Essay On Women In The 1900's

Women suffrage has been present through out American History. Our culture forces women to fall into certain stereotypes. Mary Tyrone, in Eugene O’Neil’s Long day journey into the night, struggles with certain cultural surroundings that messes with her psychological state. Gender roles for women, including isolation and obeying the man of the house, is what eventually leads to her drug abuse and causes her to ignore her reality by escaping into the past. Women in the 1900’s were not respected and had no rights. Mary, like other women, were stuck in the home all day while the men were at work. Mary stated “I 've never felt it was my home. It was wrong from the start. Everything was done in the cheapest way. Your father would never spend the money

We can 't forget.” (1.1.228). She could never forget the past and move forward. This is what eventually leads to her drug addiction and insanity. During this time it was a common cultural surrounding to believe in home care. Mary also resents her husband because he always went for the cheapest treatment. This leads to her drug abuse and her sons fatal illness. “I 'm not blaming you, dear. How can you help it? How can any one of us forget?” (1.1.228). She is ignoring her reality and avoiding the truth. She is left alone all day and is expected to be mentally sane. She feels cultural pressures to be a perfect wife leading her to use Morphine to escape her reality. Mary, and other women of this time, felt a lot of pressure because of their cultural surroundings and traditions. Women are told to stay I 'm the house and to take care of the house and the children. For Mary her children are grown up and they have maids and servants. She 's left home alone with nothing to do and nobody to talk to. “It makes is so much harder, living in this atmosphere of constant suspicion, knowing everyone is spying on me, and none of you believe in me, or trust me […] If there was only some place I could go to get away for a day, or even an afternoon, some woman friend I could talk to…”(1.1.207-209). On top of this insanity caused by loneliness, her son being sick, and her resentment towards her husband, she also has a drug addiction. These things