The Straw

by Eugene O'Neill

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Genres: Plays, Fiction, Classics, American, Drama, Romance

109 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1919

About the author

American playwright Eugene Gladstone O'Neill authored Mourning Becomes Electra in 1931 among his works; he won the Nobel Prize of 1936 for literature, and people awarded him his fourth Pulitzer Prize for Long Day's Journey into Night , produced in 1956.

He won his Nobel Prize "for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy." More than any other dramatist, O'Neill introduced the dramatic realism that Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish playwright August Strindberg pioneered to Americans and first used true American vernacular in his speeches.

His plays involve characters, who, engaging in depraved behavior, inhabit the fringes of society, where they struggle to maintain their hopes and aspirations but ultimately slide into disillusionment and despair. O'Neill wrote Ah, Wilderness! , his only comedy: all his other plays involve some degree of tragedy and personal pessimism.

Reviews

[Radwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

مسرحية درامية رقيقة
كانت باكورة عمر أونيل بعد خروجه من المشفى
على ما يبدو أن بطل المسرحية موري هو يوجين أونيل نفسه

[Illiterate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent blend of naturalism and sentimentality. The sanatorium is well-drawn.

[Jessica López-Barkl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very sentimental play based on O'Neill's real relationship with a woman who loved him while he spent time in a sanatorium for tuberculosis. O'Neill also cited this time as the time that made him a playwright. It was a turning point for him. The play seems to follow the autobiographical portions pretty well. Which, of course, seems his pattern; to tell the ultimate truth if those involved are, in fact, dead. The scenes between Murray and Eileen are really lovely, and the women nurses are also very well thought out. Most times, when I read O'Neill, the women seem to be quite hateful creatures, but in this play, they (with the exception of Mrs. Brennan) seem the most likable of his women. I don't think this play is performed much, which is a shame, it reminds me a lot of the intimate scene in TALLEY'S FOLLY by Lanford Wilson.

[Jacquie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful play. Finished it in one sitting. The real illness in this play is the lack of love amongst the characters. The TB , although a very real illness, was just a manifestation for isolation and despair. Where there is love, there is hope.

The film "Million Dollar Baby" plagiarized one of its most important scenes from this play. I wonder who else picked up on this?

[Glenn Hopp · Rating 3 out of 5]

O’Neill drew on his experiences in a tuberculosis sanatorium for this early play. When I first read it in graduate school, I was struck by the suspense of the scene when the patients are summoned one by one to step on the scale (less weight means they’re sicker); now, I notice more the one-sided, tragic love story. Probably mostly for fans of this playwright.

[Jocelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has been on my to-read list so long (2017) that I don't know if it's the chronic illness or the unrequited love that landed it there, but I did find in it, thirty-one years after needing it, a monologue I wish I could have done for college auditions.

[Susan Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unrequited love gets me every time

This is a quaint play filled with confronting the unpleasantries of familial relationships, unrequited love, and death as humans most often do... Lie.