"The Straw" by Eugene O'Neill is a play that follows the Carmody family as they grapple with the tuberculosis diagnosis of their daughter, Eileen. The story explores the hardships faced by a working-class family in the early 1900s, highlighting themes of poverty, family obligations, and the brutal trials of the time. Bill Carmody, a widower, struggles to manage his anger while also resenting his sick daughter and other children, who are trying to survive in the messy family environment. Eileen exhibits a caring spirit, despite her failing health. As the family navigates a challenging illness, relationships are tested, and new characters like doctors and Eileen's love interest enter the scene. The opening scenes create an atmosphere of despair, setting up a narrative focused on the hardships of love, duty, and sickness.
The Straw
By Eugene O'Neill
In a world of poverty and sickness, a family's bond strains as a daughter's illness challenges everyone's capacity to care.
Summary
About the AuthorEugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier associated with Chekhov, Ibsen, and Strindberg. The tragedy Long Day's Journey into Night is often included on lists of the finest U.S. plays in the 20th century, alongside Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. He was awarded the 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature. O'Neill is also the only playwright to win four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama.
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier associated with Chekhov, Ibsen, and Strindberg. The tragedy Long Day's Journey into Night is often included on lists of the finest U.S. plays in the 20th century, alongside Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. He was awarded the 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature. O'Neill is also the only playwright to win four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama.
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