he has put into life. Leaving you with the feeling of hopelessness. There is nothing else in his life to look forward too, his love life has failed and life in general.

“I grow old … I grow old … I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me. I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black , We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown 130
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

After reading the end of the poem, your left with this depressing feeling. You feel sorry in a way for Prufrock and how nothing has worked out in his life. How he hasn’t found love and enjoyed one of life’s most expensive gifts.

When ever you read a story or watch a film you always want the whole story. Nothing left out and when it ends you have to a total understanding on what just happened or it was a “bad” movie or book. Its funny how it’s so strange when authors or film writers leave the reader or viewer hanging. In a way, this idea is logical because it causes the viewer to use their imagination, making the viewer think up their own scenario of what’s going to happen.This is kind of like life in general. Your life is not planned out for you and you never know whats going to happen next, To some people your life is a total mystery. They don’t know what you have experienced or what has happened to you. Life is open ended and does not have a set point of ending, because when you die there are still questions and history of your past that has not been reveled. In the “Hollow Man”, “The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, “The Killers”, you see the modern point of open endings and the stories are not thoroughly finished.

Currently in our honors English class, we will be discussing our favorite point of modern literature. Feel free to comment, or correct any of my thoughts.

The attribute that i will be exploring is :

* A turn to ‘open’ or ambiguous endings, again seen to be more representative of ‘reality’ as opposed to ‘closed’ endings, in which matters are resolved.

I will later write about how this attribute contributes to some of T.S Eliot poems.