Here's why -- the love story, between Jim Tyrone and Josie Hogan, is beautiful, complex, and tormented. Now you take Romeo and Juliet: he was hot for her, she was hot for him; not much of a story, really. I can't tell you now about the nature of the characters or the relationship -- you'll have to discover that for yourself.
The play is set in Connecticut, of course. And the playwright, Eugene O'Neill is a Connecticut native. And he's a heavyweight. As should become apparent as you read this.
Be sure to leave your name when you leave your response.
While reading this play, I was very confused about the relationships all the characters had with eachother. It wasn't until the very end when they all were explained,that I was able to understand and appreciate them. I also agree that having Josie and Jim's relationship be beautiful, complex, and tormented did make it more of an unpredictable, real story. Even though throughout the beginning and middle of the story I wasn't too caught up in the action, by the end I was really feeling for Josie and the situation she was in. I also was surprised and found it kind of funny how raw and blunt all the characters were. When I tried to imagine what a story based in Connecticut would be like I never thought of something like this. Overall, I enjoyed the play and liked that everything was summed up and accounted for in the end, unlike many other books that leave you hanging.
ReplyDelete~Cayla Mitzkovitz
I agree with you Cayla. I found that as I was reading the play, everything was fuzzy and confusing. When I got to the end, however, everything was made clear. There are stilol some questions that went unanswered, in my opinion, but for the most part everything was explained. Maybe it is because everyone pretty already knows the story of Romeo and Juliet before they read it, but I found, like Cayla, that I appreciated the unpredictability of the play and also liked the relationship between Jim and Josie as it made the play more interesting and original.
Delete~Brianne Gaudio
I am about halfway through this play and I agree with Cayla; the relationship that Josie has with her father is very strange. They are fighting with one another one second, and the next they are reminiscing about events of the past. I am very curious about why they act this way. I am also wondering about Jim's past and why he acts the way he does. Bye for now!
ReplyDelete~Courtney Schramm
I recently finished A Moon for the Misbegotten and I enjoyed it very much. We've never been assigned a play as summer reading before so it was a nice change.
ReplyDeleteI would like to bring up the subject of the parent-child relationship between Josie and Hogan. When Josie spoke to Mike about their father, she acknowledged that he is an "old divil" who cons and tricks people. However, in the same conversation, she lashed out at Mike for speaking disrespectfully about Hogan, claiming "He's my father too, and I like him if you don't."
On the surface, it appears as though Hogan doesn't care about Josie; he runs off and gets drunk and leaves her behind to fend for herself. These actions do not correspond with Hogan's behavior in the scene that the two tell off Harder. Hogan was proud of his daughter and her verbal jousting skills.
I think the reason Hogan and Josie were able to coexist peacefully is that they respected each other. Hogan respected Josie's size and power and Josie respected Hogan for dealing with her obnoxious brothers and being mentally quick. Josie, however, did not entirely trust her father. She suspected he was trying to set her up to marry Tyrone so that when Tyrone committed suicide, Josie would inherit his fortune.
Do any of my classmates have thoughts on their relationship? I will be sure to comment later about the relationship between Tyrone and Josie.
Amanda,
DeleteI find it interesting that you think that Hogan and Josie had respect for each other. I never really thought about their relationship that way. I felt that they coexisted peacefully due to their similarities. In my eyes, they were both full of schemes. Josie schemed to help her brothers move away, and she kept it from her father. On the other hand, Hogan was full of schemes with the whole Josie and Tyrone situation. Each character had the same mindset, they were both sneaky. Also, Josie and Hogan had a high tolerance for each other which helped keep them together. They were both equally as rude to one another.
I don't think that they respected each other, but I do think they definitely cared about each other. Josie cared for her father, that's why she didn't leave the farm like the other two brothers. She appeared tough and strong, however, she had a heart and she couldn't leave her old man to struggle on the farm by himself. On page 148, she even said, "Sure, living with you has spoilt me for any other man, anyway. There'd never be the same fun or excitement." Clearly, even after all of their arguments, Josie still cares for her father and appreciates him. Hogan cared for Josie when he admits to his scheming for the right reason. He says, "I wanted you to find happiness- by hook or crook, one way or another, what did I care how?" At this point, he truly cared about his daughter. He may not have been respectful of her, but he certainly cared about her and her happiness. Does anyone else have similar thoughts?
-Brianna Ricciardone
Brianna and Amanda,
DeleteI also contemplated the relationship between Hogan and Josie, finding it very different and unusual, yet intriguing. They definitely cared about each other, no matter how crazy each one made each other. I think we need to qualify how they cared for each other. I think they cared about themselves more and thought of themselves before thinking of the other. So they cared for each other, yet selfishly cared for themselves first. For Josie, I think this is good. If she didn't think about her well being first, she wouldn't have been at all happy in her situation of living with her drunken father. Yet, you know she does care for him, because she never leaves. So I agree, Brianna, that they cared for each other. But like I said before, i think the caring needs to be qualified. It's not the kind of caring you usually see among a father/ daughter relationship.
~Martha Denisky
Martha...
DeleteI am a bit confused with your opinion... Caring is caring & there are just different ways to display that one cares. One can care for someone a lot or a litte, yet the aspect of caring is still there. I don't really understand what you mean when you said that their care needs to be qualified. Even if Josie and Hogan were selfish, they still cared for each other. Their love for each other was still in existence even though it was almost subconscious. I believe that even if they weren't selfish, they would still care for each other. It's very obvious that they care for each other in a way that is different from the typical father/daughter relationship. I guess I'm just confused on what their selfishness has to do with the presence of care in their relationship? Can you elaborate, please? Because I'm actually really interested in where this is going! :)
-Brianna Ricciardone
Brianna,
DeleteSorry if my comment was a bit confusing! What I was trying to say is that the way they cared for each other needs to be elaborated on. Maybe my use of the word qualified was incorrect. They cared for each other, but not the way I would usually imagine what caring means. Maybe that's just my way of seeing what caring is. I think what I meant was that they're selfishness for caring for themselves first kind of "downgraded" the quality of the caring they had for each other. Maybe that will help explain what I was trying to say! :)
~Martha Denisky
I agree that Hogan and Josie cared for each other, but like Martha said I am unsure as to whether or not they care for one another above their own selves. Hogan seems to turn to his drink as consolation for himself, when as a father he should be helping Janie first. He deals with problems this way throughout the story- when he thinks he is going to lose his farm, when his wife died, etc.
DeleteHowever, I am sticking to my guns that Hogan and Janie respect each other. I think that this respect, whether is comes from fear or admiration, is what allows them to coexist peacefully. In Hogan's own words to Janie:
"But to tell the truth, I'm well satisfied you're what you are, though I shouldn't say it, because if you was the decent kind you'd have married some fool long ago and I'd have lost your company and your help on the farm."
This quote tells me three things: that Hogan cares about Janie's presence and he values her as a companion, that (getting back to my previous point) Hogan has underlying selfish reasons for appreciating Janie, and that Hogan respects Janie for the independent woman she is. Although Hogan uses the word "decent" to describe the average woman, it is clear to me that this is laced with sarcasm and that in this context Hogan means that "decent" is "naiive."
Brianna: I think you may have been confused by the difference between respecting each other and being respectful of each other. I definitely see what you're saying though.
OHHH okay, Martha!
DeleteI understand now... it makes more sense. Because the "caring" they showed wasn't typical of a father/daughter relationship, and because they often had selfish motives behind everything, it downgraded their "caring", as you pointed out. Thank you for clearing that up. Because they definitely do care for each other... just not the type of care we are used to in our lives. Sorry for being so confused, what you were tryingto say makes more sense now!
And Amanda... thank you for clearing that difference up, as well. I guess I was unclear between respect for someone and being respectful of someone. Once you said that Josie and Hogan have respect FOR each other it's different than what I was interpreting it as. They do have respect for each other (which goes along for the care they have for each other) but they do not certainly respect each other. Your post cleared that up for me. Thank you for that!
-Brianna Ricciardone
By the end of this play, I had begun to feel bad for Josie. She was first portrayed as a beast of a woman; someone who should not be pitied, but rather feared. However, as the play progressed and we learned more about her, she became very easy to relate to. Her emotions were very real as the mask she put up to protect herself from heartbreak came off. I also sympathized with Jim as he shared his haunting past with Josie. We get the feeling that he really is a sensitive man who had so much love for his mother and never wanted to disappoint her by drinking. I think that Jim's sensitivity and honesty is what made Josie love him so much, and why she was eventually able to let him go in the end.
ReplyDelete~Courtney Schramm
Courtney makes a really good point about Josie, You see these two very different sides of Josie throughout this play. You see the very brash and strong side of Josie and then you see the softer side of where you see her compasssion for Jim. I felt that throughout the novel you see Josie trying to hide the softer side of her from her father because she knows that her father will exploit it. It was really interseting to see this inner conflict within Josie.
DeleteWhen I fist started reading this play, I thought that Josie was going to be this person who is always talking about all of her affairs and being really annoying with all the insults to her father. But that is not at all what happened and I'm glad about that. O'Neill really does a great job with in showing us who Josie really is by peeling one layer of her character at a time.
~Rebecca Heilman
I see what both of you are saying about Josie's character. We deffinitely have seen two sides to her, and I think the way we saw her character open up was well done. In the beginning, all we saw of her character were those rough, tough, almost masculine qualities. However, it was apparent that she had to take on a motherly role with her brothers; aiding them in their escapes and basically defending them from her father. I really liked how that maternal aspect played into her revealing her other side. It wasn't until Josie hears about all of Jim's sadness that she again takes on that motherly role, and helps Jim through his troubles. I was happy to see her finally open up and reveal that side to someone.
DeleteRachel Takes
Courtney I couldn't have said it better myself! I found Josie, as the book/play progressed to be very easy to relate to. She was just trying her hardest to be loved back from Jim. Heartbreak hurts, but because Josie was also strong and tough on the outside she was able to hide the hurt quite well. If I was Josie I personally would not be able to hide the hurt for long. But with a father like Josie's she couldn't express her feelings outloud in front of him because he would just blad about them to Jim. I would honestly hate to have a father like Josie's. I can tell my dad anything and know he wouldn't tell a soul.
DeleteI also agree with Rachel how I liked when you saw Josie play a motherly role with her brothers. She showed she was always there for them. I thought that was sweet of her helping Mike escape and get away from their tough, alcoholic father.
-Tori Cronin
I agree with Cayla and Courtney in the first two posts-the relationship between Josie and Hogan is interesting. Just as these ladies commented, Josie and Hogan hate each other one moment and the next they are kind to one another. As I read this book and watched this relationship unfold, the play "A Streetcar Named Desire" came to mind. In this play, Stella and Stanley fight for a time. Then instantly, Stanley stands outside calling "Stella!" The couple is no longer fighting. These two relationship resemble one another in that they are a constant cycle. Love, fight, make-up, and so on. Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteHey there Chiara,
DeleteI just finished the play, and I can definitely understand where you're coming from. Both Josie & Hogan and Stella & Stanely fall into similar cycles. In "A Streetcar Named Desire" the cycle was more physical as Stanley hits Stella at one point. However, in "A Moon for the Misbegotten", it was equally abusive through verbal abuse. The things Josie said to her father were unacceptable. (As many other bloggers have pointed out, as well.) She was constantly telling her father to, "Shut up!", and she repeatedly called him names when he was drunk.
In fact, the way that the father and daughter verbally attacked each other lost the sense of authority a father should have over his children. In 1923, when this play was set, one would think that a father would have great authority over his children, but in this play, Hogan seems to have lost all control. I understand that his children are all adults when this play takes place, but there is a lack of respect within their relationships, and I think this is because of Hogan's nature. He has allowed his relationships with his children to be this way. Maybe it is because he is a drunk or maybe he has always been that way even when his children were young...who knows! But, while reading this, it is evident that two of his children have moved away from his farm against Hogan's will. If his two sons had respect for their father, and if their father had respect for them, then maybe they wouldn't have fled the farm. Clearly, they were smart enough to get away from such a negative environment! Hogan doesn't maintain a relationship with these two children during the play, and they seem exiled from his life. Josie is the only one who tolerates his abusive words and exhausting labor because she is the only one strong enough to handle it. Although it seems like she does not respect her father, she must carry some sort of respect for him deep, down inside because she has not fled the farm left. She must care for him, regardless of all their fighting, because she hasn't left yet!
Hogan and Josie fight nonstop, and their bickering sometimes gets confusing. I don't know if it's just me, or if anybody else felt this way, as well? As I read, I found myself constantly zoning out during Josie's and Hogan's arguments. Then, I wouldn't understand what was going on and I would miss key points. I had to reread portions of their fights over and over because I couldn't stay focused. Did anybody else find their arguments boring/confusing? I know they were important to show the relationship between the two characters, but I think it was quite excessive. They couldn't have a normal conversation without calling each other names or swearing at each other. It was ridiculous! What are your thoughts?
Toodles!
-Brianna Ricciardone
"Although it seems like she does not respect her father, she must carry some sort of respect for him deep, down inside because she has not fled the farm left. She must care for him, regardless of all their fighting, because she hasn't left yet!"
DeleteSorry, I made an error. I don't know why I wrote that I think Josie carries some respect for her father. I do not think that at all! She is not respectful of him, but she does care for him. And the fact that she cares for him is the only thing that keeps her on the farm. She does not hold any respect for her father. If she did, she wouldn't say half of the things she said to him during the play. Sorry, I just wanted to clear that up!
-Brianna Ricciardone
Yes! I completely agree that Josie has no respect for her father. I do think that she stays on the farm simply out of a sense of duty to him and the place she grew up. Also, I agree that he arguments were at times boring and confusing. So true. Sorry I didn't see this until now!
DeleteAt first when i began reading A Moon for the Misbegotten, i was taken back by the relationship Josie and her father had. I was shocked by the way they would insult and yell at each other. But as I read through the play, i realized that even though they fought and called each other names, they still cared about each other. I think their relationship isn't very different from the relationship many kids have with their parents. I know I've called my father "a drunken old loon"(or something along the lines of that) from time to time, but i still love him.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I enjoyed this play. Even though it wasn't especially action-packed or suspenseful, I was never bored with it and had no problem finishing it.
~Meera Davé
I totally agree with you Meera, although the way they insulted each other made me laugh. If I said half the things that Josie said to her father I would be smacked.
DeleteThis is not a typical father-daughter relationship. Most of the time the fathers are overbearing and trying to protect their little girl and Hogan is NOT that father. He is the swindling farmer that cons money out of people and brings his daughter to help. But he does truely care for Josie.
This relationship that Eugene O'Neill created definitely makes this play way more interesting and I really like how the dialouge plays between Josie and her father. It shows how similar father and daughter when it comes to their tempers and thier insults. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Like Meera said, I've gotten into fights with my Dad... But, I would never say any of the things Josie did towards my Father!
DeleteBetween Josie and Hogan, their loud mouth bickering was quite unlike any father daughter relationships that there are today. But we have to remember, times have changed quite a bit!
"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Soooooo true Rebecca!
Meera, I completely agree. At first look, Josie and Hogan's relationship is very strange and a little bit confusing, but at the end, we learn that they really do care for eachother. I think Josie and Hogan often argue like in the book because that is just the way they communicate and that they don't really mean anything by it. Also, even though Josie called Hogan names, she still took good care of him, which was, for me at least, the first sign of there being some deeper connection between them than what is just on the sirface. I enjoyed this play as well because there was a sort of fun involved in trying to figure out what was going on.
DeleteI agree with Brianne that everyone had a different style of communicating with people. For some people it’s a certain look and they know, for others like Josie and her father, Hogan it involves lot of yelling and lots of insults. Somehow through all that yelling and insults though they got what they needed across to one another. I think that without their unique dialogue the play would have been a lot blander and less entertaining.
DeletePeople have mentioned that times were different back then; a much higher level of respect was had for parents and adults than nowadays. Josie and Hogan’s relationship goes against that by how they talk to one another. There is little respect for Josie or Hogan and their verbal arguments are the perfect example. This isn’t the only thing that makes the two’s relationship different from others back then or nowadays either.
Samantha Riley
After reading A Moon for the Misbegotten, I was almost content on how the play ended. I wish Tyrone stayed with Josie because she deserved someone who loved her, and he was the only one who admired her or could have handled her. Even though he couldn't have had a relationship with her, it was a dissapointment to see Josie alone from beginning to end. She got bits and pieces of hope in between the play, especially when he almost stood her up, but then he spent the night with her. It was also devious that Josie and her father were willing to use Tyrone's alcholism against him to trick him into marrying Josie, because you saw their true colors. Overall, I was inspired by Josie's descion to let Tyrone go because she knew that he had to heal himself without her. They both knew he wouldn't come back and that had to be the hardest feeling for them both. Personally, I don't think I would have the courage to let the love of my life go.
ReplyDeleteI really liked her relationship with her father Phil because they weren't afraid to get mad at each other. It was humorous and beautiful the way they would fight, but at the end of the day, they had each others backs and would think back on their memories. Both of them were hard-headed and I think that is the reason both of them learned to love and tolerate eachother. On the other side, if I ever spoke to my parents that way, I would be beyond punished. I also liked how the story was set in Connecticut because it gave me a chance to compare and contrast me and Josie's lives.
This play was enjoyable and I liked how Josie was such a connectable character. She wanted to be accepted and I think we can all agree at one point or another, we want to be accepted for the way we are too.
-Anna Giangregorio
"She wanted to be accepted and I think we can all agree at one point or another, we want to be accepted for the way we are too."
DeleteHoly Moly, Anna! I love that line! It fits the story of this play PERFECTLY. Josie struggled the whole play to be accepted. She wanted acceptance from her father (that is why she always hid her feelings and acted strong and tough to him), she wanted acceptance with the people in the town (so she acted like she was promiscuous so that people would have something to talk about her), and she wanted to be accepted by Jim (She gave him forgiveness for his past actions in hopes that he would accept her and love her). Unfortunately, she never really got acceptance from Jim. He went off to live his Broadway life, and Josie had to watch him go off while she was secretly sad inside. During her moonlight date with Jim, she felt a sense of acceptance. The fact that Jim had come to her to tell him his story, and the fact that he slept on her under the stars made her feel accepted. She enjoyed that feeling, only to have it leave. She started the play longing for acceptance, and ended it in the same state. Poor girl! Does anybody disagree? Or does anybody think that she actually did get the acceptance she longed for?
-Brianna Ricciardone
Thank you Brianna!
DeleteI agree with you because as soon as she was accepted, it was taken away from her. I'm sad that Jim left because I think he was the only one that could have made her happy and be left feeling accepted by society. By the end of the book though, I feel like she accepted herself and her life, even though Jim had left her. She knew that they wouldn't be together and I think after he left she was okay because she was independent. I also agree with Matt for saying that Jim probably killed himself. I feel like that was the only way Jim would have freedom and accept himself.
Anna, I agree with you that I wish Tyrone would have stayed with Josie instead of leaving. Josie letting Jim go showed how strong and brave she is for those she cares about. We already knew she was brave when helping those she loves, like her brothers, but in that scene, we got to see it in a different way that was more difficult than helping her brothers escape. Even though I knew Jim would have to heal on his own, I feel sympathy for him and wish that Josie would have been more forceful in trying to get him to stay with her. I feel like Tyrone could have been happy with Josie if he would just let the past go. I also like how the play was set in Connecticut. We don't really read many plays or books that are set in Connecticut and it was interesting to have that sort of connection with the play even if things were much different then than they are now.
Delete~Brianne Gaudio
Anna... I didn't even think of it that way. Now that you say it, In a way, she DID gain acceptance. Maybe it wasn't the kind of acceptance that she was striving for, (seeing as I felt that she longed for the acceptance ofnthosenaround her), but she definitely came to accept herself. Baby steps! She could never be accepted by society if she didn't learn to accept resell first. I too felt that itnwouldmhave been nice if Jim could have stayed around to love her?..but, hey, life's not always fair! At least she got to spill her heart out to him.
DeleteIn regards to your opinion on Jim's potential suicide, that could very well be a possibility. I personally didn't think that he killed himself, but anything could have happened with him... It's up to the reader to decide. I don't think o'neill felt that it was an important detail, that's why it was left unclear. I think the important thing was that Jim Gained acceptance from someone he "loved". I feel like that's all he needed to do in order to carry on with his life, however you are completely right when you say that he would never be totally free/ accepted until death. What does everyone else think of him? Do you think he moved on with his life in a better light or do you think that he killed himself?
-brianna ricciardone
I agree with Anna- I found Josie to be easy to connect to and also easy to admire due to her strength and independence. I found it especially interesting how Tyrone seemed to see through Josie's act of toughness and promiscuity. Josie put up this act for everyone, although Tyrone broke though it when he got Josie to confess her virginity. Josie's love for Tyrone became almost paternal during his stay at her house. She cradled him to her bosom and reassured him as he confessed to his guilt about a blonde woman he paid for sex on a train and missing his mother's funeral.
ReplyDeleteLike Anna said, I think Josie eventually saw that Tyrone's guilt and self-reproach were something that their love alone count not surmount. I was unclear, however, on what happened to Tyrone after he left Josie's house. Did he commit suicide?
-Amanda Danielson
Amanda,
DeleteThe ending left me a wee bit confused too. I couldn't tell if Tyrone committed suicide or not. After rereading the last scene a couple of times, I am under the impression that he didn't die. In the last lines, Josie says, " May you have your wish and die in your sleep soon, Jim, darling. May you rest forever in forgiveness and peace." The fact that she says "die in your sleep soon," leads me to believe that he is still alive and she is referencing back to page 120 where she said that Tyrone looked "so pale, with his eyes closed," in the moonlight. In that scene Tyrone asked, "You mean I looked dead?", as though he was fond of the idea of dying in his sleep. I may be totally off here, but I definitely know that in the final scene, Josie is referencing to that moment in the moonlight. As for the "May you rest forever in forgiveness and peace," line, this means that Tyrone should finally feel forgiven and stop worrying about the sins of his past. After telling Josie the story about his mother's death, the blonde prostitute, the train cart, and the fact that he didn't attend his own mother's funeral... Josie wants him to feel forgiven. Tyrone wanted to tell her the story so bad, because he wanted forgiveness from his mother more than anything. He even said, "She'd understand and forgive me, don't you think?" He loved his mother so much, and he felt that the only way to gain her forgiveness was to get forgiveness from someone else he loved; hence why he went to Josie to vent his feelings.
Anyways, the bottome line is... I don't think that Tyrone committed suicide. I think that Josie said what she said in the last lines of the play to show that he was forgiven and that she still loved him. Does anyone else have a different interpretation of this?
-Brianna Ricciardone
Brianna and Amanda,
DeleteI too was a bit confused by Josie's last words: "May you have your wish and die in your sleep soon, Jim, darling. May you rest forever in forgiveness and peace."
I feel like Josie's use of death here is metaphorically used, and not a hint that Jim committed suicide. Although it does seem like it definitely could be. I guess we won't ever know. Yet, I feel as though Josie uses the concept of death through out the play as a metaphor for escape, especially when Jim is sleeping. When Jim falls asleep with her near, she talks about how he seems dead, etc. I think she is thinking about how peaceful he seems, since one who is not alive would have no sign of worry and stress of life on their face. I think she is hoping he will become more satisfied with his life and live in peace. Now, I guess we will never know if his interpretation of true happiness and peace is actual death or just forgetting and moving on.
~Martha Denisky
Martha...
DeleteExactly! We won't ever know if Jim wants death or just to be forgiven. In my opinion, I believe that Jim only longs for forgiveness. I don't think that he actually wishes to be dead to end his suffering as he lives with the memory of his past.
You know that feeling when you do something you know is wrong and all that you want is for someone you care about to tell you that everything is going to be okay? That's exactly what Jim was feeling like up until the point of the revealation of his past to Josie. His past had been haunting him because he hadn't had anyone he loved to share it with. He wished that it could just be accepted by someone whose opinions he valued. So when this oppurtunity came about for him to share his past with Josie, it was the perfect chance for him to get everything off of his chest. He needed to get it all out because it had been bothering him for so long. So by telling Josie, a huge weight was lifted off of his shoulders. Plus, the fact that she told him that she forgives him for his actions was a huge deal. If she hadn't told him that she forgave him, he might have gone off and committed suicide like we were all lead to believe. All he really wanted was for the woman he loved to tell him everything was going to be okay. Thank goodness Josie was able to give that to him because then he was able to go off and live a better life without his guilty conscience. Do you think that his life would have been different if Josie had not forgiven him? Does anyone think that his relationship with Josie would have changed, or that their date under the moon would have been different? I'm curious to see everyone's opinions.
-Brianna Ricciardone
I am currently one fourth of the way through this book, and I think Eugene O'Neill did a great job writing this book so far. Unlike other summer reading books, it is written in a play format, making it easier to follow. The characters in the book have unique character traits unlike any other book I have read in my lifetime; Josie is a very tough and defensive person, while Mike is a man with morals, yet arrogant about them. Hogan treats his children as if they are less than him, yet Jim Tyrone has respect (and perhaps even a crush) for Josie. The book's uniqueness has really gotten me attatched to this story.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Matt's opinions on each charachter. I loved the same uniqueness that got me flipping the pages of this play too!
DeleteIn many ways I can really look up to Josie... How strong of a person she is even though everyone in her life pretty much left her. Both of her brothers moved out, and on to a bigger and better life; and Jim Tyrone went back to Broadway after confessing his love to her. She has quite the backbone if you ask me! Especially after being the only person to stick around and take after her father, and the farm.
hey matt and tori
DeleteI also like the wide variety of personality O'Neill created in MFTM.
I actually really liked the character Hogan. At first he is made out a tyrant of his family, working his sons as slaves (eventually resulting in their running away), and I was disgusted. But his wit and tenderness, although very sarcastic, towards Josie makes this relationship my favorite in the three books. Josie is developed as a strong woman, mentally and physically; the perfect child to counterbalance the explosive and sometimes abusive personality of Hogan. At first I saw Hogan as a foil of Josie, but that isn't true at all. In fact their personalities are parallel in multiple ways. Their witty, name calling spats made the book believable and amusing.
Hogan was also a straight up snake, but doesn't every play need one to spur it along? The fact that he tricked his daughter that night led to the most important conversation in the play, where Josie cradles a drunken Tyrone on the steps of her room.
Matt, I also liked how each character had such unique character traits. I remember reading some plays last year in class and the characters were generally pretty similar, so they were easily confused. I didn't have that problem reading this one!!
DeleteAnd I also agree that having Hogan's character be as mean, sneaky, and sarcastic as he was made the story pretty entertaining. Their relationship kept me reading. But in reality I could NEVER deal with a father like that!
Rachel Takes
In response to Tori's comment... Do you think that Josie was so independent and emotionally/physically strong because she had no choice? In some ways, I can see that she is independent and strong for sticking with her father, like many have mentioned... But, on the other hand, after thinking about it for awhile I feel like she is just as weak as she appears to be strong. She was weak in the sense that she put on this tough front to make herselfappear stronger than she really was. She never showed any emotions because she was afraid to, besides to Jim. The fact that she never spoke sincere words to her father or any one for that matter, led me to believe that she wasn't as strong as she seemed. I feel that a strong woman is one who can fully accept herself and not care what others think. Josie cared of other's opinions... that's why she acted the way she did and never showed her true emiotions. She didn't truly become a strong woman until the end of the play, when she was able to confess her feelings to Jim. Also, she didn't have the courage to run off and make a better life for herself like her brothers did. She even acknowledged that her brothers' lives were more successful and pleasant after they left the farm, yet she still stuck around with her father. Some people may see it as an act of strength because she stayed with her father... But I think the opposite. I think that she was too afraid to leave him/ to go off by herself. She was strangely close to Hogan, and she wasn't strong enough to get up and leave to make life better for herself. She used this shield of toughness to conceal her true feelings. Does anyone else see where I'm going with this one? Do you think that she was just as weak as she was strong? That her emotional strength was just a cover up for her true feelings? Or do you think that she really didn't know any better becasue of her surroundings/the events that occurred in her life?
Delete-Brianna Ricciardone
Act 3 has left me feeling sorry for Tyrone. At first, I thought he was nothing but a pimp; a man who only cared about his whores on Broadway. Now, I see how the loss of his beloved mother has traumatized him severely. His mother was the only person who kept him from drinking. Now, he is a drunk mess. His story is so compelling that even Josie, the "tough" character, feels sorrow for Tyrone. I can only predict that Tyrone commits suicide at the end of the book.
ReplyDeleteMatt- I felt the same way. My opinion of Tyrone changed completely. It left me feeling sympathetic for his situation. I believe Mrs. Morrison would have said that was the author using "pathos," right? You could feel compassion for him, just as Josie was feeling. And I had a very similar prediction about how Tyrone would be at the end of the play.
Delete~Martha Denisky
Matt and Martha- I can't say I completely agree with you. Throughout the entire play I never had a set impression on who Tyrone was or what his true motives were. After all, even Josie throughout the play would have moments of hopefulness for Jim to turn out to be a good man.
DeleteMultiple references were made suggesting that Tyrone was just a pimp that cared about his whores, but throughout the entire play I was wishywashy on wether or not he would turn out to be a good guy. Though I honestly had no clue if he would actually show up for his date with Josie, I did have hope for him.
Corey, I get what you're saying... I never really formed a legit opinion on Tyrone while I was reading the play. I didn't even realize he was that important of a character until his moonlight date with Josie. (whoopsiees!) It wasn't until I sat here and read all of these posts that I formed an opinion on Tyrone, and I ended up not liking him at all. Although I was sad when he shared his story regarding his mother's funeral... I felt like he was just using Josie to get all of his feeling's off his chest. While Josie actually started to grow stronger feelings for him (which was evident when she started crying because he didn't show up at first.)I feel like Josie cared for Tyrone wayyyyy more than he did for her. But, while reading, I still carried the same hope for him as you did. I wanted him to show up to see Josie that night, and I wanted things to work out between Josie and Tyrone... but only for Josie's sake.
Delete-Brianna Ricciardone
The brashness and crudeness of both Josie and Hogan seems to actually hold them closer rather than tear them apart. When talking to eachother, they appear to expect, and almost enjoy, the brutal honesty in their conversations. They both look down upon Mike because of he acts pretentious and superior, and uses God to make passive-aggressive judgements, i.e., "...I'll keep on praying for you," and when he decides to take the stolen money because, as he says, "It's rightfully mine." Josie and Hogan, however, have no illusions of being superior or noble. Josie is fine with admitting that she has been quite...liberal in her social life, to put it gently; Hogan knows that he is often cruel, is a drunk, and is conniving. And they both show no restraint in calling out the other on these faults.
ReplyDelete-Kyle Ciesco
I almost feel like they do it because they don't know any other way. Any of their more loving conversations always ended with sarcastic filler, because they didn't really know what else to say. They didn't want to get too close, either.
DeleteGood point, Ariel. I agree. Josie is around Hogan all the time... so she acts like him because she doesn't know how else to respond. She doesn't share her feelings with him, because he doesn't really show any emotions to her. They just argue and act sarchastically because that's what they're used to. Josie and Hogan don't have a lovey-dovey relationship, so that's why they act they way they do.
Delete-Brianna Ricciardone
Agreed! Josie grew up with her father bickering and it obviously had to have rubbed off on her. Josie and Hogan can go back and forth all the time, yet it doesn't seem like either of them ever take it to heart... Proving it happens on the regular.
DeleteAs for not wanting to get too close... Josie and Hogan had many similarities and the fact that she stuck with him instead of moving out like her brothers gave me the impression that they were. Maybe not in a lovey-dovey sense like Brianna said, but by the way the kid, tease, and knock each other around.. I think their relationship is very tight.
By the way, it took me lke 45 minutes to figure out how to post on this thing. #irritating
ReplyDeleteOh Kyle, you and your hashtags....
DeleteI find it entertaining how the conversations between Josie and her father are blunt, brash, and full of sarcasm. They both do not hold anything back when they speak to one another, and share a father-daughter relationship that I have never seen before. I find it a little disturbing that they are so proud of pulling of scams and cheating people of their hard earned money. They both have a common feeling of enjoyment and cooperation when committing these acts. The way characters are described in the play makes it very easy to imagine how the characters would look and sound if they were in front of us. The characters are distinct and unique, making them memorable. The characters also openly accept what others view them as and take those roles proudly such as how Mike is "a priest's pet" and Josie is " the scandal of the neighborhood."
ReplyDeletei agree with you about the relationship between Josie and Hogan. Although they may seem brash, they love each other very much, even when they scam people. I think they like to scam people because they find amusement from other people's stupidity and because they are very good at what. Obviously they don't believe in God like Mike did, but they have do have morals. In the beginning, Josie shows her rough edges but as the book goes on, the author conveys Josie's emotions and her limits. We can see her love for Jim and Josie even tries to deny it but her emotions speak louder than her words. These characters are definitely not one dimensional show their uniqueness as the book moves along. The author takes his time and develops each character at the pace at which we can comprehend it and tries to portray each character like someone we would see in an average CT town.
DeleteNick Sardo
While I was reading this book it became very apparent that the relationship between Josie and her father was incredibly unique. Josie was the only child of Hogan who was left at home after she assisted Mike in leaving. This alone demonstrated her strong personality and her lack of fear of her father. Throughout the story it was hard to tell if Josie and her father were actually insulting each other out of spite, or if it really was their way of showing each other affection. Closer to the end of the story I was confused as to if Hogan was scheming against his daughter, or if he really was just a rambling drunk. It seems that both Josie and Hogan were the only ones that were able to see through each other’s lies and bonded over their scheming, so it was difficult to imagine this unusual trust between them being broken. The relationship between Tyrone and Josie was constantly confusing me, mostly because Josie didn’t want her to let her emotional wall down and let herself appear vulnerable. Does anybody else have any thoughts on the relationship between Josie and Tyrone?
ReplyDeleteAshley Childers
Ashley,
DeleteI totally agree with you. I was so confused by Josie's and Hogan's relationship throughout this entire play. I didn't understand anything. They fought, then they worked together, then they fought, then he was against her, then she hated him, then they fought some more... on and on and on! Each new scene of bickering left me more and more confused.
As for the relationship between Tyrone and Josie that you mentioned, I agree with your thoughts. Josie was always surrounded by her disfunctional relationship with her father, she probably didn't know how to show her emotions towards Tyrone. When facing her father, Josie had to appear tough and she often threatened to beat him. Because she was stuck on this farm with her father, she always acted strong. Her father's nature forced her to be that way. She never showed any true emotions when she was around Hogan, except for when she was bawling her eyes out when she thought Tyrone didn't show up for their date in the moonlight. She spent her whole life putting up an emotional wall because of her rough father, so when the time came to show her true feelings toward Tyrone, she didn't know how to. She never showed affection or love towards Hogan, so she didn't know how to with Tyrone. It was a new experience for her, and she seemed scared by it. During her "date" with Tyrone, she had so many bottled up emotions. It was all new to her and she was overwhelmed. But, once she heard Tyrone say he loved her, she opened up and let her guard down. That's just my opinion though, does anybody else think differently about their relationship?
-Brianna Ricciardone
So, I don't know who "Tony Kushner" is, with his "It's not excessive to say that O'neal blah blah serious American drama."
ReplyDeleteTony Kushner is horribly misleading. The entire back of this book is just so misleading.
I found A Moon For the Misbegotten to be absolutely ridiculous. It was just all over the place. By the end I literally had to tell myself the author was joking to even get through it.
The first two acts of the play were whatever. It was a little bit of plot development and annoying, one-dimensional characters bickering at each other. But you know, whatever. Its wasn't too long or verbose and you could skip all the descriptions because they were basically in the same place the whole time.
And even the personalities of the main characters were pretty straight forward; you don't really detest the characters for their stupidity until Act 3.
Then page 93 came around and I just didnt even know. I still don't even know.
So Jim Tyrone is this hotshot who loves the ladies, but he's got a dark, sad, woe-is-me side?
"Hi, im Jim Tyrone, and I have money and I'm going to have sex with you, but guess what else, I'm a dark romantic and deep and compassionate. I'm so appealing and sad"
And then you have Josie over here, without any kind of BS filter or anything, letting this guy fill her to the brim with his drunken stupidity. Its like, first he blows her off, then he tells her, a woman of 28, that she cant do as she pleases, then he tries to rape her, then he's sad, then he's making her feel bad for him with his inability to conquer his own demons, and then he's leaving, then he's not, and then he cries again and it cycles. Just streamlined nonsense.
And Josie, this strong, motherly type, with her new found "dignity" because well what do ya know? She really is a virgin, and by God she must be compassionate for letting all those men say they've had their way with her! What a saint! Otherwise, what else would those old, disgusting pervert men talk about? It's their reputations at stake here people!
But anyway, Josie is just sitting there eating this all up. She mothered her brothers, why not mother this grown adult, too! She loves listening to this druken child spew his made up problems. I mean, sure, his mom died. It's sad, and I'd never wish it upon anyone. But the rest of that crap, the issues with alcohol, the sex, the self-deprecating actions, were all done on his regard. He did it to himself. He was addicted to his own destruction and loved every minute of it. Only later did it truly bother him that he didn't remember anything and would never build relationships. But he went into those situations completely aware of what would happen, because they had happened so many times before. He knew what it felt like after. The truth of the matter is, Jim Tyrone was a big baby who didn't know how to deal with his problems, so he let them exist.
And then Josie's over here with her mom radar going off like a heart monitor. Shes swooning over deep and distressed Jim, and saying things like "Oh Jim, darrrliiinnnggggg, how grateful I am that you came to me with your troubles" and loving the fact that she was the one that distressed Jim could confide in. She got to play mommy to a boy who lost his! How gratifying.
And then I'm sitting over here like KJHFGKNERGOIGRENHG.
ERRRGH. DAHBUHAGH!
But I guess it wasnt all bad, Eugene O'neil made sure to add that little piece of comedic family love between Josie and Hogan right at the end! I mean, c'mon, how can you say no to a little bit of PG family cliche, right after a long night of becoming a mother? Totally made it worth the Pultizer Prize four times over.
Sorry, but ashfgjdsbfoadush. I had to rant.
Wow. This is the exact same reaction i had to "Catcher in the Rye". They both have characters who decide that their lives are terrible and that they have no control over the matter, completely unwilling to admit that maybe it's their fault that things don't go quite their way. And to hear them whine about how awful life has been to them when you know its largely their fault can be quite infuriating. For the record, had Jim at any point used the word "phony" I would have thrown the book across the room and never picked it up again. #overratedliterature
Delete-Kyle Ciesco
Ariel: A lot of what you said is true. I agree that Jim Tyrone acted pathetically and that Janie may have lost some of my respect for waiting around for him and letting him sob on her breast. However, these things did not lead me to dislike this book. Rather, I liked it because it was able to draw such strong opinions and emotions from the reader. I also liked it because O'Neil perfectly embodied all of the unfulfilled, lonely drunkards of the world in Jim Tyrone. Underneath the layers of melodrama, there is an underlying theme of finding peace and forgiveness within oneself.
DeleteUnder the "moon for the misbegotten," Janie was able to face her weaknesses of insecurity and shyness (which she covered up with lies of promiscuity) and Tyrone faced his guilt from the past. I guess in short, though Josie's and Tyrone's meeting may seem pathetic, but O'Neil's intent was not to prove whether or not it was. O'Neil perfectly exemplified the human desire for forgiveness, acceptance, and freedom from guilt through the embellishment of the scenario between Josie and Tyrone.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Delete*Josie not Janie
Deletehahaha Ariel this is great!! I laughed reading this and am so happy you posted it! I definitely see the story from your side more now...it was ridiculous how Josie just crumbled at the attention from Jim...and Jim is trying to get pity for the stupidity of his actions on the train and his constant alcohol abuse! I love it. haha if this was facebook, "Megan DeRoy likes this" :)
Deleteoh and the ending is definitely a "Full House" or Danny Tanner kind of moment, if any of you watch Full House haha ps...I'm sick of "proving I'm not a robot" before I can post lol
DeleteI must admit, I was thoroughly excited that we had a play to read for a summer reading assignment. Many plays we have read in the past have had a difficulty to them when reading, for the author develops most of the plot through only dialogue. It's hard to grasp what's going on with it sometimes. I definitely agree with Ariel. This book was "all over the place." I found my mind wandering to different, unrelated subjects as I tried to read it. What really drove me crazy was the amount of suspense the author created when Hogan was telling Josie what he heard down at the Inn. He just couldn't stay on topic. It would take tons of pages just to get to the point.
ReplyDeleteNow, on to Josie's character. Her outlook on her own life varies greatly. One minute she is helping her brother escape her father's work, yet the next she is helping her father scheme and create sly plans. She really loves Hogan. You can really tell because of how she can never stay mad at him for long. For example, she is terribly mad at Hogan at the end of Act Four, for he tricked her into the whole scheme of the night before. Yet at the end, she is telling him she will go inside with him and get his breakfast. This love/hate relationship between the two is what keeps the play moving- with all the silly little arguments.
As I think about Josie in her world, I realize her strong, independent character is what keeps her successful in the play. If she was timid, she wouldn't have "survived" all the arguments and the alcoholic traits of her father. I really liked when her soft side came out, though. She is compassionate and forgiving. Especially when Tyrone told her his woeful story of how he was just trying to feel happy again out in Broadway.
Again, I agree completely with Ariel's points about how everyone seemed completely dependent on Josie. A good question to ask yourself is, how could Hogan, Josie's brothers, or even Tyrone get through life with out her? Would they fail and give up? Or would they learn to fend for themselves?
~Martha Denisky
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteMartha and Ariel: I also agree that everyone seems dependent on Josie. This is uncharacteristic for the time during which the play is set because men were usually the ones running farms. Josie reminds me of Bathsheba from Far From the Madding Crowd in this way. Everyone's dependence on Josie also reminds me of a similar situation in The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. Gregor's family was so dependent on him to be the breadwinner and support the whole family that when he transformed into a massive insect, they were helpless. I feel like the same thing would happen if Josie were to leave the farm.
Delete"Pride is the sin by which the angels fell." A brilliant allusion to the characters in the story and also of course, references the fall of Lucifer and the other demons of Hell, from the grace of God because they are in fact, fallen angels. I think that line does a good job of describing, in one way or another, almost all of the characters in the book. Josie is the heroine of the story, strong, bold and rough. She has a very bad reputation and holds onto her remaining pride with all her strength. Hogan is a brute of a man, who values his personal pride and respect more than anything. He'll use physical violence to keep it. Tyrone is different though, he has lost almost all of his pride. He drank away his pains and you can see that he is a husk of a man. He is broken by the world and has many secrets. He has already fallen from everyone's grace.
ReplyDeleteI'd also like to say, that Josie being a virgin didn't really suprise me. In fact, it was almost expected. I mean, the only real indication you have of her not being a virgin, is her father taunting her and saying she isn't. I feel that she puts up the persona as to make it seem like she doesn't really care what others think. But you can tell that she definately is a virgin like when Jim tries to rape her, they have an opportunity to have sex, and she says no and gets scared. For someone who's had sex multiple times, thats quite strange. She shouldn't care, just another guy to her. But she does care. She wants her first time to be with a husband, not a drunkard who could leave or die at any time.
I thought this play was very good actually, and I enjoyed it. Easy to read and still had a lot of depth.
-Chance Foster
Chance,
DeleteJosie was a virgin?! For some reason this play confused me a lot, and I didn't really pick up on details. By the end, I couldn't tell if she was a virgin or not. The entire play, I was under the impression that Josie was a promiscuous woman. Now that you pointed out her reaction when Jim tries to rape her, I can see that she really is a virgin. It finally makes sense! For some reason, I just didn't catch that detail at all while reading... whoopsies. Maybe it's because it's a play, I can never stay focused while reading plays, and I always miss details! Your post really cleared things up for me... thank you! Now I don't feel as confused :)
-Brianna Ricciardone
hey Chance and Bri,
DeleteContinuing with Brianna's comment I think her innocence and purity could be the only thing that saved Tyrone's life. If he had taken her to bed and taken her virginity could you imagine the emotional scars he would wake up to in the morning? He describes in painful detail the gray, hopeless mornings of waking up with countless women after drunken, shallow sex. Josie is the only women he loves and the fact that she refuses to let him take her to bed like all the other women he has "courted" could save Tyrone (maybe?) from suicide in the end.
I also really really wanna know what happens to Tyrone at the end. Just an epilogue or something would be nice. But perhaps O'Neill wants the reader to figure it out?
Neal Dansky
Neal,
DeleteI think that Tyrone will go on to drink himself to death, although I agree an epilogue would have added closure to the story. At the same time I think the author did that on purpose because of how Josie said that she wishes Jim to get his wish and to finally be at peace, which was a clash for me between compassion and tragedy.
And Brianna,
I totally agree that there was alot in this book that could be very easily missed. It seemed like nothing in the story was as it seemed at first, and the only divider between appearance and reality would be a very small detail or line. Though this did make the book confusing and hard to grasp at times, I thought it greatly added to the depth and skill shown by the author.
Dan Gadoury
I disagree with you guys, I think an epilogue wouldn't have helped the story. I think some stories are enhanced by the subtle endings. If it's too obvious what happened it takes away from the movie. The most recent example of that would be from the newest Batman film, "The Dark Knight Rises". The over-the-top "Oh yeah Mr. Wayne fixed the autopilot on the Bat like 6 months ago" scene wasn't necessary. I would have preferred just to have it end with Alfred looking at Catwomen and Batman across the street. Maybe that's just me. But alas, Batman isn't Moon so I'll stop. Anyways, I feel that the ending was a good one. You knew what happned, but it wasn't too over the top obvious.
DeleteChance Foster
Yeah I'd have to go along with what Chance is saying, sorry guys! I think that what makes this play so unique/so interesting is the fact that the reader has to decide what happened to Jim. As I previously posted on someone else's comment... The fact that O'Neill didn't include details pertaining to Jim's life after the night must mean that they are not important. The important information is that Jim is now freed from his burdened past and Josie has accepted his actions/ come to accept herself. It doesn't matter what happened to Jim after that single night under the moon... all that was important was the words and feelings exchanged between the two "lovers" that night. That was the main point.
DeleteDan... I had to read parts of this play 2093438420384 bajillion times over because I kept misinterpreting/misreading portions of it. Then it threw me off! It would have been much easier to understand if I had just watched it!
-Brianna Ricciardone
I finally just finished reading this story, and I am satisfied with how it ended. Although Jim will most likely kill himself, it was appropriate, since he had a rough past. I was very happy when Hogan confessed that he only wanted Josie to stay with him. Although it shows Hogan's selfish side, it also shows a more human and less horrific side of his personality.
ReplyDeleteThe Title
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it's just me and my terrible ability to remember vocabulary, but I needed to look up what "misbegotten" means. It means illegitimate and or badly carried out. So now I know that the title has a much more negative meaning than I originally thought. Of course the moon refers to the date between Josie and Tyrone under the moonlight. Yet I would be interested to know if anyone has thoughts about how the title was chosen?
What I do have to say, though, is that I think the night time was chosen on purpose. It's dark and all the "dark" secrets come out of the characters. Since the moon is really the only natural source of light at night, I feel as though the moon in this story is the bit of light being shed on the dark past of Tyrone. Josie is his new light, for she forgives him, and that is what he has been looking for all along- forgiveness. She is that bit of light shining on his future, forgetting the dark past. That's why the play ends in the "dawn has beauty in it"- as Josie says.
Again, I'd like to hear if anyone else has thoughts toward the title and use of the moon/night time.
~Martha Denisky
Martha, that's a great point. The "misbegotten", I think, refers to Josie and Tyrone and perhaps even the date itself. The date was "badly carried out" with Tyrone showing up drunk and late and treating Josie like some of his other "dates" at times. I don't think that is what she expected from the date. In regards to Josie, "misbegotten" can refer to her sense of feeling illegitimate. We do find out that she is in fact purer than leads on, but there must be some reason why she puts on that act. She longs for acceptance from everyone in her life and because she doesn't get it, she feels "misbegotten".
DeleteI also love your observations about the darkness and light. I don't even know how to expand upon what you said because you pretty much covered it all! I love how the idea of darkness and light is also translated into the title.
I agree with what Mary said in that Josie and Tyrone are the two "Misbegotten" characters in the story. They live their lives in this fashion- Josie pretending to be a floozy while Tyrone drinks his life away.
DeleteEver since his mother died, Jim has been wasting his life away on Broadway and in the local pubs. You could even say that once his mother passed on, Tyrone has been badly carrying out his life.
As for Josie, she has been living underneath the guise of a "tart" for several years. She has become that person, she owns the illegitimacy that has come to define her.
-Garret Tirrell
I agree with all of you...I love how we all have different opinions and you guys just bring up things I never thought of haha I always try to look at titles and read into them too and I think that the moon may be the common ground they share; the thing that stays constant throughout all of the issues they have. Also I'm fascinated by space and how the universe goes on forever and those kind of topics so, maybe this is reading too far into it, but it's kind of like imagining their own light, happy place where it can just be the two of them without problems. I don't know...that didn't all come out as well as I imagined...but I DEFINITELY agree with the idea of the moon shedding light on their "dark" lives with Jim's mom's death and Josie's low self-esteem. I like the idea of darkness and light a lot too like Mary said!
DeleteHello there Martha!
ReplyDeleteThat's very interesting. To be honest, I never even thought about the setting this way. It definitely makes sense! Regarding the title... I believe that "the misbegotten" is referring to both Jim and Josie. And the "Moon" part refers to their date and what happened that night, as you mentioned.
I'll start with Jim. The definition you gave for misbegotten got me thinking... "badly carried out"... O'Neill might have chosen this for her title because Jim's life was definitely "badly carried out". If you think about it, his whole life he lived regretting his actions at the time of his mother's death. He never felt forgiven, until Josie comforted him under the moon and forgave him. Jim was a "misbegotten". His life definitely wasn't carried out well.
On the other hand, Josie was also a misbegotten. Her life was "badly carried out" because she spent all of this time fancying/admitting her love to Jim. Jim really wasn't ready to love her back, even though he declared his "love" to her. He was really just eager to get his sins off his chest. Like Ariel said in her previous post, Josie was mothering Jim that night. Jim loved the comfort that Josie was offering because maybe it was a familiar feeling that he missed after his mother died. Josie, however, really loved Jim. She found that she was in love someone who couldn't really love her back. Jim was emotionally scarred from his mother's death/ his reactions to her death. He couldn't return her true love, even if he said he loved her. He wasn't ready for such serious love. I mean, he was drunk when he told her he loved her! How are we supposed to know if he means it or not? I can't believe Josie would even take it seriously considering his drunken state. Even in the end his departure from Josie felt rushed/ not sincere to me. As I read along, I got the sense that Josie was head-over-heels for Jim, while Jim was just satisfied that he had someone he trusted to share his story with. He may have loved Josie, but he was certainly not IN love with her as she was with him.
So, if you really think about it, "A Moon for the Misbegotten" makes perfect sense. Martha, your thoughts about the darkness and all that goes on in the dark ties in with the moon part of the title. During the dark times that Josie and Jim were going through in their lives, the moon offered a new light to their situations. Josie was able to reveal her love for Jim, while Jim was able to reveal his secrets to Josie...all while the two awkwardly cuddled under the moonlight. The "Misbegotten" refers to Jim and Josie who had "badly carried out" lives, and they did not realize this until their meeting in the night. That's just my interpretaion of the title though... does anybody else think that it means differently?
-Brianna Ricciardone
Ps- I stilllll don't understand why Josie believed Jim's love shenanigans... I mean, I've had one too many drunk people tell,e they loved me... No one should ever buy into it! Josie's supposed to be a strong woman... She should have kicked his drunk butt to the curb! Talk about story of my life!... But that's just my opinion ;)
DeleteThat was quite a quick read! It really fascinated me how the entire play took place over about 18 hours. I love how plays describe the set with so much detail. After reading this play, I would really love to see the play (class field trip?).
ReplyDeleteIt makes me so sad to think that all of the characters can be so lonely. Jim comes to Josie just wanting to sleep in her arms. Josie hides herself behind a facade of a ruthless, promiscuous woman. Hogan constantly gets drunk to wash away his sadness. After reading Far From the Madding Crowd, I was hoping for something with a happier ending, but I knew this story wouldn't be a happy one after reading the description on our list of books to read.
While reading the play, I had trouble distinguishing between when someone was telling the truth and when they were lying, especially in this play where everyone is constantly trying to deceive the other characters. That is one of the reasons I prefer novels because you are able to more easily know what characters are thinking because you are given more than the dialogue between characters. I also try to use the adverbs describing the dialogue to determine how the characters are feeling.
I was also very confused about whether Josie was a virgin. I wonder how Jim saw past Josie's and her "lovers'" lies and knew that she was a virgin.
I will probably reread this one because it was so quick and I think going back and looking for the characters' actions and behaviors now knowing how the story ends is a good idea so I can further understand this play. If I have time, I am also interested in reading Long Day's Journey into Night, the "prequel" to this play. Reading this could give an insight into Jim Tyrone's character.
I think this book definatly takes some thinking but overall, it definatly is a classic and a worthwhile read.
I agree with your thoughts on the lies and the truth. I was confused a lot while reading! They talk in circles and it's kind of hard to understand what's going on. Maybe if I saw the play and the actors reactions it would be easier to understand.
DeleteMary
Phoebe,
DeleteI agree that it is hard to tell when people are lying. For example, after Tyrone leaves and Hogan returns and says that his scheme wasn't about the money, is he telling the truth? Right before Josie wakes Tyrone up he seemed to accept that Josie saw through his lies.
Did Hogan really want his daughter to be happy with the man she loves, or did he just want to get his hands on Tyrone's money?
Marissa Bedard
Mary, Marissa, and Phoebe...
DeleteI'm so glad I'm not the only who got super confused while reading this play. I don't know about you, but I think it was the play format that threw me off. I can never seem to really get into reading plays. I always lose track of what's going on. And, with this play, it was extremely difficult because I couldn't differentiate between what was the truth and what wasn't.
Marissa, we will never know if Hogan was really in it for the money or for the happiness of his only daughter. He could be lying to cover up his bad intentions, or he could be actually telling the truth. Because I was so confused on what was the truth and what wasn't the truth throughout the play, I really doubted everything everyone said. Then I just got even more confused and had to piece everything together in the end. Anyone else feel the same way as Marissa, Phoebe, Mary, and I do?
-Brianna Ricciardone
Phoebe, I agree that the play was very confusing because we only knew what the characters said rather than what they felt or thought. Perhaps this play would have been more successful in creating sympathy and understanding of the characters as a book? Although, maybe O'Neill made the play so confusing and without any insights into the characters' thoughts because he wanted to make us think.
DeleteBrianna, I still am not sure which parts were true and which parts were lies. My gut tells me that everything said between Josie and Jim during the scene when Jim was completely drunk was the truth, but I can't honestly tell you that Josie wasn't just agreeing with the things Jim said or that Jim was just talking nonsense because of how drunk he was. I think the ending cleared some of the confusion up, but there are still things that remain unknown to us.
~Brianne Gaudio
I felt like O'Neill laid out the very basics of each character and let the plot color in the rest of their traits. We can see that Josie is a strong, independent woman from the beginning, but it is only at the end that we see the soft side of her, the very maternal part of her personality. The same can be said for Hogan and Tyrone.
DeleteTo me, it seemed as if the night scene unveiled the secrets of all the characters, exposing their true motives and the emotions that were not seen by daylight. I found the scene to be almost ironic in that darkness usually hides secrets and intentions, while this did the opposite.
-Garret Tirrell
I was not the biggest fan of this play. Although I did enjoy the fact that it was a quick read. This story focused on the love story of Josie and Jim and in my opinion it was not convincing. The time frame of the story was very short. The entire story seemed to happen in less than a day. With this being said, I did not feel as though O'Neill gave any back story to their love. It seemed as though Josie did not seem to care much about Jim until Mike mentioned him. O'Neill did mention a few encounters that made it seem like Jim might like Josie, but nothing close to love.
ReplyDeleteThere is a difference between lust and love. I believe that Josie and Jim just jumped on the love bandwagon very quickly. I think that Josie was overwhelmed with the idea of being with a man and actually having a relationship and Jim was basically drunk for the majority of the story. When he woke up in the morning he couldn't even remember who he was with. So I didn't really buy into the part about their true love.
I also did not like the character development of Josie. O'Neill introduces Josie as a strong willed and independent female that will not take crap from anyone. However, as the story develops she falls head over heels for a drunkard. I expected Josie to be a tough woman who wouldn't be convinced by the drunken rant of a man that might like her. At numerous points throughout the story (even after she has stopped trying to scheme Jim) O'Neill talks about Josie "forcing a smile" or forcing some other type of emotion. I thought that Josie would be the type to show her true colors no matter what and not hide behind a fake smile.
I agree with the other people that talked about points of the story being confusing. It was very difficult to pick out the truth from the lies. I was unable to tell whether Josie was actually a virgin or not. It also seemed that for the majority of the story the characters were yelling at each other. They would seem to be having a normal conversation and then they would just start yelling and getting angry.
I thought the biggest problem with this story was how unrealistic Josie and Jim's relationship was. It was one drunken night that they attempted to turn into a love story and I wasn't convinced.
Brenda,
DeleteI really liked what you said about thinking Josie would show "her true colors" and not have faked emotions. I agree, she seemed so tough and independent. Definitely someone who wouldn't be afraid to show her true feelings. That got me thinking about why her tough (not your typical girly girl) character was chosen. Maybe her toughness was also her mask to how hurt she could get about how she wasn't as pretty as the Broadway girls, etc. Imagine how weak her character would have seemed if the author didn't harp on her physical description and toughness. It almost seemed that she used her toughness to hide any true feelings and "survive" her harsh life on the farm. I kind of got the impression she was softer on the inside than she seemed on the outside, anyone agree or disagree?
~Martha Denisky
Martha I fully agree with you, at one point when she was saying that she was a whore she was crying a little and i think thats where the author starts to show how weak she really is and how much it hurts to actually say that. You can tell that she is also very insecure when she keeps telling Jim that she isnt a Broadway girl. Her toughness was no doubt used to mask who she really was.
DeleteBen Duell
I agree with you Martha that Josie was softer on the inside than she showed. Clearly the time she spent with Jim showed that she had a soft side, but I think she also had a soft side when it came to her father. Although she always tried to seem tough and almost equal with him I think inside she truly loved and cared for him. Just the way she always did what he said, and was willing to put up with him even when he was drunk and crazy gave me the impression that she did not think as negatively about him as she tried to portray at times.
DeleteMelanie Clarke
Melanie I agree with you about the soft side for Hogan. Like Ariel mentioned a while back they have a PG ABC Family kind of moment at the end. It kind of reminds me of me and my dad...even though we can see a lot of things differently I love all the cute father-daughter moments and would never want to go without that no matter how much we disagree sometimes
DeleteBrenda, I agree that I didn't expect Josie's softness toward Jim during the night based on the original description of her character. I guess the first description is only about how she appears rather than who she really is. Like Ben said, it's through what she says and what she does that shows us how she really feels.
DeleteI think in Josie's relationship with her father, it makes sense that she has a soft spot for him because she has grown up to be a lot like him. If she hated her father, why would she have copied some of her father's traits? She probably couldn't hate someone so like herself.
I was pretty pumped when I opened the book and realized it was a short play. It lived up to my expectations to since it was so easy and quick to read.
ReplyDeleteThroughout most of the play I was pretty convinced that Hogan only wanted the money and to keep his little farm and that Josie was a virgin. After finishing the last act I was like "Ohhhhh...ok I see you O'Neill, I see what you're going for here." And it's true, I do acknowledge what the author was going for, but I disagree with it. I found this whole play pretty unrealistic. Most of what I was going to rant about was mostly covered by Ariel in her big 'ol post. I have to say I agree with most of what she says. The conversations between Hogan and Josie were comical, but that's where my approval ends. This whole play just wouldn't have actually worked out the way it did. So Jim had a drinking problem because was haunted about having sex with some girl? And he had sex with some girl because he was haunted about the death of his mother? Ok, ok yeah that's pretty realistic.....It's not like the death of a mother insantly causes someone to spiral into a drinking problem. Then he's like "Oh Josie feel sorry for me because I had sex with a women a while back!" Then Josie is all "Yes you poor thing I shall forgive you. Now lie here with your drunken head upon my breasts and sleep so in the morning you won't feel bad." Uh-huh, alright O'Neill I'm not sure if it works like that. Meanwhile Hogan is off sleepin in a barn or something feeling like a romantic hero for setting up this beautiful date between Josie and Jim. If I recall correctly Jim does end up remembering everything from that night the next morning. I'm glad he does otherwise the whole night would have been a waste and at that point I would have started yelling at my book and threw it at a wall or something.
I'm sure many of you disagree and feel free. I'm sure with a different mind set this could be seen as some beautiful romantic story, but I'm not buying it. The whole twist at the end with Hogan setting them up for romance instead of just wanting money was clever but unrealistic. It deffinitely wasn't all bad, I will admit that, but I didn't particulary enjoy it. Is it the worst romance play ever? No, but it's certainly no Shakespeare.
Ethan Culver
oh man, ethan this was sooo funny to read, "Ariel's big ol post comin' through!" "lay your drunken head upon my breasts!" hahahahahaaa
DeleteI thought that one of the most interesting parts of this story was the fact that it only happened over a span of about 18 hours. It was only 120 pages but unlike other stories we have read in school, it stretched out one day rather than taking only a few pages to describe the day. That being said, there was also a lot of description of the setting in the very first day. It was written in such a way that we were given the feeling that the Hogan's did not live a very rich or even a pleasant life. For example, O'Neill described the house color as "a repulsive yellow with brown trim." In addition, he states "the house is not a fine example of New England architexture." We are clearly shown just in the first page,the background of the main characters.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the biggest conflicts in the story is parental figures. Jim Tyrone had just recently lost his mother and Josie was constantly trying to battle her father in various ways. I believe that Jim's love for Josie is him trying to fufill a need for a motherly figure in his life. Josie, being in love with him, is happy to oblige. I also thought it was interesting how Hogan acts like he doesn't care about Josie but in the end he tried to trick Jim Tyrone into marrying her. He wanted the best for his only daughter, and the only one of his children who wasn't convinced to run off!
I read more about this story online and I found out that Jim Tyrone's character is actually based on Eugene O'Neill's brother, Jamie. It makes me wonder what else was based on true event in O'Neill's life. Maybe Josie was based on a woman that he once loved, or maybe that his brother once loved. It's strange that even in a completely made up story, there are little secrets that the author puts in about his life.
All around I didn't think this story was awful and I especially liked that it was such an easy read; but i thought, along with some others, that it was hard to tell the truth from the lies. The biggest example was of course, with the matter of Josie's virginity. It was so difficult to tell if she really was a virgin, or a slut! My belief was that she actually was a virgin she just wanted to say that to make her father think that she was strong and not a romantic.
Kierra Laramie
Kierra,
DeleteI really like how you pointed out that this entire play occurred in such a short amount of time. It's amazing that O'Neill was able to fully develop a plot that happened all within less than a day!
Also, I am just as confused as you on whether Josie was a virgin or not. I couldn't figure it out while reading. It didn't even click that she might be a virgin until I read a post on here that pointed it out. I didn't understand the whole situation. Why would someone want to lie about that? She's a single girl, you think that back then it'd be wrong to be promiscuous before marriage... but she doesn't seem to care, and she seems to like the attention she gets from telling Hogan and Tyrone that she is not a virgin. It also disgusts me that her father knows personal details regarding her virginity. Why does she feel the need to make up these lies to brag to her father about it? That just seems awkward to me... Anyways, I am still confused whether she lied the whole time about her virginity or not. I guess it could go both ways. We'll never know!
-Brianna Ricciardone
I honestly don’t care about whether Josie was truly a virgin or not, but the fact that she acted promiscuous and bragged about it kind of bothered me. I felt that she was degrading herself( if she really was a virgin)and masking her true feelings throughout the book.It was especially weird when she was talking to her father about Jim hearing about her and "the men at the inn" and how she talked to him about her virginity openly. It is certainly a topic that would be extremely awkward to bring up with your parents, but then again Hogan and Josie's relationship is very unique. As the play went on Josie's more motherly, caring, and sensitive side was revealed, especially when she was with Jim. I think Jim was able to start to forgive himself when he was with Josie because she cared for him the way his mother did, and when she held him in her arms lovingly. I feel like Josie was a little double sided, and that Jim was sort of like a hidden door revealing the other side. I think that since alcohol had a lot to do with the guilt he felt when his mother died, he tried to do the right thing by leaving Josie because he knew that alcohol related problems would affect their relationship. To what kierra said about the play taking place over about 18 hours really blew my mind, because in that time period we discovered so much about Josie and Jim, as well as the climatic development and ruin of the relationship.
DeleteI agree with Shaheer- it did seem like Josie was degrading herself and boasting about something I don't think would have been a good thing to be boasting about in that time period nor in front of her father. I think it was doubly inappropirate for her father to go along with it and make fun of her for being called a virgin. I am also a little confused as to whether she was actually a virgin, which in itself isn't that important, but whether or not she is lying about something so personal and, in a way, degrading says a lot about her character. I think she was telling the truth when she spoke with Jim, though, so anything she said when they started talking seriously was probably true. I also agree with Brianna that Josie just likes the attention she gets from saying shes not a virgin, which I think is really weird. I also don't understand why someone would want to lie about that even if it does get them attention.
DeleteI agree with all of you! I just don't understand why not being a virgin would make her look "cooler" in the eyes of her father.. Maybe it was more for self image? she kept telling herself that even she, a husky woman, could get a man to sleep with her and therefore that made her feel pretty or more like a "petite and beautiful woman." She also stated multiple times that she just wanted to intimidate her father but how would being a slut intimidate her father? that doesn't seem like something that would be intimidating for him! So many questions left unanswered!!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete"She also stated multiple times that she just wanted to intimidate her father but how would being a sl** intimidate her father? that doesn't seem like something that would be intimidating for him!"
Delete^^^^hahahhahaha, what the heck. That is just awkward. Her father doesn't need to know those kind of details about her life... yet she enjoys lying/bragging about them. I think it is disturbing that she thinks that it makes her cooler by acting like she gets around. what a strange girl.... How do you think she gains confidence from this lie? I just don't get it.
-Brianna Ricciardone
I never really considered the passage of time of this story but I'm glad you pointed it out because it is a good point and an interesting quality of the story to think about!
DeleteAlso, that's really interesting that Jim was based on O'Neill's brother and I love that authors can definitely weave their own personal secrets into a story!
And Bri I don't know why she would want to give her father the impression that she gets around either! Times have changed!!! haha
I agree with you all and think it was weird that Josie was so open about such a private matter. Thinking about it now, I don't recall O'Neil ever mentioning Josie's mother. I assumed she wasn't around because Josie said that she practically mothered Mike. I wonder what type of woman she was and if that influenced Josie.
DeleteI just finished this post and then somehow poof and it was gone so bear with me if there are a few typos this time around.
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly I didn't mind this play as much as it would seem that others did. I liked the brevity of it for starters. it was actually useful for me because i could blow through it and then have the rest of a six hour car ride to digest it (I started reading far From The Madding Crowd but quit after two pages). This helped greatly (I hope) with my understanding of the play. As a side note my mother disapproved of this play because it hinges on alcoholism and prostitutes and what not but I'm a big boy now mom.
Now for what I did not like. Most of my complaints are run of the mill and have been beaten on like a rented mule by the rest of the blog posts at this point in the summer so I will keep it short and sweet. My main issue is with the main source of Jim Tyrone's sorrow and the resulting drama and then more sorrow. It didn't seem all that dramatic or sorrowful. I mean yeah it was bad but it didn't seem to resonate with me. As it turns out Tyrone is actually a representation of O'Neill's brother so I would presume that it meant more to O'Neill himself than it does to me or anyone else. To O'Neill's credit he does make it sorrowful and dramatic, but the amount of Drama and sorrow is almost funny when you think about what actually happened. Apart from that I only have one complaint and that is the fact that it is a play and not a book. As a result I have had to go back and change book into play like 8 times while writing this. You think I might have learned from the last time I wrote this but no.
Now for what I did like. I think that O'Neill is actually a fantastic writer. His ability to conjure heart wrenching sorrow from a not so sorrowful reason is astounding. I could actually feel the pain of the individual characters. Some might say that it is unfortunate that O'Neill wasted his skill by trying to use it for his own agenda of forgiving his brother, but hey its a free country. I liked that O'Neill made Josie so that she not only stood above her father morally but also physically.
I'm sure people will think I'm being dumb or something. If you want to call me an idiot feel free but make sure to at least tell me why you are accusing me of being stupid.
Actually Sam I agree with you on your complaints. The source of Jim's sorrow and misery is a bit comical. After he confessed to Josie what he did, my thought was,"Really, you are a wreck because of that?" However, O'Neill does a really nice job in showing how his guilt is really eating at him. You really see that Jim regrets his actions on the train.
DeleteAlso, I think that we all forget that O'Neill's audience was the people of the 1920's. Soooo, maybe the source of Jim's sorrow and misery would have more of an affect on those people and why we find it not having an impact as we read this play
~Rebecca Heilman
sam the same thing happened to me and I lost a giant post and had to start over. I agree with Rebecca, that the reason his sorrow is so blown up may be simply because of the time period of the play, and the audience he wrote it for. It kind of reminded me of Romeo and Juliet where they fall madly in love in the course of a few hours. When Romeo climbs over Capulet's wall I was also amused and critical of such a ridiculous exaggeration of emotions. Just doesn't seem very realistic, but those were different times and the taste of drama and romance could've very well changed over the course of a few generations.
DeleteI actually agree with you both. The fact that the source of his sorrow is all but irrelevant to us is actually really tragic because its an incredibly well written play. The emotional build up is very well done, and it left me at times forgetting why he was all sad because it just didn't matter.
DeleteI would agree with that too. You see from Act II that he feels really guilty about something and you get these hints in Act III about the source of his guilt that in the end it is irrelevant. O'Neill does a fantastic job with not only the build up of Jim's confession, but also of Josie's reaction of Jim's secret. It was nice to see that she was appalled by this confesstion and after a minute, she comes to comfort Jim and tells him that she still loves him and everything.
DeleteBut I feel that if the actual source was better than his whole episode on the train, this play could have been so much better than it was. A better source of the problem could have produced a stronger emotional response from anyone who read it.
I agree that the overwhelming amount of emotion made ths story a bit unrealistic. Neal, I like how you compared this to Romeo and Juliet because there is the same ridiculous amount of emotion. I think this is one of the things that made this play hard to understand.
DeleteI'm halfway through this book, and I don't actually mind it that much. It's a super easy read, and the author is great at conveying emotion. It's wonderfully written, flows well, and captured my attention. All I could ask for now is a plot line that's actually worth reading. The characters seem very static, and the conflict seems kind of dull. I'm interested to see what O'neill's other works are like, because I think that since the technical aspects of his writing are delightful, when paired with an interesting storyline, he could be the author of an amazing book.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I don't like the story as much as I like the writing. This is one of those books that shouldn't get me too excited about an author, but still does.
I agree, O'neill's writing is amazing, but this particular work was not as good as it could have been!
DeleteCaroline-
DeleteIt seems so strange and yet so suspensful because you keep thinking something else is going to happen! And then it doesn't.. I liked this story but it was kind of like Catcher in the Rye to me. In both stories i didn't really understand the storyline, or even if it had a plot! I get that there is some underlying meaning to the "plot" but in some stories, I just can't see it! And this story is no exception!
Caroline & Kierra...
DeleteI agree 100%. I didn't like this play when I was reading it, or even after I finished reading it. It was one of those plays where you don't enjoy it until afterwards. I didn't appreciate it until I started blogging about it/ reading everyone else's posts. It forced me to think about the play in detail, and now I can see why Mr. MacArthur wanted us to read it!
-Brianna Ricciardone
like everybody else I loved the fact that it was short sweet and for the most part to the point. I also like how the setting was very relate able to us but that's where being able to relate ends. i personally have never met any people this, i guess i could say, crazy. Jim sees ghosts, Josie lies about sleeping with a lot of men and Hogan just was an old mean guy. throughout almost all of play every single character was one-dimensional and then at the end the author threw everything at your face, i think he should have developed the characters a little better when it took him two acts just to set up 20 pages of meaningful dialogue. i think it ended decently, i would have liked to see Josie end up happy and maybe with a man. But since she found out her father really loves her its not too bad. It was cool too see that everyone was hiding something, Josie wasn't a whore, her father could feel something and the reason why Jim is who he is. overall it wasnt too bad of a play.'
ReplyDeleteBen Duell
used wrong aim account my bad
DeleteBen
Nice post Jen?
DeleteI completely agree with you Ben about the setting. With it being set in a small town in Connecticut, I was able to relate to characters and their problems. If it were set in a big city, it would have been more difficult to relate to. However, I disagreed with your thoughts about the characters. Although Hogan was rough around the edges, he was a loving father to Josie and a great friend to Jim. His language and demeanor may have seemed offensive but this was just how he showed his love with Josie and his friendship with Jim. Josie may have looked like a one-dimensional character on the outside, but the author describes brief hints about her feelings about Jim and the lie she has been living. There were many surprises in the book leading up to the climax but, for the most part, he foreshadows to many things including Josie's love, Jim's problems and solutions, and Josie's lie. In the end, Josie was happy because Hogan loved her again and Jim came to ends with his mother's death, his love of Josie, and his relationship with the women on the train.
DeleteNick Sardo
Nick...
DeleteI definitely feel the same way about the small town Connecticut setting. We can all relate to it. Tolland is such a small town, and I'm sure we've all heard things and experienced how fast word gets out around town. This was similar to the small town life that the characters lived in "A Moon for the Misbegotten". It was actually quite comical how word got around so fast through the town in this play. One minute Hogan was at the inn drinking, and the next minute he was home telling Josie about some rumor he over heard about Tyrone selling his farm to another buyer. There was definitely small town drama evident throughout the play and I couldn't help but laugh as I was reminded of life in our small town in Connecticut.
-Brianna Ricciardone
I agree, the setting of the play really makes a difference between a great play and an okay one.The kind of drama that occurs during the is very typical of a small town environment that there is no way that this would have occured in the city. Brianna is right when Tolland is just like the setting in "A Moon for the Misbegotten". We know all of our neighbors in Tolland and we have all experienced how rumors spread quickly, especially with our cell phones. O'neilll did a great job in describing a setting where this kind of drama can take root and blossom
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this book quite a bit, and love how the different struggles of the characters, especially Josie and Jim's. Jim's confession towards the end of the book was emotional and moving, and Josie's reaction was very well written. The book was short and interesting, and surprising in many aspects. I found the relationship between Josie and her father very interesting as well, especially since I had expected him to be cruel to her because of the way her brother describes him in the first act.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, I found that whole encounter between Mike and Josie to be extremely telling of the atmosphere Josie and her siblings had grown up in.
DeleteI agree that the relationship between Josie and her father was interesting. I expected him to be mean as well, but that was not the case. I think maybe Hogan had a different relationship with Josie than with his sons and possibly favored Josie. Or maybe Josie just understood her father better and, therefore, was not intimidated by the way he acted.
Delete~Brianne Gaudio
A Moon for the Misbegotten was definitely a surprise. I was dreading this small play but when I started reading, I was hooked and could not put down the book. The relationships between characters were both funny and serious at the same time. The playful relationship between Josie and Hogan made it seem like everything was great between them, but as the story progressed, I could see the flaws in their relationship. Josie loves her father in a weird way and for some of us, it seems offensive, but to them it is normal. They call each other names and make fun of each other, but they love each other know that they need each other to survive. Josie’s character is unpredictable, but likable. Josie kids around and talks playfully to Jim and Hogan, but sometimes she becomes serious and hostile. Josie believes that she is ugly and that no one wants her, but she also brags that she has been with many men. Josie makes it seem like she doesn’t want a man to love her, even Jim, the man she loves. I thought that Josie was using Jim so she could get her house back but as Josie spent more time with Jim, I started to believe that they were in love. Overall, I thought this play was an easy read and one of my favorite summer reading books in high school. The author developed his ideas and themes in a way the reader would understand and still be interested in the plot.
ReplyDeleteNick Sardo
This play is so completely on the opposite spectrum from Far From the Madding Crowd. It takes place over the span of one day while Far From the Madding Crowd covers years. Bathsheba is young and beautiful and sought after while Josie is this big, intimidating woman. The types of love dealt with in these two stories are very different as well.
ReplyDeleteI would agree that it's not really a "love" story. Most of the time everyone is drunk, especially Jim. Also, Josie acts more like a mother to him than a lover. However, maybe that is exactly what Tyrone needed. He was ashamed of the way he turned to alcohol and the woman on the bus for comfort, and he needed a maternal kind of love in order to forgive himself.
I still don't know why Josie loved Jim though. He didn't really have too many redeeming qualities besides the fact that he wasn't afraid of her. Nothing drives me crazy more than a female protagonist who falls in love with someone just because he has a tragic backstory. I kind of got that vibe from this play.
I suppose if you look past that and the drunkenness, you can find something beautiful and meaningful in this night that Josie and Jim shared. It is definitely more a story of forgiveness and moving on than it is a love story.
Marissa Bedard
Marissa: you made a great observation of the differences between Far from the Madding Crowd and Moon for the Misbegotten.
DeleteI also agree that Jim wasn't exactly a trophy husband. I think that Josie's insecurities about herself played a huge role in her affections toward him. Jim paid attention to her as a girl rather than a slut or a farmer. And is it not true that someone who is genuinely interested in you suddenly becomes far more attractive to you? Jim also made himself vulnerable in front of Josie, which, strangely, can attract women. Like you said, many times women become attracted to men because they have a tragic back story. They become like a tragic hero and they draw sympathy from those around them. I almost came to think of Jim as a sad puppy dog the way Josie petted and cooed over him as he sat there droopy-eyed and tearful.
I agree with the fact this isn't really a love story, and more about Josie acting as a maternal figure to the wounded Jim.
DeleteHowever, I can't really say I agree that Bathsheba and Josie are completely different. Yes, the love they have encountered has certainly been of different sorts. But I think that is because, like Marissa said, Bathsheba is very attractive while Josie is rough and masculine. I think they are similar women though. They both have dealt with extreme insecurities and have tried to cover them up. Josie was insecure about her un-womanly appearance, and so she tried to cover up the fact that she was a virgin by saying she's had these countless lovers. Bathsheba was insecure if her suitors weren't swooning over her, which is why she wrote Boldwood the valentine, to get his attention back. So as for the type of love they encountered, yes you're right, these were very different stories. As far as the women as individuals, I saw this similarity.
Rachel Takes
Rachel, I agree that the women in both the stories were similar. I also think the stories were similar because of the dramatic emotion of the characters, in particular, Boldwood and Jim.
DeleteBecause love can be defined so many ways, I think this play could still be a love story, but one involving a different type of love. It could also be a "one-sided" love story because Josie has some romantic feelings for Jim while he views her more as a motherly figue most of the time. I don't know if that makes any sense but whatever.
Like most of you, I thought it was a nice change to read a play as a summer reading book!
ReplyDeleteI read this play on my way to and from NYC, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a quick and easy read, and I thought it was beautifully written by Eugene O'Neill.
I especially liked his character descriptions. In my opinion, he was always very thorough in describing the attributes of each person. For example, "The map of Ireland is stamped on her face, with its long upper lip and small nose, this black eyebrows, black air as coarse as a horse's mane, freckled, sunburned fair skin, high cheekbones and a heavy jaw." (About Josie)This left me with a crystal clear image of Josie's face; not including his other descriptive paragraphs.
As for the character relationships, well, that's a different story. Like almost all of us have agreed, Josie's relationship with her Father is very off and on. One minute they are fighting, and the next they are not. They are both very similar people though, each loving money, and argueing with others. But at the end of the day, I know that they really only want what is best for one another.
And finally, the love Jim and Josie shared for one another was, for lack of a better word, awful. Jim was drunk a majority of the time, and she was rude to him a majority of the time. The last Act though cleared the air. They agreed on being in love, and wished the best in life for each other with a sad farewell. I personally wish he didn't have to leave, and they could've stayed together and let their love heal one another, but oh well!
All and all, this play was a pleasurable read.
I thought it was going to be hard to read, being one giant conversation and all because it was a play. However, I read in in about 2 days and I never had one of those moments where you read a couple paragraphs and go "wait what did I just read?" and you have to read it all over. The author, Eugene O'Neill did a good job keeping the book interesting and making me want to keep reading to discover the fate of Josie and Jim.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that stood out to me about the play was that part way through reading it, I could tell what type of person each character was. O'Neill's lengthy descriptions brought them to life, and the dialects he used put the words in their mouth. I felt like i could see the play unfold in front of me with the characters that I had imagined.
I also agree with everyone else that the relationship between Josie and her father is unique. The two never seem to have a dull moment and it seems no matter what they say to each other, the bond they have won't be broken. I can remember Josie repeatedly calling him an old drunken loon and him calling her a slut....How could you put up with that if you didn't share an unbreakable bond?? As much as i wanted to be disgusted by the way the two family members treated each other, I couldn't help but laugh as they constantly argued and made up.
As for Jim, I don't think him and Josie stood a chance. He was a raging alcoholic and has nothing to live for since his mother died. He viewed Josie as a mother figure because she is physically and emotionally strong, and she comforts him when he is ashamed about his alcohol abuse and history with prostitutes. Josie let him fool with her heart and she displayed her weakness to him.
It was an interesting book and a quick read. I would recommend it to anyone who likes a book that paints a vivid picture in their mind.
Chris
Chris,
DeleteI agree with you about how the play creates a vivid image in your mind of each character. I did subconsciously notice this, but didn't put much thought into it until I read your post. I always hate when we read plays in school and I could never tell the difference between the characters (besides the fact they have different names) because it was all dialogue. O'Neill's techniques of developing the characters were very helpful. I consider him a great writer to be able to do that when writing a play.
~Martha Denisky
For some reason I highly doubt that you actually laughed during the converssations between Josie and Hogan.
Deletechris,
DeleteI agree with your analysis about the book except for one part. I feel that Josies strong will and strength could have turned Jim around into the person that he wanted to be and not the raging alcoholic that he was.
I am most of the way through this play, and I have to say, I like it most because it is a play. One thing I feel like pointing out is how dynamic a less important character like Hogan is. Given, he is often drunk, but within a piece of an act, he can alternate between seeming happy, being extremely angry, and feeling incredibly sorry, and back through the three again. It's one thing that seems to hang out in the background yet still keep the reader (or viewer) interested.
ReplyDeleteI loved Josie's and Hogan's relationship. Even though they fought all the time, they both respected eachother and even when they said stuff that they didn't mean, like when Josie threatened to leave, they let bygones be bygones and wen tback to the way things were. Their relationship may not have been perfect, but hey, no one has the perfect relationship with anyone. Josie needed her father and Hogan needed his daughter.
ReplyDeleteJosie confused me a bit. She went around calling herself a whore but then admitted to Tyrone that she was actually a virgin. I am still rather shakey on which time she told the truth, throughout the whole book or when she told Jim.
Dani-
DeleteI agree with you! with different personalities though, the relationship wouldn't have been the same. That is why Josie ran off the other brothers because thier personalities weren't complementary to thier father's, but Josie's personality of joking and horsing around with each other fit right in and that is why they are able to have the relationship they have. They may say that they hate each other but they both know that they can trust one another and they really do love each other.
Also, you said you were unclear of when Josie was telling the truth about whether she is a virgin or not: "throughout the whole book, or when she told JIm." Isn't it interesing how she can say she is a slut for the entire book but then she has one conversation with Jim in which she states she is a virgin and suddenly we are unsure of what to believe? It shows the difference in the relationships she has with each of the characters and also how the audience feels about the relationships between the characters. If we believe that Josie trusted Jim more, then we believe she is a virgin, but if we believe she trusted her father more, we believe she is a slut. I think it is all about what the readers get from "reading between the lines" and its subjective so the audience gets to pick which they believe is the truth!
This is my first comment, as I’ve just returned from my job as a counselor at a camp. I did not enjoy reading Moon for the Misbegotten. I really did not find the characters to be very likable. Hogan is violent and abusive. Even though Josie has some motherly feelings and is helpful to her brother Mike, she is still coarse and rude. One of the most prevalent examples was in scene 1 on pages 57-59. At this point there is a large argument over distrust between several characters. This is the scene where Hogan and Josie harass Harder, while Tyrone listens. These actions showed me the overall the lack of kindness and consideration that the characters have for one another. The introduction of the play states that parts are supposed to show “rough country humor”. I guess this is supposed to make their behavior seem less rude. I disagree. To me it is not comical at all. Image if everyone was to act with this type of “humor.” Nobody would treat each other with any respect and many more people would be getting into trouble. I found this book to be quite unenjoyable due to my discontent with the characters of the play. I just didn’t sympathize with them. I did, however, enjoy the change in style of reading a play as compared to just reading another novel.
ReplyDeleteEugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten was short and sweet, making for an easy read that stuck to the point and didn't drift off or lose the reader's attention. As many others before me have stated, reading a play was a nice break from the usual novels of summer reading assignments. Although I was initially hooked by the story and finished in about 2 days, some of the characters and their various personalities made it hard to sympathize for them or really develop a liking towards them.
ReplyDeleteMy sympathy for Joe was nearly nonexistent as he simply let the severity of his problems increase rather than actually doing something productive about them. By turning to alcohol and prostitutes, he became a self loathing drunk that had no one to blame but himself. Instead he tries to get sympathy from Josie and of course, she gives it to him. There were times during their exchanges where I got the feeling that he was just using Josie to fill the gap that his mother had left.
Although I also didn't care for Hogan all that much, as he was nothing but a drunken brute, his relationship with Josie was something almost comical at times. Their exchanges were far from the expected "father-daughter relationship" we've all read in other stories and it made for interesting dialogue that kept the story moving and held the audience. The fact that Josie could take his abuse of calling her a slut and other demeaning names, and then just dish them back out by acknowledging the fact that the man never lacked a bottle in his hand had me crack a smile several times.
Josie herself had me confused at times, whether she was lying about being a virgin to Tyrone or not is still a little fuzzy to me and may require a second read. However, as far as the character herself is concerned I found her to be an interesting and dynamic lead for the play. Starting off as a woman that had to lie and cheat her way through life just to get by and make money for her and her father, Josie changed and broke off the armor she had built up once she met Jim. She let him see the real Josie, the still strong willed woman she was, but at the same time reveal the truth to him about who she really was.
In the end if I had to rate this play in my own personal opinion, A Moon for the Misbegotten would garner a 7/10 as some of the character's and their relationships kept the me hooked, but others managed to frustrate me so much that I just lost any form of sympathy.
Ryan,
DeleteI didn't think about it, but you I agree with you completely when you say that some of the relationships kept you hooked, while others were frustrating. More specifically, I thought that Josie and her father's was the intriguing one because no matter how hurtful they were too each other, they would never abandon the other. On the other hand, the relationship between Josie and Tyrone was almost painful to read about because Tyrone seemed like such a helpless character and Josie was too willing to give in to him.
Chris
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteChris,
DeleteNow that you point it out, I agree with you when you say that Josie and Tyrone's relationship was painful to read. I got so annoyed reading while they were on their little date in the dark. Holy Moly, Joise wanted Tyrone so bad, and it just frustrated me, especially because I thought she was going to be a strong woman the entire play. Turns out it was just a front, considering she believed every word that drunk Tyrone said. She was too serious while Tyrone was probably only trying to use her to get on with his life. It just made Josie seem desperate to me. I didn't like that change in her character very much. Anybody else feel the same way?
-Brianna Ricciardone
Ok so my opinion of this play is generally very similar to everyone else’s. I enjoyed the fact that the play was not extremely long, but rather “short sweet and to the point.” Yes I’m so original, I know. But I found the short length of the play to be good because rather than boring me with endless description of one place where pretty much the whole story takes place, I could actually focus on the dialogue and pay better attention to what the play was really about.
ReplyDeleteThe relationship between Josie and her father intrigued me a lot. Now this is a HUGE exaggeration but it kind of reminded me of the relationship I have with my dad. He’s that classic big strong rough and tough farmer guy, and since I was little whenever I’m around him I’ve had to act more “rough and tough” too, because that’s just how he is. Josie and Hogan are obviously on a much more extreme scale, but still I noticed a slight similarity. That is not to say that my dad is a crazy angry drunken jerk, because he isn’t. My dad and Hogan are both just really rough around the edges.
Similarities aside, I found the character of Hogan to be really interesting. This play was published in 1945, back when farm workers were farm workers and you did your work and it was always hard work and that was just how it was. Hogan had four kids, and managed to get three of them to run away, leaving one left to work the farm with him. Without even being introduced to Hogan, from the conversation between Mike and Josie I knew right off the bat I was dealing with a real character, and not your average run-of-the-mill guy. Just the fact that two other sons had previously gone and run off threw me a huge signal to pay attention because something was clearly up with the dad. I personally don’t know anyone who’s been so bad he’s made ¾ of his children run away from him. Also, I wonder if Hogan had been exactly the same person when his wife was still in the picture. I want to know what made him the way he is, and if there even is any reason for his harshness at all.
One last thing. Is Josie a virgin or….? I never quite figured it out.
Hayley Smith
I don't believe Josie lied to Jim when she confessed that she was a virgin. I just think she meant it in a way different from the literal meaning. Maybe she has been with a lot of men, but she never had the special emotional connection, so she considered herself to be a virgin on the inside. It's like how Jim turned to the woman on the bus for comfort, but there was no love in it.
ReplyDeleteI just don't see another reason why so many men would talk about being with her or why her father was SO surprised when she called herself a virgin.
Marissa Bedard
Marissa,
DeleteI really enjoyed reading your post because you brought something I never even thought of!
I kind of agree with you that maybe it was the emotional connection that she was missing with her past lovers (if infact they did exist?). This would make sense as to her emotional shield she put up until the very end. It was only then that she opened up to Jim and revealed a more sensitive side. This would provide that emotional connection she had been lacking. I don't think there's too many people in her life she really could have such an open relationship with, and be so free with her emotions. After all, her mother died, her brothers all ran off, and there isn't really any likelihood of that relationship forming with her father.
Rachel Takes
Marissa,
DeleteYour post made me give more thought to this controversy! There is more than one way of being a virgin and while most people are thinking of the literal way- abstaining from sex- it is so true that Josie could have meant she was an emotional virgin or a virgin to the situation she was in. It doesn't necessarily mean the literal meaning of the word "virgin" and I think that is so cool that you were able to pick that up!!
Marissa, that honestly never even crossed my mind... but now that you say it, it sounds right to me! Maybe we were all taking the subject of her virginity too literally. That's probably why were were all so confused! It would be too out of the blue if Josie spent all this time building up this promiscuous persona, only for it to be false. Besides, I'm pretty sure everyone would have caught on if she was lying about it. She was only a virgin in the sense that she never felt emotionally connected/loving towards any of her partners. O'Neill probably meant that she was a virgin figuratively. It totally makes more sense now!
Delete-Brianna Ricciardone
I was also confused to whether or not Josie was a virgin. At first I thought she wasn't because it was stated in the play that she had a reputation around town. I thought the reputation must have been true because a reputation like that doesn't just get started through rumors. On the other hand, Josie did confess to Jim that she wasn't a virgin, and the confession seemed sincere. But, during a conversation between Hogan and Josie, Hogan said that Josie was a virgin to Jim. So, then this made me think that Jim sees her as a virgin, but in reality Josie is not.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, when I began reading the play, I was initially put off by Hogan because of his stereotypes towards women. First, he was criticizing Josie because she's an "oversized cow". He should be happy she is tall and strong because she helps a lot on the farm. Also, Josie is criticized because she's "old" and not married. She's only 28! Even if Hogan wasn't intentionally trying to hurt Josie, I felt like his comments about her appearance made her feel ugly.
~Meera
Though I love how you were so critical of Hogan, I don't think he was intentionally trying to hurt Josie because he knew it was all fun because she would insult him right back. I kinda wonder what you would say to him if he said those things to you.
DeleteI finished this play the other day and when I started to read I was quite confused about the family’s relationship. I didn’t understand why all of Josie’s brothers had run away and she had been the one to stay, but it became obvious why when she showed how strong she was and that she wouldn’t let her father hurt her. I was also surprised at the way her and her father talked to each other with all of the shouting and name calling, but as the book went on you could see that they had a deeper relationship as well. At the end when Josie figured out that Hogan had set everything up so Josie would spend the night with Tyrone I thought it was really sweet of Hogan. Josie thought Hogan had done it for money, but he really just wants to make her happy and that’s a side of Hogan I didn’t think I would see. Throughout the story I felt bad for Josie because between the way she was brought up and her appearance she didn’t trust anyone and couldn’t hear any compliments from Tyrone without treating them like a joke. She tried to keep herself from being hurt by rejection because she didn’t believe that Tyrone could ever love her or even admire her and I thought that was heartbreaking. I’m glad that after she spent the night with Tyrone she was finally able to accept his love and admit hers, even though they couldn’t be together.
ReplyDeleteThere were very few characters in this story and I thought they each played there part to the point. I also agree with some of the others that they have unique personalities that I’ve never seen in any other story. One thing I wish that was added was more about Josie’s mother. When Tyrone was talking about his mother to Josie I think Josie should have talked about her mother as well because the one time her mother is brought up in the play very little is said about her. Overall I did enjoy the play and I ended up liking it more than I thought I would in the beginning. Seeing the characters unfold just brought so much more into the story and I think O’Neill did a good job of forming these characters. The tragedy of Tyrone being emotionally drained and Josie being so emotionally insecure is something I have never read before which also made the play more interesting.
~ Melissa Noryk
Melissa!
DeleteI also wanted more information on Josie's mother. I understand that maybe her mother wasn't crucial to the main storyline, but I still would have liked more information. I liked how you picked up on how Josie thought Hogan was trying to set her up with Tyrone for money, but in reality he wanted to see her happy. I thought that really summed up the relationship between them and that in the end they really do care about each other's well being.
~Meera
I was wondering about Josie's mother too! Because Hogan influenced Josie so much I wonder what Josie took from her mother.
DeleteMelissa, I like how you picked up on Josie's self confidence issues based on her dismissal of Jim's compliments. I think how she kept mentioning his Broadway girls also showed how she felt about herself.
Although I found the play strange and confusing at times, I really liked the ending. Rather than focusing on the relationship between Jim and Josie, I found my focus on the relationship between Josie and her father. Hogan appears to be just a scheming and lying man who only cares for himself, but later we find out that he really loves Josie and that her happiness is important to him. The realtioship between Josie and Hogan is a very strange one. It seems to me that Hogan favors Josie and that Josie is really the only one that understands Hogan. I found both their characters to be very similar. They both come across, to a stranger, as tough and mean. Later we find out that they both can care for others, but they just choose to hide it. I think that the mischief they cause is their own special way of bonding between father and daughter. I admit that I found their relationship hard to understand and maybe that is why I focused so much on it.
ReplyDeleteI thought that Josie and Jim's relationship was hard to understand when I first started reading and that is why I liked this play so much. Many romantic plays are very predictable and easy to understand, but Jim and Josie's was not very clear, even to them. I think that the fact that Josie and Jim parted ways at the end of the play was a good ending because even though they loved each other, Jim was too depressed about what he'd done in his past. I think it was a little strange that Josie was basically sending the man she loved away to die and even hoped that he found his peace soon. I think the relationship between the two was realistic, but the ending seemed a little more fantastic. I can't imagine anyone letting their loved one walk off to go drink themself to death and even wish for that loved one to die so that they may be happy.
Overall, the play was easy to understand once I read it all through and was very different from other plays I have read. Because of this, I found it to be a quick and enjoyable read.
I also enjoyed seeing their complicated relationships unravel. Trying to figure out how they would react to events and seeing what they did next kept me reading. The characters and the relationships they had were very different from any characters I've ever read about before. Hogan and Josie's relationship at first glance seemed cruel, but after you begin to understand them you can see how much they care for each other beneath their toughness. I also agree that their bonding was through their mischief and as strange as it was it worked for them.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAlright, so I liked this story because it was quick and to-the-point. If anyone's read my rant on Far From the Madding Crowd, ten you know I'm kind of into instant gratification.
ReplyDeleteI also liked it because it was easy to understand, and the characters were fully (but shortly) described.
HOWEVER. I was challenged to find any sort of moral or lesson. It was just kind of a snapshot into some ugly lady's life with her dad, and this drunk guy who sort of likes her. Nothing changes from the beginning of the story to the end. Some feelings get stepped on, sure, i guess that's "dramatic"
but it was just kind of meaningless to me. Nothing I didn't already know.
I thought it was funny, in some parts, but not dramatic in the least. it was definitely not worthy of a "best american drama" title, for sure.
Richter-
DeleteI could not agree more with what you are saying! I found it hard to come up with some moral or lesson I learned after reading the story. I also agree that it lacked drama. There were some interesting points in the story but for the majority of the time I felt as though the characters were simply plotting along. It was certainly not worthy of best drama. I found the story to be predictable. From the first time they brought up Jim I was almost sure that the love story would revolve around him. The story as a whole lacked suspense and drama.
Richter and Brenda, I agree with you that there were no lessons or morals plastered right on the surface of this book. But after thinking about it and writing some of my essay, I decided that (as Marissa said earlier) this is more "a story of forgiveness." I didn't think it was "dramatic" in the usual sense (suspense, etc), but I did think that it did a great job of capturing the very confusing and difficult emotions of the characters, and that's why I would consider it to be a great drama.
DeleteRichter,
DeleteI agree with you that this story lacked many elements that we usually find in a story! but for some reason, I found this story to be a page turner! Maybe it was because I kept believing that something might happen on the next page (which it didn't) but I believe that actually it was written very well with good detail and imagery and that is why it was a "good story." It wasn't a "great story" though because it lacked, well basically a plot! and I completely agree with you and Brenda there! This story was rough because you really had to look under the surface to figure out what was really being taught/learned here in this short play.
While I agree that there was not much of a moral by the end of the book, I do feel that O'Neill was able to capture the characteristics and feel of the Hogan Farm and surrounding areas in only the span of one day.
DeleteWhat I see as both a strength and a weakness of MFTM would be the short span that set the stage for the play. I thought that it was incredible that a single day was able to capture an entire lifestyle- their habits, personalities and actions. I could see a change in the characters by the end and maybe the fact that so much could be accomplished in such a short amount of time was a message in itself.
However, I dont think that the short plot was able to express a moral as strongly as some other novels we have read becasue sometimes time takes a toll on what people think and feel.
-Garret Tirrell
Did anyone else notice how all three of the books explored how women succumb to their weaknesses? In Far From the Madding Crowd, Bathsheba's weakness was Sergeant Troy. In Goldengrove, Nico's weakness was Aaron. And in Moon for the Misbegotten, Josie's weakness is Jim Tyrone.
ReplyDeleteJosie's affection for Jim is such a strong contrast between her strong personality as well as her boisterous relationship with her father. Even though she can treat Jim roughly when they are in the company of Hogan, you find out the true nature of her feelings towards him on their moonlight date. She mothers him and professes her love for him.
However, it seems like a common theme in these books is that you have to pay for being weak; Nico doesn't end up with Aaron, Bathsheba doesn't end up with Troy, and Josie doesn't end up with Jim.
Chris
You ruined it Chris, We were going to do a worksheet about that.
DeleteYou are welcome then, Sam.
DeleteChris, that's a great observation! If you haven't already chosen an essay topic, that would be a great one for you. It also leads me to the question "Is love a weakness or a strength?" I suppose love made Josie vulnerable to criticism from her father and to falling victim to Tyrone's drunken ways. Even if Josie and Tyrone had been in a healthy relationship, her love for Jim would have weakened her independent and promiscuous self image.
DeleteChris, that's a great point! As I was reading the blog posts of Moon for the Misbegotten and Far From the Madding Crowd, I was noticing some similarities between Bathsheba and Josie. They are both such strong characters and independent woman. They are seen almost as equals by the men that surround them. I didn't really see Nico fit into this characterization. She became stronger as the book went on, but she was so vulnerable from her sister's death.
DeleteWhen it came to men, however, they were all pretty weak and vulnerable. Like you said, you have to pay for being weak. All of these men don't come through for the women and end up hurting them.
Well Cristofer, all these books are about relationships. Now you see, relationships mess with emotions, and all of the weaknesses in the books are emotional. All three women can relate to eachother in the sense that they all have boy problems. Each of their boy problems are different and like Mayrie said, Bathsheba and Josie are much more similar to eachother than Nico. However I don't really see Bathsheba and Josie being toooo similar. Josie loves one guy who has some problems going on and Bathsheba can't figure out what guy she wants basically. Josie is this brute of a woman and Bathsheba is this beautiful woman who can get who ever she wants.
DeleteI think the biggest similarity between all three women is that they are all inexperienced at love. Nico was 13 and had never had any real relations with a guy, so she had no idea what she felt with Aaron. Josie was this big unattractive woman who said she had all these guys but turned out to be lying. So she really was inexperienced too. Jim was the only guy she really had any relations with that we know of. Then Bathsheba was obviously a rookie. She couldn't make up her mind about anything. Her aunt at the beginning said she had all these guys chasing after her but she was lying too. Bathsheba had no experience and it didn't help her too much later in the game. She wrote a joke note to Boldwood and that mixed things up. Then Troy came along and she fell for him without really knowing him. Then she married too quick because she thought she knew what love was but turned out that she didn't and regretted it. Then finally got her head straight and got with Gabriel who was the last and best option.
I really enjoyed reading a play for summer reading. It was a nice change compared to what we usually have to read. But this play, specifically, was not my favorite. Throughout the whole play I struggled to figure out exactly who Josie was. The way O’Neill developed Josie’s character was a bit confusing. Josie was originally portrayed as a tough woman who was very independent and confident in herself. The way she stood up to Hogan when he was drunk or just being extremely rude to her gave me the impression that she knew how to think for herself. However the instant he mentioned Jim she changed completely.
ReplyDeleteI almost got the impression that Josie did not actually like Jim, until Hogan put the idea in her head that she does like Jim. This was the complete opposite of the original impression I got of Josie. Then the way she quickly changed from not trusting Jim to acting all sweet and vulnerable with him confused me even more. I understand that she had a soft side on the inside and just acted tough all the time to cover it up, but to me it didn’t make sense. It was like O’Neill tried to portray a love story between Josie and Jim but failed to see that it was not realistic because of the previous portrayal of Josie.
Although I did not care for the relationship between Josie and Jim I did enjoy the relationship between Josie and Hogan. I found it to be very comical. The way they bickered and fought but then joked and plotted, was a relatable depiction of a father daughter relationship. I am not saying it is normal in modern day standards at all but it did show the layers that are there in a lot of relationships between fathers and their daughters.
Melanie Clarke
I also agree that the relationship between Hogan and Josie was an interesting one. Hogan did seem to have a lot of input into Josie's thoughts and life. I'm not sure I agree that Hogan was the one that put the idea of Jim into her head but he definetly had a lot of play into her liking him more.
DeleteThe father daughter relationship was definetly something relatable and something that shows real life. Granted most father daughter relationships aren't that bad but everyone has them. There are always so many layers and little things that affect their relationship. Some things they agree on and others they don't.
-Jackie Wolff
Mel,
DeleteI think you put that perfectly that it was confusing to figure out who Josie was. In the end, I concluded that the author was trying to say Josie was one of those women who is strong and tough on the outside and won't let anything get in her way but her weaknesses sometimes were shown with her weaknesss in particular being Jim Tyrone. It was really hard to tell though which person Josie was, it was almost as if she became "softer" towards the middle and the end of the book and then became strong again at the very end when she decides to let Jim Tyrone go because that is the best decision for her. I believe Josie just had a different relationship with each of the characters she interacted with and at some points it was hard to separate these relationships.
Well, after many technical difficulties, and even more confusion, I'm finally blogging! Sorry for the delay!
ReplyDelete-Starting off, the book seems like an easier read than the others. I like having it in a play format. It seems like there’s more going on all the time, and therefore it’s easier for me to stay engaged. In the opening you can tell that even though josie is not someone to mess around with, she does have a soft spot buried deep down in there! To me, it seems like even though she continues to put off the idea of being with Jim, she kinda likes the thought of it! We all know she’s super excited about that midnight meeting of theirs! ;) Another point is the confrontation with Harder. Obviously, that conflict has more to it, but after scene 1 it’s easy to see that Harder pretty much got owned. But who wouldn’t have, given the pair of Phil and Josie? That would not be an easy family to scuffle with! Excited to read more!
-In scene two you really begin to see Josie’s soft side. You can see how hurt she is that she was stood up and also how conflicted she was when Jim came back. When she was talking to her dad, it mentioned how pained she seemed whenever she spoke of how unlovable she is, and how she would embarrass Jim at the Inn because he would never want to be seen with someone like herself. Heartbreaking:’(. Although she comes up with a plan to sabotage Jim back into the initial agreement, she’s torn between her feelings for him and knowing what she has to do for her dad. You can see that she obviously doesn’t have much respect for herself when her and her father discuss the preposterous idea of her being a virgin. At the end of the act, you see Jim befuddled trying to light his cigarette, is he feeling guilty, or is it something else?!!!
-All walls come down in this scene, and things start heating up. Josie hears Jim’s explanation of why he agreed to the deal with Harder, but earlier she kept trying to get him drunk. I was unsure about how her plan would pan out. She finally opens up to jim and confesses her love. She shows more self-confidence when she slaps jim away and tells him that she’s “not a whore,” contrary to many comments she made earlier. We also learn about why jim is so troubled. His mother hated his drinking. Also, Josie fights back and forth with her emotions again after hearing about the woman on the train. She backs away only to come closer to him again. The way he looks dead in his sleep seems to reflect how he felt inside.
-Josie discovers Hongan’s schemes and talks about how sick of his lies she is. She’s going to leave like her brothers. When she wakes up jim it sucks he doesn’t remember the whole night but I love that he still cares and calls her beautiful. I got so happy reading about how waking up that day felt different than others- in a good way. However, my heart breaks when he remembers the night and tries to run off. All the ends got tied up here. Jim and Josie part on level terms and you see how much her father really cares for her, having her best interests at heart.
- The tones of the characters go back and forth throughout the dialogue. It seems like a constant fight against what they want and what should happen. I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. It was an easy read, but overall I would say that this book was my favorite of the three.
Maddy Frattaroli
While reading this play, I couldn't help but think that more should be happening.
ReplyDeleteFrom page to page I'd think, "something must be happening soon" but not much ever did. Not saying that the play was complete nothingness, but the only events that had any sort of "climax feel" about them was when Josie's brother ran away (which couldn't be the climax, it's in the beginning), and near the end when Tryone and Josie were on their "date" and Tyrone confessed his true feelings about his mother and everything.
I thought the confession was the climax of the story, it doesn't have to be physical action, it can be emotional or mental action also.
DeleteChance
Moon for the Misbegotten was both the shortest (obviously) and easiest read for me of the three books. However, it also had the most going on under the surface.
ReplyDeleteThings were rarely as they seemed at first in this story. One example was Josie, who throughout the story flaunted her relationship with men, always posing as a rough woman who knew her way around men, bragging about all the men at the bar she had "slept" with. She is later revealed to in fact be a virgin by Jim Tyrone, who deeply cares about her and hates her promiscuous act.
Another example is seen in Josie's father, Phil Hogan. Hogan is a very difficult character to read throughout the book due to his highly manipulative nature. He is constantly cooking up a scheme, seemingly with strictly personal interests at heart. Jim Tyrone also sees through this act, and knows that Hogan has always loved his daughter and wants to protect her.
Jim Tyrone is often the revealer of truths in other characters in the story, yet he himself is a very complicated man as well. The reader finally learns during his moonlit date with Josie that he has lived in self-loathing ever since he was unable to deal with the death of his mother and hired a whore for company on his way back to New York. He was never able to forgive himself and has been trying to drink himself to death ever since.
This play was packed with deeper meaning and insight, making it the hardest to fully grasp and appreciate of the three books, despite being the easiest to read.
Dan Gadoury
I must say that after opening up the book and seeing it was a play took me aback but then was I pleasantly surprised as I read it. It was an easy read yet I felt like there was something much deeper happening in the book that I couldn’t wrap my head around. I can say that as much as Josie’s relationship with her father was discussed because it was an atypical relationship, (I do agree with all that was said) I would like to bring up and discuss Josie’s relationship with her brothers. We are introduced to her youngest brother Mike as Josie is helping him run away. * I believe Mike is a symbol of irony because he is a straight-edged boy (someone who follows the rules) in his beliefs and actions while his sister and father are far from that. His father is specifically known for his swindling and conning of others and Josie is known for being openly promiscuous. It goes to show that even though she claims to not be particularly fond of any of her brothers she still aids them in their escapes from home and goes even farther by stealing money from her father. We all know that Josie does have a soft side and I think this was one instance we caught a glimpse of it.
ReplyDeleteSamantha Riley
Hi Sam!
DeleteI'm really glad you brought up the brothers! To be quite honest, their roles were so brief that I had completely forgotten about them! (and I agree with everything you said :) I feel like the brothers are yet another example of Josie's motherly figure. I know a lot of people talked about her role as almost like a mother figure to Tyrone. I think her love for her brothers and helping Mike escape is yet another example of how her character is much like a caring mother.
~Martha Denisky
I agree with you when you said that it was an easy read but there was something deeper going on that you couldn't wrap your head around. I feel the same way. I felt I was understanding the general idea and plot of the play, but the deeper meaning was going right over my head. It's good to know I'm not the only one that feels this way!
DeleteYou are definitely not the only one who feels that way! I'm right there with you! it's like I know that there is something more going on and I am trying to figure it out but the more I try the more frustrated I get and the less I am able to figure out! I think it's good that we are all on the same page though in knowing that there is some deeper meaning that we all seem to be missing!!
DeleteMartha, I like how you related how Josie mothered Jim to how she mothered her brothers. I think she allowed Jim to treat her as a mother because she was so used to this role and also wanted affection.
DeleteThis was the first summer reading book that I read. I read this book towards the beginning of the summer but always forgot to blog about it. Therefore, as I am writing this I am trying to think back to all the little details I may have forgotten.
ReplyDeleteWhen everyone got the summer reading list and saw that we had to read a play we were all dreading it. Personally, I have always found them harder to follow. Once I sat down to read this book though I soon found my whole day gone and the book finished. The constant talk back and forth between Josie and Hogan and between Josie and Tyrone kept me interested. It was easy to follow because all of them said what they thought and therefore the conversations gave you a lot of informations and input into their lives and thoughts.
The constant bicker and conversations between all of them kept me reading and trying to figure out what was true or not. They all said things that were not true just to throw eachother off and I found myself trying to keep track of everything and figure out the truth. Did Josie like Tyrone? Did She like Hogan? Things like that were constantly going through my head.
The idea that Josie was so independent was a bit ironic to me. This whole story she was surrounded by men the entire time. I would think that with all those men around she wouldn't have become an independent lady like she was. Especially because of the setting. If the story had been all women and one man I would see how they would all have to be independent. That just shows how strong headed and strong Josie as a character was.
Yet, she did have a soft side. She did take care of her father after all of her brothers left one by one. She also helped all of her brothers to escape because she knew that they didn't like it there and that they needed to get out and start their own lives.
This book kept me interested and thinking. I still think there is a lot that I didn't get because of the deep underthoughts but I still liked the book.
-Jackie Wolff
Jackie!
DeleteI agree with what you said about the dialogue between the characters. As true with most books, the words spoken by the characters give you insight to their character. I think that the Josie-Mike conversations didn't reveal so much about each person, but the stubborn and candid personalities belonging to both Josie and her father Hogan certainly brought out their true personalities. I found it amusing how Hogan and Josie conversed with each other, spitting out insults every other word, yet they still seemed to have a close relationship especially in the beginning of the book.
Wow Jackie, you made me think of this book in a completely different way! Josie was a very independent person, especially by the end of the book with the decision to dismiss Jim. I didn't even consider how Josie may have differed if there was a female character in the play. Wow that's an interesting thought! Now that has me thinking that the men in her life may have influenced that strive for independence.
DeleteJackie, that's a great point! I never noticed how Josie was the only woman in the play and how that might display her independence. I don't think it would cause her to become more dependent on the men, but more independent of the men. She was seen almost as an equal. It's not like she was a dainty girly girl or a damsel in distress that needed to be rescued. She was strong and independent like the men around her and she was forced to fend for herself.
DeleteWhat I am curious is what would make a man the way Hogan is? Someone that feels no guilt in swindling and conning everybody out of their own, well-earned money…Hogan went to every possible measure to make sure that the way he deceived people would work and the plans had no holes in them. Well at least until he received the people’s money he was deceiving and they were far enough away from him to cause any harm. Like when Hogan had his son fix up the animal’s leg so that the person wouldn’t notice until a day or two after they were gone. That takes a lot more skill than people probably realize to always be thinking about the next scheme and how to make it flawlessly work. If only Hogan had taken his ‘skill’ and used for it for the better than he and Josie possibly could have been better off. Hogan was concerned at times about losing the farm or not having enough money to get by. If he had worked hard, taken care of his family, house, farm and animals and not swindled good people out of their money he would not have these worries. If he had been kinder to his sons than maybe they wouldn’t have left to go find a better life. Then there would’ve been more hands to help take care of the land, animals or any other way to support the family. If he had taken care of his farm and animals maybe everything wouldn’t be run down and broken. Then he wouldn’t have to swindle people into buying hurt, sick animals because he would have healthy ones. All these what if’s don’t change anything but they do go to show that Hogan was not always the best man and could’ve done many things on his own to change his fate. Instead Hogan lives in a vicious cycle now that he has gotten a taste of what it is like to scheme people rather than be an honest businessman. He enjoys the pleasures of knowing he is taking advantage of others and not having to do as much work. Then again we would have no story though if Hogan turned truthful… (In the matter of business because he sure doesn’t lack truthfulness when sharing his thoughts to Josie!) Another question I had was why would Hogan have Josie dress up all fancy as a little girl to help scheme their landlord when he knew that the landlord saw right through his scheme?! Does he really have such little entertainment in his life that he does it just for kicks and giggles, I guess I just don’t understand why anyone would want to do that. It is amusing though that Josie then turned on her own father even as a child and would rat him out to Tyrone for using her in his scheme.
ReplyDeleteSamantha Riley
I think you answered your own question: He takes pleasure from knowing that he has swindled others out of money or property. I think that originates in an insecurity about his family. His sons left him, and his daughter could beat him to a pulp if she wanted to. To deal with this, Hogan finds a way to feel superior to others, so he cheats them.
Delete-Bruno
That's really true Bruno, thanks! I think I knew the answer without even realizing it. It makes sense that Hogan does that to make himself superior. He doesn't have anything else that would make him more superior to others around him so he cheats people instead. Hogan doesn't have that much money, he doesn't have a nice farm or any other aspect to set him above the others in some way. Cheating is where he knows he is better than anyone else. Sad but true right? Also, he does have insecurities about his family know that I think about it. I mean, the man had his three sons run away from him and his only remaining daughter is an unnatractive, overweight woman. He has no wife either. This is the root of the problem behind Hogan's scheming. I wonder if Hogan ever feels lonely deep down because of his problems with his family? Just a thought.
DeleteSamantha Riley
He may in fact get lonely, but if so its definitely not indicated in the play... he seems perfectly content with swindling his contemporaries out of their hard earned money.
Delete-Bruno
I think it is really sad that he finds pleasure in the cheap ways he trys to get money out of people. Personally I feel like he is not doing it for the pleasure. At least not in the beggining he wasn't. I think when a cycle like that starts it is out of the laziness. He did not want to try to make an honest living because he was too lazy he didnt want to try to do something because he didnt want to do all the work. But the longer he plays these schemes the more of a challenge it might seem to him. It becomes a game. I don't think it started as this, it might have started as a well maybe I can cut this corner or squeeze a little money out of this guy. But this feeling develops. Its like he people that steal something and when they realize they got away with it they keep coming back and getting more. It becomes like an obsession or a game to see what they can get away with.
DeleteSomething I liked about having a play for a summer reading book was that we were able to find a complete paragraph of a character's description, not to say there wasn't more to the character that we learned throughout the story. And, these were pretty informative, consice paragraphs, to make it even better! It was just a nice contrast to Far From the Madding Crowd where descriptions would be very..lengthy.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, I really felt sorry for Josie. In the beginning we saw that she had to take on the motherly role, after her own mother died giving birth to one of her brothers. She helped her brothers growing up, and she helped each one of them run away, while she was stuck with her father. She even said,
"It was the little boy you used to be that I had to mother, and not you, I stole the money for."
So if it wasn't bad enough that she had to stay with her father, he wasn't even nice to her! He would make fun of her size and would basically expect her to uphold the duties of a wife at that time as far as cleaning and cooking for him. She also keeps him in line, and isn't afraid to threaten to hurt him, which she could. It just makes me wonder, what brought both of them to that point? What would have to happen to result in that type of father/daughter relationship? Especially being the only daughter.
She is also big and rough and undesirable-looking and masculine, which didn't make herself feel very good. This is why she claimed to have countless lovers, because in reality, she probably hasn't, and is using that as a shield to the fact she is embarassed about being a virgin and unmarried at her age.
To top it off, her nasty, drunken father even lied to her. They created the plan of finding Josie and Jim in bed and making them get married, only for the money. Jim had completely intended to sell Phil the farm. Then her stupid father tried to cover up his lies, and how mad could Josie really be? She needs to stay with her father, and he needs her, so they're basically stuck. It just makes me feel even more sorry for Josie that her own father would try to use her as a piece in his messed up plot.
Another thing that bothered me about the relationship between Phil and Josie, is how they are so completely fine with cheating people out of their money. They were all for carrying out the plan with Jim! It has been touched on by a few people so far, and I'd just like to say I'm completely in agreement with them and it was worth mentioning again.
Rachel Takes
For a short play, A Moon For the Misbegotten had a lot of impact. Josie's sheer dedication to Jim was powerful in itself. I was particularly impressed with how calm Josie stayed when talking to Jim. Besides a few petty things, like Jim insulting his father, Josie was patient. She blamed Jim’s angry outbursts on his alcohol use, and rarely mentioned his past relations with other women. I noticed that Jim was mainly the person to bring up his not-so-honorable qualities. Josie rather was the person to comfort Jim and in a way, made excuses for Jim’s actions.
ReplyDeleteI felt like the opening fight between Josie and Hogan about Mike set the tone for the play. Defining the father/daughter relationship that early was important so the reader understood the characters’ personalities. It was evident that the relationship was unconventional.
I must admit, I loved the snippy arguments between Josie and Hogan. I actually chuckled at some of the names O’Neill came up with... "dirty tick, overgrown cow, bad-tempered old hornet, ugly little buck goat" How flattering!
Hannah Fay
I totally agree that the play was packed with depth and meaning for how short it was. I liked the point you made about the opening scene setting the tone for the rest of the play. It gave you alot of information about both Josie and Hogan, and their relationship, in a relatively compact dialogue. I thought that this brisk, meaning packed writing style was consistant throughout the story, and contrasted greatly with Thomas Hardy's descripive packed style in Far from the Maddening Crowd. They seemed to be two polar extremes, where the reader had to rely greatly on inference and small details in A Moon for the Misbegotten, versus being almost overloaded with detail and plot in Far from the Maddening Crowd.
DeleteDan Gadoury
I read this one somewhat quickly, it took me a while to get through the giant that is "Far From the Madding Crowd."
ReplyDeleteI was unimpressed with this work. There wasn't one character in the entire thing that I sympathized with. Josie's extreme self-esteem issues and her way of dealing with them (hiding them behind a fabricated reputation) were off-putting. Phil Hogan was a terrible man, it seemed as though his only passion was tricking others out of money or into marriages. Jim Tyrone was indeed haunted by his mother, and craved female attention because of it. Perhaps that's why he went into acting. I thought it was kind of sick and disturbing that he used his own mother's death to get the attention he needed from people like Josie, who needed attention for different reasons.
-Bruno
I have always felt that plays should be viewed and not read. So in addition to reading the actual play, I found time to watch a critically acclaimed rendition of it. After reflecting on both I find myself having mixed feelings on the play as a whole. I found out that A Moon for the Misbegotten was the last work of literature that O’Neill completed. Shortly afterwards he tragically lost his ability to write due to a severe tremor in his hand. I can’t even begin to imagine how he felt, the pain he must have endured. His life’s work, his passion, was brutally extinguished and replaced by the agonizing truth that he could never again realize the ideas that swirled endlessly within his mind. To be tormented so must have been all but unbearable. He lived out the remaining ten years of his life constantly taunted by the half finished works that littered his house and the ideas he could no longer share with the world. I feel sorry for him, for the misfortune which caused him so much grief. I wish he could have enjoyed the last ten years of his life as he enjoyed all the years before – as a writer. But instead cruel fate robbed him of the opportunity for happiness when he needed it the most. His life apart from writing was fraught with sorrow and suffering: he and his beloved endured a deteriorating marriage, an affair with alcohol, and a courtship with depression. Writing was all that he had left. And to be denied this one constant joy in his life…
ReplyDeleteHe seems to share a lot with the characters in A Moon for the Misbegotten. They all seem a part of him in some way. Maybe the real reason I have mixed feelings on the play is because it isn’t even a play at all. You could say that it was really a canvas for his emotions, emotions that tore him apart.
Nathan, I have to agree with you 110%. This play is a continuation of his autobiography and he put all of himself into it. It can be quite difficult to judge a work in which the author has poured their soul. Also, it is a play, and it cannot be read as a novel. I think you had the right idea in watching, as well as reading, this work.
DeleteMegan Tunila
I found this play to be very comical yet tragic. I found the play to be a quick read and it didn't put me to sleep. I didn't like the relationship Josie and Jim shared. She seemed to always be there for him, but he was never there for her. When he talked about his past and of his mother who died Josie would comfort him. But Josie had to put on a fake smile because she knew she could never be with Jim, the one she truely cared for. I loved the relationship portrayed between Hogan and Josie! Together they are hilarious. Hogan always seems to embarrass her especially when she is around Jim. Yeah Hogan is a drunk and can be man of temper, but Josie and him for the most part get along. They both are schemers. Josie helped her brothers excape without being caught, and Hogan schemed to get Josie to get with Jim to make sure Jim doesn't sell the farm to Harder.
ReplyDeleteI honestly loved Josie's personality and strong- will. Josie was a strong, motherly, independent, yet rough girl. She could handle herself easily. She basically raised her three brothers since Hogan spent most of his time drinking. Josie could be one of the men. She didn't let her father's rude comments like calling her a cow get to her. She was always there for Jim no matter what. He never really returned the favor though. When he told her about his past and about his grieving over his mother Josie was his shoulder to cry on. As Martha said what would Jim and Hogan do without Josie? Josie was always there for each of them during there roughest hours.
Throughout the novel I really had no respect for Jim. He used heavy drinking, sex, women, and more drinking to take away the pain. I don't agree with his method of dealing with sadness and hurt. I honestly think if he found a woman he truely loved to settle down with and start a family with he would be able to forget his grief and move on. Josie would be the perfect woman for him. She demonstrated that she was always their for him during his times of need. If Jim was smarter her would have chosen Josie instead of other women from the start! I also felt Josie was too good for him. With everything she has been through she deserves a nice, strong, and caring man.
I liked how the end of the play wasn't a cliffhanger or those plays where you make up the ending. I like how the ending was summed up and explained.
-Tori Cronin
Iv've been trying to figure out Josie, she's such an interesting character! I think she's quite similar to our friend Bathsheba in Far From the Madding Crowd. They are both independent and strong willed women, but I get the feeling that neither of them really know what they want. Especially when it comes to men! It seemed Bathsheba treated each one of her suitors differently, probably due to the fact that each of them was different and from different backgrounds. But Josie seems consistent no matter who she interacts with.
ReplyDeleteI feel sympathy for Josie, she grew up with no mother, a rough father and 3 brothers. Throughout the story I didn't see any other female influences on her, and I feel like that has completely influenced her life. Growing up in the atmosphere she was in is most likely what shaped her bad reputation and harsh tongue.
I really like your comparison of Josie and Bathsheba! I never thought of it like that but really they are both such independent women who don't know what to do when it comes to men. I felt like you never actually knew what was going on with Josie. She was so good at her cons that you couldn't tell if she was being decitful or being real. But you are right, she was always like that, around everyone. Bathsheba had a different personality for everyone, but not Josie. I'm glad I read this because I never thought of connecting Josie and Bathsheba.
DeleteAshley Childers
I don't really think this was a story that needed to be told. O'Neill wrote the story well, sure, but the whole play seemed like much ado about nothing to me. One of the main calling cards and discussion points of the play, the relationship between Josie and Hogan, wasn't very interesting to me. I have a relatively similar relationship with my family, so the shock value didn't really hit me while reading. I'm not saying I threaten to beat up my dad on a regular basis, just that my family uses a similar style of bullshitting. Like Josie and Hogan, we all love each other to death, but we still make satirical jokes about each other and call each other names in jest. Also, I thought the play took itself a bit too seriously at the end. Tyrone went on about some fairly typical problems, and the ending played out like it was a huge deal that Tyrone actually had things go wrong in his life.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you Joey that the aspects such as the setting, relationships, and hardships of this story were not particularly extreme or unique. I think that the author did this on purpose however so that the play did not have to be only about those specific characters in those specific circumstances. Plays are often designed to be universal in theme, so that it could be anyone in the place of the characters, and therefor everyone may learn from it. I think that O'neill constructed the play purposefully to fit into the lives of all of the Connecticut farmers living in the time period. And many of the insights and lessons taught in the book could even be appied to people elsewhere, and in modern times.
DeleteI agree that the play seems to be about problems that are not incredibly drastic or severe, but I do think that the play had a decent theme. I felt that the author made Jim go into his dark demeanor towards the end to show how much he was actually hurt by what he had done, causing a bigger contrast between the Jim shown to us and the Jim he hates. As for the relationship between Josie and Hogan, I never really thought it was unique, as many kids can joke and make fun of their parents when they become older. I think this play was just as much about fighting your personal demons and who you are and who you pretend to be, as much as it is about finding love. But I do agree with you on the fact that it is a fairly average story. Overall: 6.5/10
DeleteI think you all are right. This is a very average story. But this is a play, and the best plays are easy to relate to. No, there is nothing all too special about Josie and Hogan's father/daughter relationship. But, when acted on stage, as this is meant to be, any type of absurdity or falseness in the relationship would be glaringly obvious and take away from the story. All the relationships have to be believable for anyone to want to see the play. Novels have a lot more leeway with relationships because they won't be seen, if they sound plausible, people will believe it. I think that is what makes this such a great piece of literature; the relationships and trials are easy to relate to still, although it was written in 1945.
DeleteA Moon for the Misbegotten was a decent story in my mind and I enjoyed it the most of the books. It starts out with physical humor and insults toward one another, and continues the mood throughout. I never felt this was a serious drama however, between the drunken antics of the father and the constant threats of the daughter. I viewed this play as more of a dark comedy until the end of the third act. I especially found the characters of Jim and Josie compelling. The way Josie presented herself as a very loose woman with few morals and prone to violence, and the way Jim presented himself as a man that, no matter how much money he had, was still not above splitting a drink with a poor farmer. These roles drastically changed in the third act, with Josie taking on a maternal demeanor to Jim’s self-loathing. I liked the lines where Jim switched his demeanor to talk to Josie as though she was a whore instead of the only one he loves. I felt this let the reader look into how such a kind and lighthearted man could have made the mistakes he did on the train when his mother was being transported to her grave. I felt the last line was the entire feel of the play compressed. “May you have your wish and die in your sleep soon, Jim, darling. May you rest forever in forgiveness and peace.” This shows how even though they still love each other dearly, they could never be together. Jim could never be with her because he loathes the world and himself and Josie could never be with him because she realizes he is already dead on the inside, and instead wishes for him to be mercifully released into the afterlife.
ReplyDeleteZach, you make a very good point here when you say "Josie... wishes for him to be mercifully released into the afterlife". I wish to expand on this slightly. From the beginning, Josie is presented as a tough young woman with few morals. Yet she protects her brothers, not only Mark, but Thomas and John as well, when she helps them escape. I think a theme throughout the play is mercy. Specifically Josie's ability to be merciful. She shows mercy by helping her brothers escape a life they cannot enjoy or succeed at. She goes along with her father's cons to keep him happy. And she lets Jim go when she realizes she cannot save him. In the harsh and cruel world Josie lives in, she is still capable of showing great acts of mercy throughout.
DeleteI found the character of Josie to be the most interesting. She did not have to send her brother Mike away, but she did so to protect him from their conniving father, even though she knew that this would cause her to take on any and all of his poor treatment. Not only must she deal with this, but she must deal with the insecurity she has about being a large woman in that time. She fakes a tough exterior so she will not be hurt by others, while she is a woman who is completely willing to make sacrifices for her family. I love the character.
ReplyDeleteI also found her character interesting. Her respect was honorable even though he may not have deserved it. I think out of all the characters she was probably the most genuine of them and also a little inspirational for all that she has put up with and everything she has to deal with.
DeleteThis was my favorite book to read out of all of them. I love reading scripts and plays. From the beginning I respected Josie. could see that she had immense respect for her father, but was compassionate and understanding. She knew that, while she had the respect of her father and could deal with him, none of her brothers did, so she helped them get away to follow their dreams. I also think that the way the relationships evolve in the play makes Josie an even stronger character. She clearly respects her father, but she also knows he can't be trusted, and for the most part, holds her own and isn't tricked by him. I think she was only tricked in the end because she didn't believe he could do something with an honest intention. When her father conned her, he was doing it with the intention of making her happy, not financial gain. I felt sorry for Jim throughout the play. The way he acted was mysterious enough to make people wonder why he did it, but the way Josie could see right through it made it feel fake and forced. I think Eugene O'Neill created Jim's back story very well. I could sympathize with him and actually understood his motivations and actions. Eugene O'Neill drank himself to death at a very young age (22 if I'm remembering correctly:I did a report on him in History last year) and I wonder how much of Jim's point of view was actually his own. I wish I had thought of this earlier in the summer, but this is actually a sequel to O'Neill's autobiographical play "Long Day's Journey into Night". I wish I had time to read that first, but i ran out of time. I wonder if reading/seeing that would have changed my opinion of this play.
ReplyDeleteAs I read through all of these comments I think of so much to say then I read the next post and forget what I was planning on posting! haha Anyways I did enjoy this play as well. While it wasn't so complicated, lengthy, and time consuming as Far from the Madding Crowd I really liked how the more simple story line lets us develop it in our heads and lets us complicate it. It seems like most of us had a hard time with Hardy's novel and unless I'm really off it seems like there's a lot more comments for this book. I think that since it was a little simpler, we're able to read into it and develop it ourselves. So in the end, I liked the simplicity of this book more because I can connect to it easier (the relationship between father and daughter as i commented before) and I can make up my own twists I guess you could say? I don't know how to explain it but hopefully someone understands what I mean!!
ReplyDeleteThis is most definitely my least favorite of the 3 works but that probably has to with the fact that its a play. I did like that it kept the amount of characters to an absolute minimum. But the book was kinda boring and insignificant as it didnt have many significant events.
ReplyDeleteThe one aspect I like was Josie's loyalty which was unwavering which I found extremely admirably. She could have left her father at any time but valued family and she could have easily not listen to Jim.