An Analysis of Long Day’s Journey into Night from the Perspective of the Cooperative Principle

Eugene O’Neill,one of the essential writers of the 20th century,was hailed as the“American Shakespeare.”He enjoyed a high reputation in America owing to his special writing techniques.Long Day’s Journey into Night was his last play,which was an autobiographical play to some extent,and founded on his own authentic experience.The play told the story of an Irish immigrant family’s daily life from day to night.Among the studies at home and abroad,many discuss this play from a psychological perspective and Feminist perspective.The article,instead,gives an interpretation of this play according to Cooperative Principle.Through the analysis of their conversations,it points out what principles their communications violated so as to understand the implied meaning of their conversations.The thesis tries to study the conversations between Mary and other family members,and then demonstrate that Mary is the most tragic person in the family.