Symbolism in A Long Days Journey into Night Essays

Symbolism in A Long Days Journey into Night Essays Symbolism in A Long Days Journey into Night Paper Symbolism in A Long Days Journey into Night Paper Essay Topic: A Long Way Gone Literature ONeill makes extensive use of symbolism in the play by introducing objects, props and cultural artifacts that develop the major themes in the play. He achieves this by giving the objects second meanings far beyond the literal, and by having them stand for whole concepts that are in fact the plays core. One of the first and most meaningful things of this nature that the reader, or a member of the audience is introduced to is the fog and the foghorn, when Mary mentions them for the first time: Thank heavens, the fog is gone. I do feel out of sorts this morning. I wasnt able to get much sleep with that awful foghorn going all night long (Baym 1343). Throughout the play, the presence of the fog parallels the time of day when night comes, so does the fog, and when it is morning, the fog is gone. This, of course, is no coincidence. One of the key human features explored in the play is deception, or keeping each other in the dark. Thus, one might suggest that the fog and darkness in the form of the night are congruent symbols reinforcing one another, because they come together and empower the same concept. The fog can also be seen as a sort of a personal fog each character is shrouded in, and something that suggest blurriness and unreality, especially in the final parts of the play when the fog is denser than ever and makes everything sound so sad and lost (Baym 1390-1391). The fog, then, obscures ones perception of the world, and it parallels the attempts of each member of the family to obscure or hide reality Tyrone and his stinginess, Mary with her addiction, Jamie with his life of a loafer and Edmund, with his tuberculosis that they all attempt to hide from Mary. The second important symbol is the foghorn, which too has a number of possible or combined meanings. Foghorns are used by ships for signaling in foggy conditions, therefore are a sort of warning and orienting signals. In the play, the foghorn stands for each family members efforts to find a way through the mess theyre in, perhaps excluding Mary, since she is completely passive. The fact that she does not like the foghorn also suggests that she is not up to trying to better the situation (Baym 1343). A partial success in finding a way through everything appears in the compromise that Edmund and Tyrone reach That Edmund doesnt have to go to a lousy sanatorium, and can go wherever he chooses. This compromise is only partial, though, because his choice has to be within reason (Baym 1402). In the warning sense, there are instances when the foghorn has significance as well, for example when Jamie warns Edmund of himself in his long speech Remember I warned you, for your sake. Give me credit. Greater love hath no man than this, that he saveth his brother from himself (Baym 1412). Thus, the foghorn symbolizes the search for solutions and ways around obstacles, but just as an actual foghorn on a ship, this search does not actively bring solutions about for the most part, it only emphasizes the presence of difficulties (the fog). A third major object, or objects, that stand for an important concept in the play are alcohol and morphine. The reason I chose to group them together is because both stand for the same concept escape. Alcohol does it for the men in the family, and morphine is Marys scene, but they all seek to escape what plagues them and these substances alter their thinking and perception (at least in theory) to do that. Nearly every stressful conversation or encounter that brings up any of the familys troubles results in either one (or more) of the men drinking, or Mary going upstairs to take morphine I understand that Ive been a God-damned fool to believe in you! Tyrone says as he realizes that his wife is back on the drug, and immediately pours himself a big drink (Baym 1366). Edmund drinks on several occasions although he isnt supposed to due to his illness, and even though his father knows it, he still lets him drink with only symbolic protest, probably because he subconsciously realizes that Edmund needs the escape just like him (Baym 1393). This peaks in the final scenes of the play, when the whole family is under the influence, and in a state of stupor. In the effort to obscure the grim reality from their minds (all of this with the dense fog outside and the faint haziness in the air), the men are all drunk, and Mary is higher than ever on morphine, according to Tyrone (Baym 1416). Therefore, both alcohol and morphine stand for the familys collective effort of escape. From the examination of the above and other objects, props, or cultural artifacts in the play, it becomes evident that the vast majority of those used by ONeill were meant to stand for more complicated concepts, and to act as symbols that develop the major and underlying themes of the play.

Tin Facts (Atomic Number 50 or Sn)

Tin Facts (Atomic Number 50 or Sn) Tin is silver or gray metal with atomic number 50 and element symbol Sn. It is known for its use for early canned goods and in the manufacture of bronze and pewter. Here is a collection of tin element facts. Fast Facts: Tin Element Name: TinElement Symbol: SnAtomic Number: 50Atomic Weight: 118.71Appearance: Silver metal (alpha, ÃŽ ±) or gray metal (beta, ÃŽ ²)Group: Group 14 (Carbon Group)Period: Period 5Electron Configuration: [Kr] 5s2 4d10 5p2Discovery: Known to mankind since around 3500 BCE Tin  Basic Facts Tin has been known since ancient times. The first tin alloy to gain widespread use was bronze, an alloy of tin and copper. Humans knew how to make bronze as early as 3000 BCE. Word Origin: Anglo-Saxon tin, Latin stannum, both names for the element tin. Named after Etruscan god, Tinia; denoted by the Latin symbol for stannum. Isotopes: Many isotopes of tin are known. Ordinary tin is composed of ten stable isotopes. Twenty-nine unstable isotopes have been recognized and 30 metastable isomers exist. Tin has the greatest number of stable isotopes of any element, due to its atomic number, which is a magic number in nuclear physics. Properties: Tin has a melting point of 231.9681 °C, boiling point of 2270 °C, specific gravity (gray) of 5.75 or (white) 7.31, with a valence of 2 or 4. Tin is a malleable silvery-white metal which takes a high polish. It possesses a highly crystalline structure and is moderately ductile. When a bar of tin is bent, the crystals break, producing a characteristic tin cry. Two or three allotropic forms of tin exist. Gray or a tin has a cubic structure. Upon warming, at 13.2 °C gray tin changes to white or b tin, which has a tetragonal structure. This transition from the a to the b form is termed the tin pest. A g form may exist between 161 °C and the melting point. When tin is cooled below 13.2 °C, it slowly changes from the white form to the gray form, although the transition is affected by impurities such as zinc or aluminum and can be prevented if small amounts of bismuth or antimony are present. Tin is resistant to attack by sea, distilled, or soft tap water, but it will c orrode in strong acids, alkalis, and acid salts. The presence of oxygen in a solution accelerates the rate of corrosion. Uses: Tin is used to coat other metals to prevent corrosion. Tin plate over steel is use to make corrosion-resistant cans for food. Some of the important alloys of tin are soft solder, fusible metal, type metal, bronze, pewter, Babbitt metal, bell metal, die casting alloy, White metal, and phosphor bronze. The chloride SnCl ·H2O is used as a reducing agent and as a mordant for printing calico. Tin salts may be sprayed onto glass to produce electrically conductive coatings. Molten tin is used to float molten glass to produce window glass. Crystalline tin-niobium alloys are superconductive at very low temperatures. Sources: The primary source of tin is cassiterite (SnO2). Tin is obtained by reducing its ore with coal in a reverberatory furnace. Toxicity: Elemental tin metal, its salts, and its oxides present low toxicity. Tin-plated steel cans are still widely used for food preservation. Exposure levels of 100 mg/m3 are considered immediately dangerous. Legal permissible exposure from contact or inhalation is typically set around 2 mg/m3 per 8-hour work day. In contrast, organotin compounds are highly toxic, on par with that of cyanide. Organotin compounds are used to stabilize PVC, in organic chemistry, to make lithium ion batteries, and as biocidal agents. Tin  Physical Data Element Classification: MetalDensity (g/cc): 7.31Melting Point (K): 505.1Boiling Point (K): 2543Appearance: silvery-white, soft, malleable, ductile metalAtomic Radius (pm): 162Atomic Volume (cc/mol): 16.3Covalent Radius (pm): 141Ionic Radius: 71 (4e) 93 (2)Specific Heat (20 °C J/g mol): 0.222Fusion Heat (kJ/mol): 7.07Evaporation Heat (kJ/mol): 296Debye Temperature (K): 170.00Pauling Negativity Number: 1.96First Ionizing Energy (kJ/mol): 708.2Oxidation States: 4, 2Lattice Structure: TetragonalLattice Constant (Ã…): 5.820 Sources Emsley, John (2001). Tin. Natures Building Blocks: An A–Z Guide to the Elements. Oxford, England, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 445–450. ISBN 0-19-850340-7.Greenwood, N. N.; Earnshaw, A. (1997). Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 0-7506-3365-4.Weast, Robert (1984). CRC, Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Boca Raton, Florida: Chemical Rubber Company Publishing. pp. E110. ISBN 0-8493-0464-4.