Tuesday, 27 June:  domestic comedy/situation comedy:  Eugene O’Neill, Ah, Wilderness!

Web Highlight:  Tammy Wilson

Introduction:

As discussed previously in class, the “problem” in a comedy “may involve a recognizable social situation, but unlike tragedy, the problem does not intimately threaten or shake the audience, the state, or the larger world” (handout).  Ah, Wilderness! illustrates many of the same issues found in O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night, but with a much lighter tone.  Where LDJ seems to have a cloud of doom and despair hovering over the Tyrone family, Ah, Wilderness! depicts an atmosphere that is similar to that of an average American family. 

Example 1:  2002 Final Exam:

O’Neill continues this look at family life in Ah, Wilderness!   Ah! takes a lighter look at the same issues faced in LDJ.  For example, Jamie in LDJ is a drunk bum.  Uncle Sid (Ah!) too posses the same personality traits as Jamie, but does not take on the same destructive nature as Jamie.  According to Aristotle’s poetics’ “Comic characters posses some defect or ugliness that is not painful or destructive.”  Uncle Sid exemplifies this theory.  His drunkenness comes off as comical.  He portrays the comic crazy uncle, and while being drunk is viewed as destructive in LDJ, it is used in Ah! for comedic purposes.  Ah!  takes less extreme view of “normal” family life.  It address some serious issues, but never takes a tragic turn. [JL 02]

Example 2:  2002 Final Exam:

Although tragic elements appear in Ah, Wilderness! it is understood to be a comedy.  The comedy seems to follow the standard elements like scenes with food, family picking on one another and a character that plays the fool.  The maid, Cathleen, adds moments of physical comedy along with brother and sister tickling scenes.  Mr. and Mrs. Miller give an overall since of comedy because they make everything all right.  It is never believed by the reader that anything bad can happen to this family.  In the end they retire for bed and the reader is sure that all is well and everything will turn out okay.  The most comedic scene of the play is the dinner.  The standard element of food is present along with the physical aspect of the incompetent maid.  The humor continues with the drunk Uncle and not altogether sober father.  The reader is further entertained when the realization about the bluefish is discovered.  This make believe family gives the reader a feeling of watching television.  No one is altogether “bad” and vices are not painful enough to truly hurt anyone. [LR 02]

Conclusion:

 The main difference, for me, between Long Day’s Journey Into Night and Ah, Wilderness! is the way in which I felt at the end of each play.  LDJ left me with that ever present feeling of gloom, like there was more tragedy in store for this family.  After reading Ah, Wilderness! I knew that this family was going to be okay.  The samples from the 2002 final exams illustrate how, through the use of humor, the problems faced by the family in Ah, Wilderness!  are not devastating to the family, whereas, the family in Long Day’s Journey Into Night (it appears) will struggle with their problems indefinitely.