The Fog Symbol Analysis

Throughout Long Day’s Journey into Night, fog both troubles and soothes Mary, who sees it as something that ushers in isolation and loneliness. At the beginning of the play, she suggests that she’s troubled by the thick fog that enshrouds the Tyrones’ summer home each night, especially since the foghorn keeps her awake and rattles her nerves. However, her relationship with fog isn’t quite so simple. Indeed, although O’Neill uses the onset of fog to foreshadow Mary’s relapse, Mary herself claims at one point that the fog itself doesn’t bother her. “It’s the foghorn I hate,” she says. “It won’t let you alone. It keeps reminding you, and warning you, and calling you back.” This suggests that what Mary actually dislikes has nothing to do with the sound of the horn, but rather the fact that it “remind[s]” her that she can’t simply slip into the pure solitude of the fog, which is what she would really like to do. Indeed, fog is something that creeps between people and makes it impossible for them to see each other—something that appeals to Mary because she’d like to isolate herself from her present reality, thereby enabling herself to indulge her drug addiction without having to endure the scrutiny of her disappointed family. In this way, O’Neill uses the fog as a representation of the ways in which isolation and separation manifest themselves within personal relationships.