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, but back in the 1920's. It's more of a rural, agricultural Connecticut, compared to our Connecticut of suburban commuters in their McMansions.
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.
Addendum: I encourage you to take a look at the following short article: "Yes, More Drama: The Deep and Unique Pleasure of Reading Plays". The author, Dan Kois, says the when you read a play -- to really read a play -- is to cast it, direct it, and star in it. Try it yourself!
Oh, and -- SPOILER ALERT -- Josie's not promiscuous. (She just says she is.)
After reading Act One, the popular early twentieth century views come around: classification based on nationality and religion, poverty, brute strength, beauty, and virtues. Josie is immediately set as a character based on every single one of these factors.
ReplyDeleteFamily life on the Hogan farm seems to be rough, based on the accounts of Mike and his previous brothers. All have fled the rage of their father Phil Hogan. Mike seems to be the only character who is religious, and is looked down upon for it. As for Josie, Hogan, and their tenant Jim Tyrone, scheming, anger, abuse, falseness, humiliation, and alcohol are the focal point. True bonding time is spent drinking whiskey, looking toward who will be the next target. Of course, belittling T. Stedman Harder wasn't a bad option either.
Get-rich-quick schemes are all the trio cares about, and I am surprised to say there has yet to be one 'good' character. Anyone who is rich immediately becomes a threat simply by default. In their small town, no one has the guts to keep them in check, so they run free by threatening whomever may get in the way.
As hard-set as Josie is, the last few lines of the act hint at a flirtatious connection between Tyrone and herself. I believe their future romance to be based off more of the possible monetary outcomes whispered to them by outside forces. There may be passion, but my prediction would be the roots of their relationship based on personal gain.
I completely agree with you that the Hogans are certainly a stereotypical Irish immigrant family; who even speak with a strong Irish brogue although it is unclear whether they were born in Ireland and moved. It is more likely their grandparents or even great grandparents left Ireland as a result of the potato famine in the mid 1800s, so their Irish brogue may just be their last ditch effort to cling to their nationality thus making them stand out against the supposed rich Protestant and bad catholic back drop of the rest of the town.
DeleteHowever, I don't believe their portrayal of thieving, scheming brutes to be true at least on Josie's end. Her father's brazen attitude at least seems to ring true, but at times Joises is said to be faltering almost as if her entire image is an act; a way for her to live in the reality and forget how poor they are and that now one has been jumping on the chance to marry her. Her foul mouth and brazen attitude are just a protective barrier to her. As for her supposed track record for men, I don't think it actually exists. Especially since her forced kiss on Tyrone in act one ended in such confusion that one has to question if it was her first kiss. I think it's just easier for her to pretend to be a rumored, foul mouthed wanton; there's no commitment in that. But, there's commitment in this scheme to get Tyrone to marry her, especially if she really does have feelings for him (which I think she does). If she really does love him and a romance does blossom how will her father take it? Will she even be able to accept that kind of commitment?
I agree with what both of these posts especially with what Katie says about Josie's attitude being a barrier, because you can definitely see later on when she sits with Tyrone that she begins to let down that front she put up and she really isn't the same self assured, rough tongued woman she portrayed herself to be in act one. One thing i don't agree with however is the suggestion that she may have some hesitancy with commitment. Doesn't the fact that she stayed with her father through a difficult time at the farm show at least some dedication? I suppose she wasn't in much of a position to up and leave him either, but I didn't get the sense that she resented taking care of her father despite his drinking and the less than desirable accommodations. I think if Tyrone had asked for a relationship she would have been willing to make that commitment. In my point of view it was Tyrone who was the repelling force in their relationship. He was struggling with depression and grief and drinking and he didn't want to corrupt Josie, a girl whom he saw as pure. She had experience with men like him because of her father, she would have been able to handle it, but i don't think he could have.
DeleteWhen it comes to the relationship between Tyrone and Josie, I think there is a bit of truth in every statement. Josie has some commitment to her father, but she is also not completely loyal to him. She went behind her father's back on numerous occasions to send her brother's away. I believe she stays with her father not out of commitment, but simply out of comfort. She has a secret desire to escape, but she is too afraid to. To fulfill her dreams of escaping, she helps her brother's run off to make better lives for themselves. I don't believe she has a fear of commitment, but a fear of change. This causes her to play off any of Tyrone's flirtatiousness as a joke, as building a relationship is a major change in one's life. On the other hand, Tyrone is also pushing Josie away due to his lack of self worth. They may have feelings for one another, but each has built a wall around their heart to deflect the acceptance of love. One of my favorite quotes from the book and movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower strongly applies in this situation. It states, "We accept the love we think we deserve", and neither one feels deserving of any love at all.
DeleteI agree Olivia, especially with what you said about Josie having some sense of commitment to her father. I think that this may be another reason why she runs from building a relationship. As you said as well, not because she fears commitment but she fears change. One thing in specific that she may fear will change is her relationship with her father. She may fear that commitment to him will disappear all together if she is involved in a romance. And though on the outside it seems that her father and her's relationship isn't always a walk in the park, it is something familiar to her and something that she has grown to be comfortable with. This may be the reason that she finds it scary to think about letting go of commitment to her father, which is probably what she thinks will happen after entering in a romantic relationship.
DeleteUpon reading Acts 2 ad 3, i have determined that the love Josie and Jim Tyrone share is very unusual for both of them. Josie isn't used to the type compliments Jim pays her, such as on page 99, "You're real and healthy and clean and fine and warm and strong and kind". Jim isn't used to opening up about his past, and sharing his inner thoughts.
ReplyDeleteAt the start of the second act, the feelings I got was that love as a whole is perceived as a weakness. Selfishness is a safe route that Josie, her father, Jim, and even all of Josie's siblings indulge in. Based on this, Josie and Tyrone both start a relationship on these pretty unstable virtues. Josie looks to Jim to shame him for his alcohol abuse, and relies on getting close to him from his shallowness: vanity and pride. Jim looked toward Josie for her virginity, which we later found out was true. He also mentioned that he waited for something better, in reference to his inheritance and easy girls, which I found strange. As the play progresses, we find that both Josie and Jim share many characteristics: tortured backgrounds, a bad family life, low moral values (lies and schemes), both are very childish in that Jim is irresponsible and Josie is naïve, and most importantly, they refuse to face reality and let down their walls.
Throughout the play so far, the pace at which details are revealed is well done. I am interested to see what Josie will do with Jim's background information, and how she will tell her father. Will she use his past to her advantage and marry him to get he inheritance money? Maybe the more important question is: is she even in love?
I agree with just about everything you have to say at this point in the book, Jess, but I don't know whether I can get behind Josie and Jim having low moral values. I believe the acts both characters indulge in are not necessarily reflective of their own morality but rather the society they live in and their troubled pasts. Certainly, both characters show very honorable and loving traits throughout the course of the night, and, as the evening plays out, both characters' true intentions come to light. Josie strives to make Jim happy despite the low sense of self-esteem she has that has been instilled in her by society as a woman of her stature during the era of the Jazz Age. Jim yearns for an honest love unlike any he has ever had before with any of the previous girls he had lain with. I think the way that O'Neill depicts both characters’ struggles with finding their true values while simultaneously conforming to the wild and often raunchy society of the Roaring Twenties as well as with coping with their own troubled pasts makes the two of them all that much more relatable as characters for that is something that everyone must come to terms with no matter what era they live in. In short, I don't know whether Josie and Jim are amoral characters or rather deeply moral and lovesick characters struggling to come to terms with the society they live in and their own troubled pasts.
DeleteI wanted to comment specifically on what Jess said about love being perceived as weakness in this play because I totally agree. Both Jim and Josie seem ashamed to completely admit or indulge in their attraction to each other, although one could argue that this is because Jim wants to avoid having a worthless liasion with Josie because of how much he cares for her. What leads me to believe love is considered a weakness in this play, however, is that Jim admonishes himself for the weakness of missing Josie, and Josie hides behind her brusk language to hide the weakness of her true feelings and virginity from Jim.
DeleteAfter reading Act III I do believe that Josie and Tyrone do love each other. I think their love is O'Neill's way of making a statement that love isn't always perfect and it isn't always clean cut. These characters can't help but be imprinted on by the time they live in. In the 1920's women were taught to care for their husbands in an almost motherly fashion. This "training" shows when Tyrone tells Josie about his mistakes and she cuddles him and comforts him like a child. I wouldn't say their love is healthy. He seems to ask so much of Josie in the terms that he needs her forgiveness and his mother's forgiveness of he'll just die. Yet, despite all the compliments he doesn't really give Josie anything in return. He just tells her the best thing is for him to leave and never look back; which in the scheme of things almost seems like a ploy for him to get her to forgive him. But, I also think Jess has a point about them having low morals. At not time during their moonlight rendezvous does Josie take significant steps to stop the scheme she and her father cooked up to marrying her off to Tyrone. She makes some comments about having to get him out before dawn, but nothing is rushed. You would think that if she loved him she would ask for his forgiveness and tell him about the scheme, especially since he asked her for her forgiveness for his mistakes. I think I'm changing my own opinion. That maybe these characters are not anything more than infatuated with each other. Infatuated with the idea that someone could see them as beautiful or that someone out there could give them the real relationship and love that they crave. When does infatuation become love?
DeleteI agree that Josie and Jim both get something new out of their relationship, Josie finds herself cherished and valued and Jim finds someone he can open up to. I do not agree, however, that love is portrayed as a weakness. I feel that Josie's father isn't just scheming a way to find money when he tries to pair her with Jim. I think he sees that Jim is in love with her and she with him and, although he may not say it outright, he loves his daughter enough to risk loosing her to another man if it would make her happy. I think love is valued even though it isn't discussed. These are hard people made so by their environment and they didn't grow up in an environment full of hugs and smiles and Christmas cards. They probably just aren't sure how to express their feelings towards one another. My grandfather was much the same way, he loved his family but he wasn't going to tell you every time you went to visit like other relatives. I don't think Josie and Jim are selfish to want to be together, I think the idea of getting money is just a front like Josie acting promiscuous, its just an act to cover up what is really going on because what is really happening may be too hard or awkward to discuss.
DeleteAfter reading the replies i agree with Katie that Jim and Josie are in love but that that love is not necessarily healthy or in the best interest for either of them which is probably why the play didn't end with wedding bells. I don't think their relationship had any solid foundation. I can see now how they might be selfish, not in an aggressive way, but they were unconsciously using each other to patch up holes in themselves. I mean, Josie needs to learn to cherish herself and Jim needs to forgive himself but they tried to find someone else to do what they should do for themselves.
DeleteI couldn't agree more with this. I mean, you know what they say, "you have to love yourself before you love anyone else." I believe that this statement is very true and can be applied to Jim and Josie. They're seeking for someone else to try to heal their own wounds. This is not a healthy basis for any relationship. In fact, this makes for a very unhealthy relationship. I do not judge them for trying to find the answers to their problems in someone else, as it is very scary sometimes to open up to yourself and look your problems in the eye. But most often, that is the only way to fix any internal struggles you have and settle any scores you have with yourself. If a conflict is internal the only was the conflict can truly be resolved is by oneself. I don't really know if what i'm trying to say is coming across as now I just feel like I am rambling. But a simple example is, if someone looks in the mirror everyday and does not like their appearance, no matter how many times they are told they look good they won't feel like they look good until they themselves say, "I guess I do look good." I agree completely with what you said about them needing to do it themselves, as this is the only way they will every truly find their peace.
DeleteWhen I finished A Moon for the Misbegotten, I came to some interesting conclusions. Josie is a rather transparent character, in that at the beginning of the play, she was all about getting her way at the expense of others. When she finds out that Hogan set her up to try and get Jim's inheritance as a last ditch effort, she is disgusted with him. Along with this, a somewhat good part of herself made Josie reevaluate her life. She now saw that others have a harder time with life than she does, and Josie treats it as a slap to the face. Another point that was brought up was if Josie's father really cared for her. When reading the last act, you are given two options for Phil Hogan: his actions were because he recognized the love between Josie and Jim before they themselves knew it, or he wanted the money for himself.
ReplyDeleteI have also decided that Josie and Jim in my opinion were not truly in love. Several glaring details point this out to me. Jim and Josie decided to part ways, just like that. There was not any pining, much hurt, or last goodbyes. They simply parted ways. Jim could not let is alcoholic lifestyle go, and Josie didn't feel the need to stop him anymore. If you truly love someone, wouldn't you try your best to help them to become happy, or at least mentally stable? Josie also mentioned she felt sad, as in she pities Jim. Felling sorry for someone does not equate to love, under any circumstances.
Finally, I do have some questions that I could not figure out: why did Josie lie to Jim about him revealing his Past? Was it so he wouldn't feel "weakened"? To save his pride? To give him his own time to heal and/or tel her lucidly?
Overall, I'm not an enthusiastic fan of plays, as the stage directions are often distracting. A Moon for the Misbegotten was not exempt by this, but the drama between Josie, Jim and her father was all encompassing. There were some interesting character developments throughout the story line, but I feel that some larger points in the plot could have been explained more.
I have to disagree with Jess that Jim and Josie weren't in love. I think they were, but in a less conventional way than we are used to seeing. Jim and Josie were able to easily part ways because Josie realized that letting Jim go was the best thing for him because he had been too hurt by the death of his mother and his guilt about the blonde on the train. Josie realized that the only love she could give Jim was a somewhat maternal one to stand in for the forgiveness he could not get from his mother. Josie and Jim's parting wasn't as quick and painless as it seemed-letting Jim go was probably one of Josie's first completely selfless acts in the play, an act of true, albeit complicated, love.
DeleteUpon finishing A Moon for the Misbegotten I was left quite satisfied overall with the play. On one hand, like Jess, I'm not a particularly huge fan of plays. In many cases they can be difficult to follow and, therefore, just aren't my favorite way to read literature. The only way I thought A Moon for the Misbegotten really suffered is in its lack of exposition and backstory into the characters and the setting. At parts I thought that left the reader feeling somewhat lost. However, again such is the nature of it being a play. All exposition must be done through dialogue which is rather difficult. All prior biases against plays aside, I thought O'Neill did an excellent job with this one and I found it surprisingly enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteThe enormous depth of the characters that seemed quite shallow at the beginning of the play was made very apparent in the second half of the play. Throughout acts one and even two all of the main characters seem very transparent with few redeemable qualities. Phil Hogan is constantly consumed by his schemes and has an apparent lack of respect for anyone else except for Josie who he still mistreats especially in his drunken bouts. While Josie does help her brother to leave the harsh conditions of working on their father's farm and expresses some sentiment towards Jim Tyrone, she denies all feelings and still actively takes part in and enjoys her father's schemes, like when they drove Harder away from the farm. Lastly, Jim Tyrone, the alcoholic landlord, is only really portrayed as a bad person after he stands Josie up for their moonlight date after making the decision to sell the farm to Harder thus backing out on the promise he made to the Hogans.
The second half gave a very different impression of the characters though. They became people whose bad traits were simply their ways of coping with how they had been victimized in some way in the past. Tyrone was left severely scarred by his mother's death and how he chose to cope with it at the time. Josie came clean about her virginity and admitted that her promiscuous lifestyle was only a lie to make those around her think differently of her. And finally, Hogan admitted to his lies and explained that the reason for them was not to get Tyrone's money but rather for Josie and Jim to experience each other's love one last time. As Josie says, Hogan was "playing Cupid."
I thought the evolution of the depth of each of the characters was very enjoyable and even the crux of the play. In general, though not one of my favorites the play was enjoyable and easily held my attention throughout.
I agree with mostly everything that you said here Luke, though I do disagree with the way you analyzed the brief, early descriptions of the characters. I saw their traits as extremely unique and quite entertaining, not negative or evil. I appreciate your break down of the second half as it very accurately put into words my feelings on the more in-depth look of the main characters that O'Neill provided.
DeleteAct one begins to present itself through the scene where Josie Hogan is arguing with her brother Mike Hogan over his religion and overall values. Josie states that Mike is "…Worse than decent. (he is) virtuous" (9). Mike is a faithful Catholic living in a family where scheming and corruption are prominent. Therefore, Josie and her father Phil Hogan reject him, as they seem to reject any trace of good morals. This distaste for good morals and healthy values set the stage for a plethora of schemes to which Josie and her father embark upon. Josie is a character portrayed as being very bold but having little to no conscience or regret. She helps her father fix up and sell sick animals to unsuspecting people, she composes herself as promiscuous but unapproachable, and she engages in extremely harsh banter with a wealthy neighbor whose primary wish is that the Hogan’s stop breaking his fence. Phil is a character with seemingly little to like about. He is angry, and deceitful, with no hospitable qualities.
ReplyDeleteIn act two, my views of Josie Hogan begin to shift as we learn and feel her real despair in Jim Tyrone’s continual absence as nine o’clock, their scheduled date, comes and goes. Josie is already broken hearted when her father Phil comes back into the house drunk and disorderly, to share some bad news, “He agreed to sell the farm” (53). From there, almost mechanically, a scheme is spun up to trick Jim into believing he’s slept with Josie and get him to retract his sale of the farm. Though when he arrives, there are conflicting feelings within Josie because all along she wanted this date, and now it’s only a trap.
ReplyDeleteMonica Dave says:
DeleteI am enticed by the way you’ve described Josie as having no conscience or regret in your former post. I entirely agree that people see her that way, and that is the image she wishes to project. With her boldness and brutal nature, people could easily believe that she has no morals. I became more interested in her character as I read Act II, because this demeanor of Josie’s seems to have cracks in it. Although foreshadowed in Act I, in Act II it is prevalent that Josie regrets trusting Jim Tyrone. This is clear when she immediately seeks revenge when finding out about his decision to sell her land. When agreeing to the date with him, she surely let down her guard, at least a little. But when Josie felt betrayed, there was clear evidence of hurt behind her insults and vengeful thinking.
When act three begins, Jim Tyrone is yelling at nothing and inadvertently revealing a little of his past and a lot of his regret. Then Josie appears and he is normal again. They drink, and bicker under the moonlight and their real love slowly becomes apparent. Jim talks of the beauty he sees in Josie, and the different night he wants from her rather than any other girl but there is a deep underlying feel from his words. He sheds light onto his past and his regret of not attending his mother’s funeral, and beginning to drink again. Josie is there for him in a way no one else has ever been, and because of that, he feels comfortable enough to cry on her, forgive himself, and move on.
ReplyDeleteAct four is my favorite part of A Moon for the Misbegotten because Phil Hogan’s love for his daughter is completely revealed. Although he used scheming and lying to do so, he got his daughter to see the beauty in herself through Jim Tyrone’s eyes. All along Hogan knew Jim did not plan to sell their farm, but he thought that if he convinced his daughter of such, she would be enraged enough to try to figure out the truth by opening herself up to Jim and attempting to allow him to open up as well. Although his ways are unconventional, Phil Hogan shows a positive quality about himself; the love he has for his daughter.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you Naomi. Phil Hogan always let Josie have the facade that she was impervious to emotion, and that she was tough. He knew his daughter and he loved her so much that he would do this for her. All of their banter back and forth with their negative comments was another way that they showed their affection for each other.
DeleteI agree with both Luke and Jess in that this play lacked in the setting of a backstory and the stage directions were often a little distracting, but I also feel that the back story may not of been necessary to capture the full entity of the story's plot. it just would've been nice to have. I think Eugene O'Neill did a great job writing this play as it was enticing and dramatic enough that I never felt the need to put it down. For a play I feel it had a lot of depth. I think O'Neill's revelation at the end of Jim Tyrone's past helped us as readers feel for Jim as a character and not completely blame him for his alcoholism, and the scene where Josie finds out Hogan's real plot all along shows us a rare side of Phil Hogan that I personally never saw coming.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I do wish is that the play went more into depth related to Jim's relationship with his family.
Amanda Steinhilber says:
DeleteNaomi,
I believe the reason so many people are having issues with the character development not being complete for Tyrone is that A Moon for the Misbegotten is actually a sequel. The first installment, Long Day's Journey into Night, is focused on Jamie's (the younger Jim Tyrone) reaction to his mother Mary's morphine addiction. In this play, the entire family is addicted to alcohol and steadily get drunker and fight more as it goes on. This family dynamic I feel fills in much of the missing information from Jim's character.
That is very helpful! I wasn't aware of that because I haven't read the first book! Thankyou so much Amanda (:
DeleteAfter reading the first act of A Moon for the Misbegotten, there are many people who play a role in this play very early. The family, which now only consists of Phil Hogan and Josie, is poor and having a hard time dealing with each other at times. The way Hogan is holding up the family is definitely not working seeing how all of Josie’s brothers have left home. He uses an aggressive style of parenting which has no impact on Josie seeing how she is bigger and stronger than him. Josie’s personality from the first scene isn’t the best either. She has a mouth on her which isn’t appropriate of girls during this time period. Her main problem so far is she is not married and thinks she cannot find love because of how she looks. I think part of it has to deal with how she thinks of herself. At the end of the act Tyrone is being very flirty with her, but Josie seems to play it off like he is joking. So far from reading, I get the feeling Josie is too set in her ways of not having anyone find her appealing so if/when Tyrone does, Josie will shut it down. Also, with the possibility of future romance, I agree with Jess when she said it may be only for personal gain. Hogan wants to keep the land while Josie wants to have someone to marry. Tyrone just seems like he needs to benefit from something for him to actually do it based on his actions and what he has been saying so far in the play.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading act two and three I felt bad for Josie at the beginning for waiting the whole time for Tyrone and him not showing. She just sat in her best waiting which I didn’t think she would do. I think this shows she does have some feelings for him. But she also jumped on the idea of tricking him very quickly. When Hogan is drunk we see the side of him that is more caring toward Josie when they are thinking of the plan to trick Tyrone. That might be fake or true which I can’t decide. When Tyrone finally arrives at Josie’s house he does not seem to feel bad that he made her wait. He apologizes quickly then only seems to be happy when he gets more to drink or he is getting closer to Josie which makes me think again that he doesn’t really love her.
ReplyDeleteAfter finishing the play I completely agree with Naomi when she talked about Tyrone’s past. Until that point we don’t get a good reason for why he is how he is. I also do wish the play went more in depth about his family. This shows the depth of the character and how we can’t judge someone until we know their whole story. Throughout this play we also get to see how Josie changes very quickly. With Josie going from not wanting to see Tyrone, to waiting two hours for him to show up, to wanting to trick him, to caring for him in the end. From this I think that she did not love him, but simply cares about him. For example, she did not show on the outside that she was too upset Tyrone was leaving. But she also let him sleep and did not pull the trick on him. I also think Hogan did care about Josie, but had a very sneaky way of showing it until the very end. Throughout the entire play he was mostly mean to her and was putting her down. And lastly, I do not think Tyrone loved Josie even though he kept saying it when he was leaving. He didn’t seem very sad about leaving her either which makes he think he loved having the company around.
ReplyDeleteYou make a very good point. Throughout the whole play Josie was the only woman. I wonder how growing up in a house of just men (at least as far as we know) impacted her personality development. It is possible that when it comes to a working loving relationship she had no model of comparison and is unsure how to enter into that kind of relationship with Tyrone. It may also explain her demeanor. She puts on a front of being promiscuous but still keeps a home and cooks for her father. This reflects the double standard for women at the time. Without a strong female role model she gets her information about how she should act from her surroundings, her society, famous people. This must have made it difficult for her trying to discover who she is as a person and probably explains why she needs Tyrone to tell her she is good because she doesn't know that of herself.
DeleteShaina Caplan says:
ReplyDeleteAfter completing Act One, it becomes apparent that the loyalties of the Hogan family appear to switch rapidly in their games of verbal taunting. For instance, Josie helped Mike move away from their raging father, while also criticizing his spirituality. In the same breath, Josie joined in her father's complaints about Mike's uselessness while getting along more or less amiably with each other (I think it's safe to say their version of a happy relationship includes banter). However, it is clear despite the changes in loyalty during their verbal sparring that the Hogan's have a strong familial bond. For instance, Josie and Hogan pooled their talents against Harder in a show of mutual protection.
Perhaps the complex relationship between Josie and Hogan is a precursor to the also very intricate relationship between Josie and Jim. Josie's acclaimed personality traits of being self-assured and larger than life (especially with men) is in contrast with her behavior about Jim. In this case, she refuses to admit attraction outright (for which a case could be made that she is playing "hard to get"). This may indicate underlying intricacies in Josie...perhaps she isn't as confident in her looks as she seems. Maybe her outgoing speech and "promiscuity" is a ruse for an internal unsettlement.
Sorry ive been trying to see if this login would work ive been having issues with it....
ReplyDeleteAmanda Steinhilber says:
ReplyDeleteIn the first act, none of the characters were showing in a very flattering light. Josie is rude, promiscuous, and brash. Hogan is an old drunk, and Tyrone a seedy Broadway performer. The constant fighting between Josie and her father makes it clear that she is the only one Hogan cannot bully. This is also proven by the fact that all of Josie’s brothers have left home. The constant back and forth between them does not seem to reveal any affection. In fact, the only consideration for another is shown when Josie tidies herself up to see Tyrone. Of course, this can also be assumed that she is doing this to get his money. In conclusion, by the end of the first act all of the characters leave a lot to be desired, but this also sets up an interesting scene for personal growth.
In Act 2, Jim begins by admonishing himself for missing Josie, which shows that love is a sign of weakness in this play (I discussed this in a response to Jess). Also, the struggle between the attraction and reservations of Jim and Jess continued to strengthen when Jim asked Josie to "nix the raw stuff" or just be herself without hiding behind promiscuity. However, Josie continued to deny that anyone could truly love someone like her, perpetuating not only her inward struggle to believe she is likeable, but the tensions between her and Jim.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of Act 3 the symbolism of the title presented itself. The moon is repeatedly mentioned to act as a symbol or revealing agent for the truth (of Josie's jealously and virginity), and the true nature of Jim and Josie's romance and the subsequent jealousy. For instance Jim says, "Let's sit down where the moon will be in our eyes and we'll see romance." In other words, the moon would reveal the truth of their romance. Continuing in Act 3 Jim reveals the reason for his betrayal of the Hogans-he does not want to corrupt Josie with another worthless Broadway-esque liasion, and doesn't want to risk tainting her purity with the meaningless type of relationship he usually has. I will be interested to see if Josie will be able to convince Jim to stay or if Jim will stay adamant and leave Josie to avoid hurting her or himself.
After reading the rest of the play, it was revealed that Hogan, like Josie, hides behind a brash manner. Jim commented that Hogan was actually a generous man, leading me to believe that Jim has a particular ability to see the true personalities of those around him. I also felt that the somewhat confusing part where Jim knowingly/unknowingly treated Josie like one of the usual tarts he takes to bed was meant to show Josie what it would really be like to be one of the whores she always pretends to be...not glamorous at all.
ReplyDeleteJosie was finally able to give Jim the kind of love he truly needed-a more maternal love so that Jim could get forgiveness by proxy. I also noticed that Jim's description of his lost love for horses is reflective of his relationships with women since his mother's death-he became uncaring about them, just going through the motions.
The symbolism of the moon in this play was deepened as more layers to it's many meanings were added: death and forgiveness. The moon reveals Jim's true suffering about his mother and how he is dead on the inside. Finally, the moon also represents forgiveness in this play. Josie felt Jim's mother in the moonlight, or felt her forgiveness in the revealing light of the moon.
Hogan's generous side was confirmed when he told Josie that he had schemed in order to bring both Jim and Josie happiness through love, although even this was still tainted by his greed for money. Josie also committed her first wholy unselfish act in letting Jim go, knowing that maternal love and forgiveness was what he needed instead of a romantic love. At the very end of the play, Hogan and Josie seem to continue with their haughty, brash speech to prevent a laspse into the "weakness" of emotion, but Josie's final lines suggest that she has discovered that love is not a weakness, but a healing and forgiving agent like the moon itself.
I thought this play was excellent for its unconventional characterization and portrayal of love. The characters were all multifaceted, leaving readers to constantly question their true motives and loyalties. The ending of the play was also bittersweet in that Jim and Josie both gave each other what the other needed (Jim needed maternal love and forgiveness and Josie needed to realize that someone could love her for who she truly was), but their needs weren't satisfied with the romantic love that readers lust for.
Jenny Lindquist says:
Delete"I completely agree with you Shaina. There is no doubt that Josie and Jim loved each other, this can be shown at the end of the playwright with their bitter, sweet goodbye in which Jim leaves for good but not before telling Josie he did love her. That being said, they were not in love with one another. Josie may have been in love with Jim or truly believed that she was but Jim was not in love with Josie. Their relationship made me think of the feelings of lust and desire rather than the thought of being in love. I felt that Jim was in desperate need of a mother figure that he had lost years ago and Josie was there to provide that for him because she truly cared about him. Their flirtatious acts in the beginning of the book were more shallow than meaningful. The bond that Josie and Jim shared between one another was more of one in which Jim fed off of Josie in order to receive what he needed to be fulfilled in his life. In coronation I think Jim loved Josie for being able to provide him with what he needed, but was not simply in love with her."
Leah Wytas says:
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I just finished Act One and was introduced to some of the characters. I can tell that Josie and her father are not people you should argue with. T. Stedman Harder is their neighbor coming to see them because he thinks that their pigs have been breaking the fence to his ice pond. Josie and her father hear that he is coming and think this is a great opportunity. They are experienced at teasing and insulting people. When Harder comes, they insult him until he loses his temper. Then Josie’s father says that Harder has been the one breaking the fence and blaming it on his pigs. He then accuses Harder of killing his pigs with their exposure to the ice pond. It is interesting how Josie’s father can turn anything against him onto someone else. He not only shows this with Harder but with his son Mike. Mike thinks that his father works him too hard and doesn’t pay him enough. This may be true but his father finds the argument that Mike is lazy. I am convinced that Josie’s father will find a clever way to defend himself and put the blame on the other person if someone has a problem with him. He will not give the other person the chance to talk about their perspective of the issue and only cares about making it not his concern. I wonder how he will handle a situation he knows he must become involved in. An example of this may be his discussion with Jim at the end of the act. Jim says that someone is willing to pay more than them for their land and he may take their offer. He also remembers that Josie’s father is behind on his rent. I want to know what he will do to protect his home.
Leah also says:
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In Act Two, Josie’s father comes home early and drunk. I suspected that her father knew something that could hurt her. He mumbled every time he mentioned her in the conversation showing that there is something he doesn’t want to say to her. Josie suspected that her father was talking about Jim during their argument and she was right. Her father explained that Jim decided to sell their farm to Harder who made a new offer. He added that before Jim made his decision, he talked about his admiration for Josie. He says that Jim did not forget about the date he made with her but decided to avoid her so he wouldn’t be tempted by her beauty. Josie doesn’t want to believe anything she is hearing but I felt that Josie’s father was right about Jim. He said that Jim was close to him like a son giving me the idea that he would know Jim better than anyone else. I’m wondering if Jim had other reasons besides more money for deciding to sell the farm Josie and her father live on. He joined them when they were being approached by Harder showing that he cares about them and would take their side if they were threatened.
And furthermore:
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In Act Three, I learned more about Jim Tyrone. “There is no present or future-only the past happening over and over again” (Hardy 108). In this quote, Jim explains that he is stuck in a bad situation while feeling regret for coming to see Josie. He tells Josie that he made some bad choices after his mother died. He drank against his mother’s wishes and used a blonde woman to try to forget his mother’s death. He feels that his approach to handling his stress was wrong and that his mother would never forgive him. He no longer saw his life as valuable and wanted to drink to death. Hearing the truth behind his actions, Josie feels uneasy. But she says that she understands and forgives him. She believes that Jim’s mother has forgiven them both for their past. What she encouraged Jim to do was cry for his mother.
And not only that, but:
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I finished Act Four and was satisfied with the ending. I liked how the ending to this play was much lighter than the ending to Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Josie took one last look at Jim leaving before she entered the house. She wished him forgiveness and peace. She was sad that they won’t see each other for a while but she knew he had found the comfort he needed to move on. I can also tell that she has come to some understanding with her father. The tone that they used with each other at the end was more polite and honest than the common teasing. Josie’s father said that he lied to her and planned something for her because it was her last chance to see Jim before he left. Josie knew he was telling the truth and that he was concerned for her happiness after all. Readers can find further relief in the ending because they can assume that Jim has not left completely and might see Josie again. There is hope that things will be better for him now that his life has new meaning. There is also hope for Josie because she will continue to move forward knowing there is someone who believes she is beautiful by being herself.
While I read Act 1, I thought there were many things Josie said that reveal a lot about her and what type of a person she is. One in particular that stuck out to me was when she was talking to her father about Jim and she stated “Of course I’d love the money. Who wouldn’t?” (27). This quote shows readers that even if her main reason for liking Jim wasn’t the money, she still thought about it and had interest in it, despite what she says to her brother and father. Another that was revealing about Josie was “And don’t be miscalling me a virgin. You’ll ruin my reputation, if you spread that lie about me.” This shows us that this is a matter that’s important to her, but I am interested in learning why this is. I am also curious about the relationship between Josie and her father. As many people have mentioned before, they tend to go back and forth quite a bit. I, however, believe that this is just the way their relationship is and I don’t think it’s out of actual anger with each other. When it comes to defending themselves against Harder, they team up and show the strength of their relationship. I'm interested to see what happens to this relationship as the play continues.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Act II it has become very clear that Josie lies about her affairs as some sort of defense mechanism. Also, she really does love Tyrone; evidence being that she put in her Sunday best and waited for him in the moonlight and was devastatingly angry when he didn't show. She was even more upset when she found out he'd agreed to sell their land to Harder and even as she and her father plot their revenge she has to hide her tears. She seems to find some solstice when he spots him coming up the road. But, after her father leaves she and Tyrone begin to talk it is easy to see that it is hard for Josie to let go of this persona she puts on. Tyrone knows the rumors about her are not true, but that for some reason she needs them. She needs that barrier to protect her feelings. The act ends with a distraught Tyrone trying to drink away his guilt and cursing at some unknown person. I think someone forced him to go back on his promise to Josie and her father. Something must have happened that have Tyrone no choice. I don't believe he would hurt her like that.
ReplyDeleteAfter finishing the play I do think that Josie and Tyrone did love each other, but didn't express it in a conventional way. Josie expressed her love for him by offering him forgiveness and comfort even if it was just for a short while and Tyrone expressed his love by letting go because he didn't want to hurt her and bring his past mistakes upon her. I think what O'Neill is saying is that sometimes live doesn't lead to marriage or a picturesque ending. Sometimes love is letting go and hoping for the best for the other person. Misbegotten means ill-advised or ill-conceived and in a way this one moon light night was a break from their misbegotten love. For one night Josie and Tyrone got to be in each other's arms. In the end Josie knew a relationship between them would never work; he was just to broken. The most she can do is hope he passes in his sleep. This is evident in the line, "May you have your wish and die in your sleep soon, Jim, darling. May you rest forever in forgiveness and peace"(149). This book may not have the satisfying happiness of a fairytale ending, but I did enjoy it. It's one of those plays that gets you're mind rolling and maybe that's what you really hope a good piece of literature can do.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad I chose to read A Moon For the Misbegotten after Tess, because Josie is much more 'confident' than Tess ever was. I say confident hesitantly because of her tendency to call herself fat and ugly. But disregarding that, she really holds her own. I really enjoy the relationship between her and Hogan. Even though they spit at each other sometimes, they laughed a lot together in act one. Together they're rude and vulgar, making it all the more entertaining.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comments about the relationship between Josie and Hogan. It seems pretty obvious to me that a lot of the harassing between the two is in jest, and even the more serious verbal attacks are not to be taken to heart. They understand each others' ordinary conduct, and therefore even the most vicious of words could be easily brushed off as a 'heat of the moment' thing. This adds an interesting dynamic between the two towards the end of the play, when Josie is genuinely upset about Hogan's scheme, because it is the first time that she shows true abhorrence towards Hogan's choices. Hogan seems to understand this, which is demonstrated by him walking back inside, defeated. I think this shows that for Hogan to be effected by anyone, it would have to be Josie, regardless of how much they fight.
DeleteI have to somewhat disagree with you about Josie's "confidence," Melissa. I think that Josie's confidence is more of a persona to hide her feelings of inadequacy in terms of beauty and lovability. In this respect, both Tess and Josie are not confident, but they exhibit it in different ways.
DeleteAs I read Act One my expectations of Josie changed from the first impression that was given. Mike is quick to compare Josie to their father, calling them "two of a kind, and a bad kind". This remark paints the picture Josie wants the world to believe; that she is tough. While Josie is certainly capable of more laborious work than anticipated of women in her time, I believe she is more delicate on the inside than she is willing to admit. One indication of Josie's true character is found in the introductory setting description, which says there is "no mannish quality about her. She is all woman". Josie's defensive strategy intrigues me, she appears to avoid emotions that have the potential to expose her inner vulnerability. Sharp sarcasm is the only language Josie claims to speak, Mike's departure was anything but a heartfelt goodbye. The Hogan's farm seems to run on tough love, evident due to the son's individual escapes. Jim Tyrone is also introduced in this act and I'm very curious to see how Josie and Tyrone's relationship will progress in this bumpy town. I suppose I will know if Mike was correct in his comparison of Josie and Hogan from how she handles the fondness she shares with Tyrone.
ReplyDeleteI must admit I was not surprised when Tyrone stood up Josie at the start of Act Two, considering the typical track record of a drunk. Josie immediately pushes her wounded feelings to the side once she hears her father returning from the Inn; this scene makes me want to see the play in action! The dialogue that follows is basically an insult battle between Josie and Hogan. While their relationship may not be considered healthy to most, in my opinion Josie and Hogan have a special connection. However I do not want to believe that Tyrone is the bad guy Hogan reveals. Hogan is either so drunk he cannot keep his mouth shut, or he is too drunk to know truth from fact. Josie asks many questions about Tyrone, affirming her feelings for him. However once Hogan explains how Tyrone is a traitor, Josie backs her father up. Josie's bitterness could be part of her outer shell, but I believe at the end of the day she would chose her father over a man. Josie is cracking from her inner hurt and anger when Tyrone shows up, not appearing in as bad shape as Hogan previously described. This is an immediate clue to me that there is still hope for Josie and Tyrone, then again he did stand her up and Josie seems to be the type who holds grudges.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Melissa! I was not surprised at all when I read that Josie had been stood up, not just because he’s a drunk but also because of his words and actions from act 1. I also agree that Josie and Hogan have a strong relationship, especially seen when they team up and come up with the scheme against Tyrone. This scheming reveals the strength of the father-daughter relationship as it shows them coming together to do something they both want (get revenge).
DeleteI completed the play and have mixed emotions. The ending wasn't far from what I expected, yet in the back of my mind I still hoped Tyrone would become the perfect guy and flee town alongside Josie. I am happy Tyrone was not a traitor and to have closure regarding to his past. It added a darker element to the play and exposed a piece of Tyrone, allowing him to be a more relatable character. Visualizing Josie and Tyrone's night together, it was nice to see the pair finally connect both emotionally and physically. After Josie prevented Tyrone from leaving by throwing her arms around him, she told Tyrone she understood him, is proud of him, loves him, and forgives him. That moment was one of the most important, in my opinion, because Josie forgot her insecurities and acted upon her instincts. For a woman who truly presents herself as confident, I believe the audience only experiences Josie's genuine self when she is alone with Tyrone. I know the play is a love story but I found myself much more absorbed with Josie's relationship with herself, rather than with Tyrone. In all, I feel as though Josie accepted Tyrone's departure because she knew they got what they needed from each other. Tyrone saw through Josie's shield, showing her it is possible to love and receive love for her real self. Josie gave Tyrone a home, metaphorically, when she comforted him under the moon.
ReplyDeleteI love how you worded your concluding statements of how they got what they needed from each other! "showing her that it is possible to love and receive love for her real self." I feel that genuinely reflects the whole of the matter and I think that is truly what Eugene O'Neill wanted us to see in this ending act. That particular change in her self worth, to which can be attributed to her night with Tyrone brought up a whole new ending than I had originally foreseen. He was more part of the steps taken to build up her confidence in who she was and what she deserved than a final step to his and her fling of the night ending.
DeleteWhile reading Act One, I was intrigued by the relationship between Josie and her father. He seems dependent on his daughter, yet treats her poorly. He dismisses his wife’s family, commenting that his wife was the only one who had “spirit”. Speaking about her family, he declares, “The scum of the Earth! Thank God, you’re like me and your mother” (page 17). A while later, he speaks on the topic of a possible marriage between Josie and Jim. “Sure, you’re two of a kind, both great disgraces. That would help make a happy marriage because neither of you could look down on the other” (page 22). He both degrades and relies on Josie (who carries her father’s grip on quick speech), making for a very strained relationship between the two. The Hogans’ Irish brogue and speech mannerisms contribute to the attitude of their dialogue. Their witty and pessimistic way of thinking gives their conversations a sarcastic and rough tone. When arguing with Harder, Phil’s harsh quips give him an advantage over cautious Harder, who lacks the Hogans’ sense of humor and manipulation. I noted on page 54, Phil states, “I won’t waste my words trying to reform a born crook.” This is ironic, as it is well-known that Phil is a scheming conman. I am curious to know whether the threats of Harder will have any effect on Josie and Phil.
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ReplyDeleteMr Mac says:
ReplyDeleteBy the way, A Moon for the Misbegotten is playing at the Williamstown Theater Festival until August 23rd. Here are a couple of reviews (for those who are interested). The woman who plays Josie, Audra McDonald is African-American. Tyrone is played by a white man (McDonald's real-life husband). I wonder what that does to the play.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/theater-art/2015/07/31/away-from-broadway-audra-mcdonald-embraces-challenge-neill-moon-for-misbegotten/LvQ402f5gONfB8mlZjdY3M/story.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/10/theater/review-in-a-moon-for-the-misbegotten-audra-mcdonald-is-front-and-center.html?_r=0
During Act One, I started to gain a sense of the relationship between Phil and Josie. Phil is very harsh towards Josie, but he seems to really value her under all of his criticism. Also, it seems like Phil has always told Josie that she is exactly like him when she says, "I don't know if I should thank God for being like you. Sure, everyone says you're a wicked old tick, as crooked as a corkscrew" (page 17). As I read further, I found that Josie wasn't really the wicked person she had always been told she was. Deep down she cares, and she shows it through helping Mike escape and taking care of Tyrone. I'm interested to see how the relationship between Josie and Tyrone develops, and I'm also wondering whether he will keep his promise to the Hogans
ReplyDeleteA Moon for the Misbegotten starts off with a killer first act that can stack up with any of the greatest plays. Shakespeare's got nothing on O'Neill. I had many thoughts running through my mind, everything from characterization to themes. The plot really starts to heat up toward the latter stages of Act One. After meeting a tough Josie Hogan and a no-nonsense Phil Hogan, we see their more manipulative sides come out. They devise a plan to get Tyrone drunk and have Josie sleep with him that night to distract him from the rent the Hogans owe. Manipulative often has a negative connotation, but in this case manipulation is used in theory to benefit our protagonist. I actually appreciate their cunning plan. At a deeper level though, this is the beginning of Josie's journey in search of love, an affair with Tyrone. We also meet Hardy, a member of the wealthy family that owns Standard Oil. I loved Phil's fearlessness and resilience displayed by not backing down to Hardy and actually reversing roles with the suggestion that his pigs got ill from Hardy's lake. Both Josie's plan with Tyrone and Phil's encounter with Hardy reminded me of the classic Bible story of David and Goliath where a smaller but more clever David defeats a larger but unsuspecting Goliath. If Act One is any indication of what's to come, it looks like we're in for a good one folks.
ReplyDeleteP.S. My mildly sarcastic tone was really just a way to have a little fun with summer reading, which is usually not my favorite part of the year. This is the most interesting summer workload of high school for me so far though.
Hahaha. Thanks for this response, Mike! Made me laugh which is pretty hard to do when it comes to thinking about summer reading right before the school year starts.
DeleteHahaha that was good! Probably a good thing I didn't read this before reading the book or I would have gone in with too high of hopes!
DeleteYour mentioning of Standard Oil made me remember that aspect of the book. If it weren't for history last year I would have had no idea why having money from Standard Oil was such a bad thing, but definitely with their anti-competition schemes you can see why Phil has this hatred for his neighbors. Shout out to Mr. Weise for the background knowledge.
I agree with Mike, the first act of A Moon for the Misbegotten did get off to a good start with me. The beginning of the play gives us a bad impression of Phil Hogan when Josie helps her younger brother Mike escape from their father. It is clear there is no love lost between Mike and Phil, and I was expecting a very mean character that I would dislike based off the fact that Josie is the only member of the family to have not run away. However, when Phil and Josie were talking together I grew to like his bold, no-nonsense personality. You could tell through the playful insults that Phil and Josie had a strong relationship. This becomes more evident when Josie and Phil tag team Hardy when he pays a visit, their wit and chemistry together is hysterical. It also seems as if Josie and Tyrone know each other very well and I wouldn't be surprised if that escalates into something more.
ReplyDeleteI had similar thoughts on the start of the play, Chris. It really drew me in and kept me entertained with the playful and clever wit that Phil and Josie possessed and used relentlessly with each other, which certainly helped to keep me engaged and waiting to find out what would happen next.
DeleteI definitely agree that this fast paced start draws readers in. It sets the tone for a play where abrupt and fast change is the standard. Just like the love between Josie and Jim intensifies so quickly, the start of the play gets going quickly as well.
DeleteWhile reading Act Two, I began to notice Josie's true self come out. Although she tried to act uninterested in Tyrone in Act One, by dressing up in her Sunday best and appearing humiliated at being stood up she shows that she really does care about him. I wasn't very surprised that Tyrone broke his promise to the Hogans and agreed to sell the farm for a large sum of money; he seemed like the kind of person that can be bought. Throughout the conversation between Phil and Josie at the house, it seems as though Josie has lied a lot about the men she has been with. Perhaps Tyrone is right in his assumption that Josie is much more innocent than she claims to be. At the end of the act, it looks like Tyrone feels very guilty about what he did, and I have a feeling that Josie and Phil's revenge plot may not end up happening as the night goes on.
ReplyDeleteI haven't finished the play and i haven't looked at the previous comments, however I wanted to jot down a thought. Tyrone reminds me of Ethan Frome. Both Ethan and Jim lost their mothers and soon after (sooner for Ethan than Jim?) they find love. Ethan regrets his decision seeing in hindsight he was married because his cousin took care of him and the house and prevented his life from changing too much when his mother passed. I think Jim and Josie's relationship may be influenced by Jim's loss as well. It could be that he finds in Josie a motherly figure in the way she holds him and seems to calm him down. she is strong and more dependable than the "Broadway tarts" he is used to. That's not to say she is a replacement mother, there is definitely a more romantic attraction between them. However, he may be drawn to her for the aforementioned reasons.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Josie and Phil's cunning plan to deceive Tyrone in Act Two. Their relationship is my favorite so far out of any of the summer reading I've done. I can't tell if I appreciate Josie's personality, or if it annoys me. On one hand she acts big (emotionally), confident, and threatening. On the other hand, she acts frail when she thinks Tyrone has stood her up. I don't much like how Tyrone thinks Josie is a very innocent, delicate girl when clearly she has a reputation among many of the townsmen. How could he not pick up on that? O'Neill seems to like to portray his characters as blatantly honest with each other (when Tyrone tells Josie of his growing love of her). He really shoves the idea of insecurity into the readers' heads. I don't expect a happy ending for the two.
ReplyDeleteYou have really good insight but I must say I disagree with Tyrone viewing Josie as innocent. Tyrone knows Josie lies, her tough outer shell is transparent through his eyes. With that being said I think Tyrone sees that Josie is vulnerable, not innocent.
DeleteI just finished Act Three. I learned a lot about Tyrone's past. Although his mother died and traumatized him back into his alcoholism, he is so unable to move on and that bothers me. Maybe I sound insensitive, but the whole act he just seemed to act like his life was nothing/meaningless. Then again, that just means O'Neill did a good job instilling the insecurity idea as I mentioned before. I'm just glad Josie didn't end up needing to trick Tyrone. I agree with comments above mentioning the lack of backstory making it hard to connect with the characters.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize how short Act Four is, otherwise I would have combined three and four. The ending was completely expected and I would have felt it was unsatisfactory if there had been a happy ending. Overall, the play was a tad uneventful but I enjoyed it. The relationship between Josie and her father was my favorite aspect. I like how O'Neill chose to keep the entire play settled in the Hogan's household. It would have disconnected me from Josie and Phil even more (without the backstory as mentioned before). I liked how the moon, to Josie, was comforting and beautiful. But to Tyrone, it was almost forbidding. The title was so fitting. The play overall showed characters love each other in abnormal ways. To me, Tyrone symbolized a wall between her self confidence and insecurities. The more she got through to him, the more she forgot about her appearance/attitude.
ReplyDeleteI also just remembered that the play takes place in Connecticut, but looking back I would have pictured it in a state down south.
DeleteOnce I read that last comment, I realized that I also could not picture this play taking place in Connecticut at all, which of course made me think about why. Perhaps the strong personalities of the Hogans were more representative of stereotypical Southern personalities. Of course, the Hogans were Irish so it would make sense that they would't seem to belong to New England. Also, the lack of action is more reminiscent of a sleepy southern town that the bustling North. Despite the lack of action, the constant bickering between characters and the uneventful but intense progression of love between Josie and Tyrone (and Josie's internal struggle) seems just too heated for the Connecticut scene. Or, maybe it's as simple as that a poor farm during the time period of the book conjures an image of the South, rather than the more urban North.
DeleteI completely agree with you, Melissa and Shaina. I have another theory to add as why we may feel it shouldn't be in Connecticut. I believe our bias to our prim and proper little town of Tolland leads us to think "Oh no, crude people like that couldn't have been here before us!" We imagine life before pavements and streetlights to be exactly as the Hicks Museum showed us and how our third grade teachers taught us. However, there are plenty of farms in surrounding towns such as Ellington and Storrs. I too found it difficult to believe such people could have been my neighbors a little over a century ago, but maybe that's just my Tolland ego talking.
DeleteAfter finishing the play, I was surprised that Tyrone didn't give into the money offered by Harder. Tyrone's love for Josie proved to be stronger than his love for money, which was not what I expected. As Act Three progressed, Josie's tough exterior slowly fell apart and she revealed her more vulnerable side to Jim. Jim's story about his past really opened me up to why he had an alcohol problem and why he was afraid to stay with Josie. During the fight between Phil and Josie at the start of Act Four, I had a feeling that although Phil did want Tyrone's money, he also wanted the best for Josie. I also predicted that she wouldn't leave home like she threatened. Josie seems too attached to the farm and her father to ever leave, even for Jim. Although I was disappointed that Jim left Josie for the city, I understand his reasons for leaving. Josie helped him in a way that no one else could, but they were not meant to stay together. Overall, I enjoyed this play a lot. There may not have been a lot of action but there were definitely good plot twists and a satisfying ending.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree on the overall impression of the play. It was very enjoyable despite a lack of action. Speaking of not being able to foresee Tyrone's choice to turn down the money, I think the lack of transparency in the play's characters is really interesting and really speaks to the depth of people in general. You just never know people or what they'll do as much as you think you do and I think O'Neill did a great job of incorporating this concept into his characters.
DeleteThroughout acts 2 and 3, I was continuously changing my opinion of the different characters, especially Tyrone and Josie. As act 2 begins, I felt bad for Josie and started to dislike Jim more as he didn’t show up when he said he would. As the act continues, I was glad that Josie and her father were planning to get revenge on Jim Tyrone for reportedly not following through with his promise to sell the land to the Hogans. Throughout the majority of act 3, I found myself disliking Jim even more as he started to compliment Josie as I thought that he was just saying things such as “You have a beautiful strong body, too, Josie – and beautiful eyes and hair…” (100) to her without meaning anything he said. This all changed for me, however, when Tyrone became very vulnerable and revealed details of his mother’s death and the effect of it on him. I started to feel quite a bit of sympathy for Jim when I read what he had gone through, and it seems Josie did as well. I think that the fact he told Josie all about how he felt about Mama’s death will be very good for Jim as he had carried this weight around and it had forced him into drinking more.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the first act of A Moon for the Misbegotten I found the relationship between Josie and Phil to be quite confusing. From the moment that Phil was introduced to the audience I was unsure if I liked him. His harsh tone towards Josie is what originally threw me off, however as the act went on it seemed as if he truly did appreciate Josie underneath all of his nasty remarks.
ReplyDeleteJosie and Phil were almost constantly bantering and I feel that this helped to develop their characters. Because Josie was persistent in fighting back against her father, it helped to further the "tough girl" character that she was supposed to be. Although she was tough, she definitely had a soft side. Whenever her father mentions Jim Tyrone she seems to soften up, and is even a little caught off guard. One example of this happening occurs on page 26 when Hogan says " If you think Jim hasn't been taking in your fine points, you're a fool." the Josie answers truthfully, almost excitedly first and says, "You've noticed him?" She then collects herself and goes back to her old ways and shoots back a rough remark at her father by accusing him of lying. I think that this use of characterization really helped me and made me enjoy the act that much more because it kept it interesting because you never knew what they were going to say.
The first act of A Moon for the Misbegotten was very enjoyable and riveting. Right away you sense a close relationship between Phil and Josie, even though their relationship is strange and involves a lot of insults towards each other. Also, I immediately liked Phil and Josie because of their friendly banter. The way Phil turned the tables on Harder by accusing him of breaking the fence so that his pigs would get sick in Harder's pond was hilarious and made me like him even more. However, I had a conflicting opinion on Jim Tyrone. On one hand I liked his wit and banter with the Hogans, but on the other he seems like he can be bought by money and it wouldn't surprise me if he broke his word with Phil and sold the Hogan's farm for the extra money as Phil fears he may do. I also realized that Josie and Jim have feelings for each other and I think their relationship is going to change drastically in the next act when they have their date.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading acts 2 and 3 I was constantly back and forth between liking and disliking Jim Tyrone. I definitely have to agree with what Karissa said about disliking Jim in the beginning of the second act because he was incredibly late for their date, almost to the point where you thought he was never going to show up. I felt very bad for Josie because although she tried to hide that she was looking forward to their date, it was obvious that she was excited; she had changed into her nicest clothes and waited for him for over 2 hours. My dislike for Jim was furthered by Hogan's story about Jim agreeing to take the money for the farm. When I read this part I believed the story and from then on I was glad that Josie was planning to trick Jim. However, when Jim finally did explain himself in act three and then pours his heart out to Josie my views of him changed drastically. Over all I really enjoyed these two acts even though I changed my mind so many times while reading it.
ReplyDeleteAfter finishing the play I wish that there had been a different ending. I know that many people were saying that they were satisfied with the ending but I can't agree with that. I do understand that it made the most sense to end the way that it did, but I wish that since Jim didn't take the money and he had said that he loved Josie and would never forget her that he had stayed. I understand that by that point he was too troubled mentally to ever settle down in one place with one person, but there was a part of me that was hoping for a super stereotypical happy ending. However, I did enjoy this play and I think that out of the two books we were assigned that I liked this one the most.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading act two, I realized how much I disliked Jim. First, Jim showed up two hours late for the date and didn't even apologize until Josie asks him to. Secondly, Jim stabbed Phil and Josie in the back by selling the farm to Harder so he could get more money. Furthermore, Jim appeared to be more arrogant and bossy in this act. I noticed it when Jim tells Josie to be different and to lay off all the rough talk. Also, Jim tells Josie that he's growing to love her but it didn't seem sincere. I can't see the two of them having a happy ending. I liked Josie a lot more this act. I saw that there was more to her than the rough, terrible person that she claims to be. Her look of sadness, loneliness, and humiliation that the narrator describes when Jim doesn't show made me sorry for her. She also shows that she really cares about Jim when she dressed in her Sunday best for him. I'm interested to see where their relationship will go in the next act and I hope Phil and Josie's trick works because Jim deserves it.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite passage so far in the play appeared on the very first page. It perfectly summed up Josie and helped me visualize not only her physical attributes, but the entirety of her character within just a few lines. It states, "She is more powerful than any but an exceptionally strong man, able to do the manual labor of two ordinary men. But there is no mannish quality about her. She is all woman" (5). Wow! I love the fact that unlike most typical female leads, she is not a perfect fragile beauty. Her beauty stems from her strength and her fierceness.
ReplyDeleteThough I do agree, as many people have commented, that her harsh language and apparent scandalous tendencies are simply an act she puts on in order to hide her self consciousness. However, her physical and emotional strengths are still to be admired. Upon finishing the first act, it seems as if Tyrone has found the beauty in her, and I hope as their relationship blossoms he helps her find the beauty in herself.
I totally agree that her strength as a character is what makes Josie truly special. She is also a lot of the time a walking contradiction. She is rough in words but kind in action. She is abusive but does it out of love. All of the things that she is trying to hide from , she hides with aggression. I think that part of her is afraid of what will happen to her if she lets all of her feelings in.
DeleteAfter finishing the play I completely changed my opinion about Jim. I realized that Jim truly loved Josie and I understood why he left her. Their relationship could never work because Jim is already dead inside. I liked the ending because it would have been unrealistic if Jim had stayed and lived happily ever after with Josie. The ending was realistic and satisfied me because Josie realized that she can be loved for her true self and Jim realized that he can be forgiven for what he did and might have found meaning to his life. Also, the play ends with Josie and Phil growing even closer and returning to their usual playful banter. This suggests that Josie will be able to move on from Jim and be able to live a happy life. The play didn't have a lot of action, but overall I liked the play because I enjoyed the plot as well as the dialogue and jokes between Phil, Josie, and Jim.
ReplyDeleteI just finished Act 1 and I am already hooked on this play. It is pretty face paced which I like and keeps me interested. As others have said previously the Hogan family is surely a unique one. The bothers of Josie could not stand their raging alcoholic father and so they left to seek a better life. Josie on the other hand is just like her father in the sense that when her father speaks rather crassly to her she gives it right back. He will call her a 'lazy cow' and she'll call him 'an old devil.' You can tell that this is am everyday thing and that this is a normal way of communicating between her and her father. Although on page 26 we see a side of Hogan that was kind and complimented Josie. When Josie and her father are talking about her marrying Tyrone. Josie thinks he wouldn't want a girl like Josie and her father says
ReplyDelete"Maybe he'd like a fine strong handsome figure of a woman for a change , with beautiful eyes and hair and teeth and smile." Although this nice exchange between the two of them doesn't last long it was still nice to see him say some sort of kind words about one of his children.
**fast paced
DeleteI also found the interaction between Harder, Hogan and Josie interesting. The fact that they are neighbors and this was the first time they were meeting was very strange. But began to make more sense because of how different these neighbors are. When Harder tried to approach them respectfully, Hogan and Josie would mock and talk over him. Hogan even tried to accuse Harder of breaking the fence even though it was Hogan. Again further showing the type of character Hogan is. He doesn't really take much seriously and his main focuses are alcohol, money and their farm.
ReplyDeleteJosie on the other hand in my opinion puts up a front as Jess and Katie said. I think because she has been in such a rough household all her life it is almost all she knows. I also agree with Katie in the sense that she in fact doesn't have a history with men. Katie pointed out a very good piece of evidence that could prove she hasn't really been with other men. The kiss between Tyrone and Josie. At first I didn't think much about it and just thought it was awkward because it was rather forced since her father was there and told her to kiss Tyron but after reading Katie's post it makes more sense. I'm interested to read Act 2 to see if Tyrone shows up for the date and what will happen between them.
Wow, a lot changed from Act 1 to Act 2. I was really disappointed in Jim. The first act ended with him flirting and hinting at having a future with Josie and then blew her off for their date. Although he showed up he was two and a half hours late and didn't apologize until Josie made a point about it to him. He said himself there he had no reason for it. AJ basically said everything I was thinking after finishing the second act. Josie shows a more innocent and sensitive side in this play. Clearly showing that she was hurt he was so late. Even though she knows Jim went behind her and her fathers back to sell the farm she still evidently has feelings for him. After she place his head on her breast the narrator said "For a moment, she forgets everything and stares down at his face with a passionate, possessive tenderness." I wonder if she will go through with her trick or if her feelings for him will get the best of her.
ReplyDeleteAfter finishing Act 3 I can say that my feelings for Jim have changed. I was skeptical in believing Hogan but ultimately I thought Jim really did agree to sell the farm. I was happy to hear that that wasn't the case and that he really did love Josie. The two go back and forth between leaving and then staying which I found a little strange. One minute she is saying good-bye and the next they're saying how much they love each other. I thought Josie would leave Jim after he told her about his mother and the blonde because of the way she reacted but then she say she forgave him. I am still skeptical about the two (Jim and Josie) having a happy ending because of the constant back n forth of leaving or staying.
ReplyDeleteI also wonder if the father will come home in the morning and see the two of them sleeping and proceed with their trick. This would cause many problems because Jim was so delighted that Josie believed he would never sell the farm. If the father proceeds then he might get mad at Josie for thinking he would be that rotten.
ReplyDeleteI actually loved the ending although it was rather sad it was realistic. If Josie and Jim stayed together it would not be a happy ending. Jim's drinking would cause many problems as it has for him his whole life. I'm glad that the last scene they had together Jim did find peace and felt better for telling Josie all his sins. And I was also happy that Josie found happiness and love and admitted to not being a "whore". I think Hogan also changed a lot from the beginning of the book. In Act 1 he would've done anything to get the money from Jim but in Act 4 he realized what was really important was he wanted Josie to find happiness and he helped her find that. I really enjoyed this play. I found it held many life lessons and was realistic.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you a lot, Angela. I found this play to be very realistic, and I like that it did not sugar coat the idea of love, like in other works. The fact that there was not a fairytale ending just reinforced the idea that love is not always riding off into the sunset. But in a way, they both had a happy ending, in the sense that they came to terms with their circumstances.
DeleteWhile reading this play, I was captivated from the beginning to the end. Unlike many other people, I did not dislike Jim in the beginning. He seemed to genuinely appreciate Josie's unconventional qualities, which made me appreciate him. He was refreshingly non judgemental and accepting unlike he and Josie's peers. I knew that Hogan was going to have a lot to do with Josie and Jim's relationship because of the overbearing and domineering influence he had on his children. I liked the fact that the author made Jim and Josie very accepting and blunt about their feelings for each other. Instead of making them shy and leaving the audience sitting on the edge of their seats, wondering if either character will grow a pair and tell the other how they feel about them. I was shocked, shocked when Hogan delivered the news about how Jim sold the farm. Though I knew there was going to be more to the story. I also loved how the author symbolically used the moonlight to symbolize the character's and their indiscretions coming into the thearetical and figuritive light. When Jim told Josie of his past, I felt terrible for him and realized the extent of his broken character. Usually I would be upset by the fact that the lovers did not end up together, but the decision to keep them separate felt more honest and realistic. The way things ended between Josie and Jim was very settling, as they admitted their feelings both realizing they could never be together. The idea of having Josie and her father jokingly teasing each other after the heavy encounter with Jim, showed how everything went back to business as usual. Almost as if this life just wasn't meant for Josie in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI have just finished Act 1 and I'm already hooked on this play. Josie is an amusing character and Eugene O'neill does a fantastic job in the exposition to introduce Josie to the reader. Through this first impression I already have a feel for Josie's everyday demeanor. It is clear that Josie is an independent woman. She can hang with the boys and she doesn't let her father scare her. She is the "Only one of the family that can" according to Mike. For example, her father calls her a slut and Josie comes firing back calling him a bad-tempered old hornet. She doesn't let anybody get the better of her.
ReplyDeleteHer relationship with Mike and her other brothers is amusing. She transitions back and forth from caring for them to beating on them in a matter of seconds. For example, she tells Mike to give her love to Thomas and John and then follows up with saying, "no, never mind. They've not written to me in years. Give them a boot in the tail for me". Josie speaks her mind and this makes her a very likable character.
This first impression leads me to believe that Josie is going to be able to endure many tough experiences. I also feel that the mood of the story is going to be somewhat light and humorous. However I could also see the mood changing depending on the ensuing problems she faces down the road.
Hannah Kirk says:
ReplyDeleteDuring the beginning of the first act, I was confused as to how exactly Josie and Phil Hogan felt about one another, because although they are father and daughter, they seemed to have a strange dynamic. In addition, although Josie claimed to love her father, she assisted Mike and all her older brothers in escaping from Phil, while she steals money from him to give to the runaways. So, I got rather confused if Josie truly loved her father or is using him in her own way, but at other times their father-daughter love seemed mutual and true. Also I did not exactly see the point of the including the first thirty pages or so with Mike running away, seeming that he did not reappear again in the play. Because of those scenes, however, I am led to believe that the relationship between Josie and Phil is meant to be questionable.
In Act 2 I was not surprised when Jim Tyrone had stood Josie up for their date, seeming she does not have a strong past with dating men, only her reputation in bed. However, I was surprised when drunken Phil comes home and tells Josie that he had decided to sell the land to Harder, and this surprised me because Phil seemed to be very attached to his land, and loved the responsibility of caring for it. It frustrated me that Tyrone decided to stand Josie up because he thought of her as a virgin, when it was a fact around town that she was not. Furthermore, he still went to her house that night which sent her mixed messages as to his intentions with her. In addition, I would find it hard to follow exactly who was drunk when, and how drunk they were, because at times Jim seemed very drunk, but at others very aware of what was going on.
And also:
ReplyDeleteAct 3 was a whirlwind in terms that Josie decided to drink, which she often does not do, and Jim decides to drink more although he already was extremely intoxicated. Josie, however, keeps pouring rounds to further intoxicate Jim, to lure him into her bedroom, despite him not wanting to based on his belief that she is pure. In the previous act, drunken Phil told Josie that although Jim does not want to sleep with her, he does love her and will always have very strong feelings for her, and Phil knows this because Jim told him at the bar, while Josie was waiting for their date. Jim has shown Josie very little respect regarding their relationship, and increases that when he calls her a drunken tramp. But, with Josie’s low self-esteem and confidence regarding her womanhood, I feel that Josie tries to ignore that in order to find love, and that really shows in the act.
In Act 4, Josie wakes up with Jim, and talks to her father and accuses him of actually being sober last night, and faking his drunkenness, all in a plot to get Jim’s money. With this, Josie tells Hogan that she will move away such as her brothers have done before her, in order to start a new life, and live how she wants to. I did feel sorry for Josie, seeming that all she really was looking for was love and a husband, while her father was only looking for money and greed, when he should have been helping and supporting Josie with her relationships with Tyrone. Act 4 left me very unsatisfied and I feel that there could have been more information to deepen the emotional impact and that reader response left by the conclusion of the story. However, it does help a little knowing that A Moon for the Misbegotten is a sequel, so we are missing certain character development.
Personally, going into this play, I had misgivings seeing as I'm not a big fan of plays. I managed to keep an open mind throughout the story and found myself pleasantly surprised with O'Neill's dialogue and clever plotting through Phil Hogan and partially Josie Hogan. I found that I could sit down and thoroughly enjoy the progression of the story from when Josie helped her brother escape from her father's clutches all the way to when she exposed her true self under the moonlit sky with Jim later that night. My absolute favorite part of the play was Phil's clever planning, scheming, and deception. Even though he was drunk the night he attempted to set up Josie and Jim, he perfectly played out his trick of pretending that Jim had sold their farm to their rich neighbor, Harder. I truly appreciated Phil's unique characteristics and the way which O'Neill brought his character to life.
ReplyDeleteJeremy Cardella says:
ReplyDeleteWhen I began reading the play, I saw Josie as an uncaring and rude simpleton. As I continued reading, however, I realized she masked her caring and kindness with her fake disdain and promiscuousness. This is clearly shown when she is sending off her brother, Mike. Although she is mean and rude to him, she is still helping him escape the farm and her very hard to get along with father. She also shows this when she waits for Jim for hours. She is obviously in love with him, and is willing to wait a very long time just to see him. When he finally arrives she shakes off her father’s ideas of convincing her to get him to marry her, as she realizes Jim is not as bad as Hogan believes. She is willing to listen to every bad thing Jim has done and completely forgives him for everything, even though he can’t do the same for himself. She is even willing to endure physical pain in the form of staying up all night holding Jim up, just so he can finally have a restful sleep for once in a very long time.
I thoroughly enjoyed Hogan and Josie’s verbal sparring. They say things to each other that many people would cringe at, and the one on the receiving end always brushes it off as if it is nothing. It is evident by the fact that neither of them ever take any of the insults to heart that neither of them means what they say. They also show how strong of a pair they make when they put their minds together, as is evidenced by their combined mental breakdown of Harder. They come together to create a formidable duo that clearly overmatches the less equipped Harder.
Overall, I really enjoyed the play. Even though it is a relatively short book I believe the characters are very well developed and the character interactions are written beautifully. I especially enjoyed Jim. I think the author was masterful in his approach to Jim’s character, making him powerful, yet weak at the same time. Although he is extremely wealthy, he is also an alcoholic who is consumed by his own wrongdoing. Although alive in the physical sense, he is truly dead inside and that was very powerful to read.
I also believe the ending was very well done and realistic. If Jim and Josie had gotten together it would have completely undermined the entire fact that Jim is pretty much a lifeless body. Hats off to Eugene O'Neill for his decision to not take the cliched, happy route.
DeleteI agree Jeremy. Where Jim was such a sadistic character, it would not have made long term sense for him and Josie to be in a long term relationship. It was very realistic for Jim not to commit himself to something long term and drawn out, as his life was pretty much over at the point that he and Josie met.
DeleteI agree with both of you regarding the ending of the play. The way O'Neill described how dead Jim looked in the moonlight is a testament to the fact that Jim's days are numbered. It would've been unfair to Josie to be married to a complete alcoholic, eventually Jim would've moved on from her like he did to the girls on broadway or die from all the alcohol he's putting in his body
DeleteThough I did not particularly like the way the play ended, as I would have liked Josie and Tyrone to be together, I did like the way it was written and the elements that the final act had in it. I appreciated the fact that O’Neil included the part with Josie and her father in which she told him off and showed him how what he had done the night before (lying to her and faking drunkenness) angered her. I thought it was good that this was included because Josie had proven herself to be a woman with quite a strong opinion, so it was important to show her father just exactly how she felt about his actions. I also liked the fact that Josie and Jim were able to enjoy a small amount of time together, though it made the fact that Tyrone was leaving so much harder to accept. Finally, I was content with Tyrone saying “I’ll never forget your love” (O’Neil 146). Even though the two would never see each other again, at least the author had them leave it on a happy note.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I enjoyed the play. I am not typically fond of reading plays as I often get lost trying to figure out which character is which. A Moon for the Misbegotten was an exception for me as it was limited enough in the number of characters that I could easily follow what was happening.
I agree with what you said about Josie and Jim's final night. I thought it revealed a lot about the relationship between the two, and how staying separate might have been for the better, despite the desire for them to be together.
DeleteI also agree with your comment about the play. However, I tend to enjoy plays, because the speaker is clearly defined and the setting is clearly laid out before every scene. This play was very easy to follow and the short lifetime of the events made it simple to visualize.
In Acts II and III, Josie and her father devise a plan to get Jim drunk (and sleep with Josie, in a last-ditch effort to save the farm, according to Phil). One notable quote from Act III is from Jim: "You're beautiful to me...And I love you a lot - in my fashion" (99). Josie responds to this with: "God pity the blind." Despite the fact that Josie believes she can seduce Jim and has the willpower to stand her ground with her father, she has no confidence in her beauty, which is ironic. Another interesting quote I made note of in Act III was from Jim: "Pride is the sin by which the angels fell" (113). If we were to relate this to Phil, we could say that his arrogance resulted in his bad luck. His failed farm, the departure of his sons, and his reputation could all be blamed on his pride. Jim continues on with his string of revealing quotes with: “We can kid the world but we can’t fool ourselves” (114). I think this quote reveals the inner struggle Jim has with himself. He puts on a tough act, but in reality, he is unhappy with his life. On page 129, Jim opens up about his unfulfilled dreams, saying he is “dead”. In these chapters, the reader finally understands the dynamic between Jim and Josie, and the insecurities holding back both characters. I wonder if Josie will pursue Jim, or if she will stay on the farm with her father.
ReplyDeleteAfter finishing this book, I questioned why Josie stayed with her father instead of pursuing Jim. I realized that this was very characteristic of Josie. She respected the decision of Jim and stayed with what she knew instead of possibly creating her own happiness. Despite her father’s lies, she chose to stay with him, as she had done all three times her brothers left.
ReplyDeleteTaking this into consideration, I thought it was appropriate to describe Josie as a static character, because throughout the play, she remains firm in her beliefs and chooses to defend her father when given the opportunity to leave him. That being said, I don’t believe any of the characters in this story are dynamic. Phil shows his scheming side, even when discussing his daughter’s own happiness, and Jim reveals his recurring sadness. Neither of these characters really change their ways or thoughts.
Overall, I liked the format of the play because it accentuated the Hogan’s direct way of speaking and made the story easy to follow. I thought it was interesting how all of the life-changing events could happen in such a short amount of time.
I love the way you analyzed the characters, and I definitely agree with you. Although the characters show different sides of themselves, they did not change themselves in any way. The play itself was quite unchanging as well. Even when obstacles and opportunities were thrown their way, in the end everything is exactly as it started.
DeleteThis play really shines, despite the lack of physical events that actually occur, due in no small part to the fast-paced and clever dialogue which shapes the reader's understanding of the multidimensional characters. I actually laughed out loud at some of the witty banter between the father-daughter duo of Josie and Phil Hogan. On the surface, their relationship seems completely devoid of love and compassion, but as the story progresses you uncover the true meaning behind some of their ostensibly callous behavior. One thing I wasn't a huge fan of was the abruptness of the ending. The entire play seemed to culminate in a rather anticlimactic fashion with Josie and Phil remaining on the farm and Jim going his own separate way -- leaving no indication that he would ever return. O'Neill clearly displayed his mastery of character development through dialogue which lends itself to the traditional style of a play, but with that being said, I personally wasn't a huge fan of the story overall.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree, Mitch. The play's downside is certainly its lack of a notable climax in the traditional sense. I do remember thinking to myself after I finished it, "Really? Did I just finish?" which was bizarre. The play seemed to lack the same sort of closure that a lot of stories have.
DeletePerhaps the unorthodox ending is reflective of the unorthodox love between Josie and Jim. After all, they did not love each other in a completely traditional sense, what with Jim needing a somewhat motherly affection from Josie. After reading about this, I don't think a traditional romantic ending would have fit. After all, the Hogans seem pretty abrupt and unorthodox themselves. In retrospect, the ending seems fitting to me.
DeleteI agree Shaina. Where Josie and Jim's love intensified so quickly, the abrupt ending seems to fit the deep love that flashed so briefly. If their love was more drawn out, I could see a more drawn out and dramatic ending. With such a short lived love though, this ending seems to fit the mood set by such a fast paced relationship,
DeleteIn Act 2 the plot thickens. Problems begin to occur and the audience gets a sense of the environment the Hogan's live in. All of the characters that are introduced have one way or another crossed someone for their personal gain. We discover Harder and Phil's hatred for each other and Harder
ReplyDeletewants to buy their land off Jim to get revenge on Hogan and Josie for making him a fool. Money isn't a problem for Hogan so he offered Jim $10,000 (3 times the actual worth). In this act I am disappointed in Jim. He back stabbed the Hogan's for selling their land and he didn't show up on the date with Josie. I didn't believe Jim would do something like this because he and Phil had a father-son bond and I thought he cared for Josie. Phil took a swipe at Simpson in the bar after the deal was made, yet his "heart was too broken with sorrow" to take a swing at Jim. This shows how betrayed Phil feels toward Jim. Although it was greedy to accept the deal, I thought it was realistic because Jim was tired of making little money and it seems Jim faces many demons, such as alcohol and depression. Throughout this act I realize that I like Phil. He comes across as a mean, tough man, but in this act I could see he really cares about people. Both Phil and Josie try to hide their emotions because they feel like it shows weakness.
I felt Act 3 was the slowest most drawn out section of the book yet it is very important. In this act we get a background on Jim's life and it clears up why he is suffering from alcohol abuse and depression. Jim talks about the guilt residing from his mothers death. He disliked his father so much even explaining that he was happy his father died, however, his mother was special to him. She was the reason he stopped drinking. Unfortunately one night he came home drunk and she closed her eyes and died. Jim believed she died because she was disappointed with Jim and wanted to leave this world. From this moment Jim has always been humiliated with his life. The mood changed drastically in this section. The mood is depressing as Jim ventures on about his mother's death. I think the moonlight on Jim's face while his eyes are closed is foreshadowing. They continuously repeat the topic of death and I think that Jim almost wishes he could die. Not only does this act clear up his background but it clears up the truth behind the deal that was made. Jim accepted the deal, but he was going to reject it later. He was playing a joke on Hogan. The fact that he rejected $10,000 to protect Phil and Josie shows how much he cares about them.
ReplyDeleteAct 4 is the falling action. Final pieces of the story are wrapped up. For example, we learn that Hogan was lying to Tess. He created a plan beneath the plan that he and Tess concocted in order to get Jim and Tess together. At first I was disappointed in Hogan because I thought it was greedy of him to try to get Tess to marry Jim in this sly way. I thought he wanted them to get married to inherit Jim's money, however, we learn towards the end that Phil did this because he saw how much they truly loved one another. I loved the ending because the story diverted from the cliche ending where they fall in love and live happily ever after. Jim and Josie loved each other, but they had to leave each other. Although this wasn't the ending the audience had in mind I believed it was the most realistic route the story could take. I believe they truly loved each other, but it was better for both of them if they moved on. Jim was facing many internal problems and Josie would never be able to cope with Jim's attraction to alcohol. When someone truly loves somebody they have to let them go because they know it is the best option for them. This is what occurred in the play and it is one of the main themes of the story.
ReplyDeleteUpon finishing the book I concluded that I liked, but wasn't blown away by this story. I loved how the story was written and I believed that Eugene O'neill did an incredible job of developing his characters. They were all realistic characters and they're emotions were depicted well considering the story revolved around dialogue. I also could sense the mood easily, which was evolving as more events occurred However, the reason I wasn't completely sold on this story is based on the plot. It was a little too simple and I was craving for more action. This is more a personal preference so overall I thought it was a good piece of literature.
ReplyDeleteMike,
DeleteI agree completely with your thoughts on O'Neill's ability to develop characters in a story centered around dialogue. I found it interesting that he was even able to fit in a dynamic character, in Josie, by using almost strictly dialogue. To work words around an action filled story line would be one thing, but the fact that words were the story line makes them so much more valuable. While I do agree with the fact that more action would have made the story more interesting, I was still impressed with O'Neill's development through dialogue.
Act II was mostly rising action, particularly Josie bitterly waiting for Jim to arrive. Act III was far more intriguing because it had more action. I noticed two specific moments in Act III that were turning points and points that revealed something surprising and important. The first moment was when Jim reveals to Josie the full intentions of Phil. We learn Phil had a plan of his own involving Josie, not just the plan he and Josie had together. Phil's personal plan was to have Josie and Jim fall in love to prove they loved each other all along, something Josie was not fully convinced of. This was important because it brings a whole new meaning to their night together. Logically, the next point comes as a result of the previous one. The next major event I noticed was a drastic change in Jim. After drinking all night, Josie soothes him, and he opens up to her about his troubled passed. He tells her about his mother dying, which is a reason for his heavy drinking. I saw a new side of Jim here. Even more so, though, I started to love the character that Josie was becoming. She was able to show Jim true love with a unique combination of attachment, caring, and intimacy. The Josie at the beginning of the play was tough and bitter, and now Josie is soft and caring.
ReplyDeleteAct IV did exactly what any final act should; it "tied up the loose ends". Act IV was my favorite act because it took my thoughts and feelings of the story on a roller coaster. When Josie and Jim wake up in the morning, Jim feels as if he is finally at peace, and they feel in love with each other. I thought they would live happily ever after. When Jim said he must leave her, I was shocked and disappointed. I was hoping that's not how their story would end. Thankfully there was a little more of a positive ending note when Josie wishes Jim a final good luck and a peaceful life. I've talked a lot about Jim and Josie, but Phil shouldn't go unnoticed. He was my least favorite character, and in my opinion, the most selfish character. Proponents of Phil might say he had good intentions for Josie, but I think it's too manipulative to convince her that they were in a plan together for money, when Phil's main objective was to set Josie and Jim up to fall in love. I suppose this was the only way to get Josie to be open to it, but this still rubbed me the wrong way as a reader. Overall, I enjoyed this play very much, and it caught me by surprise at several moments.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your opinion of Phil! Although his intentions were "pure", he still bothered me quite a bit. He could have very simply told her of his plan instead of pretending it was for money. However, this begs the question... Was this actually his plan all along? Or was he really just a complete drunk who didn't know what he was doing and decided to take credit for Jim and Josie's last night together? He is quite the manipulative genius, so you never know.
DeleteI disagree with Mike and Olivia on Phil. I can see why you think it was manipulative of him to try to trick Jim and Josie into falling in love but I actually do believe that Phil was acting in the best interest of her daughter. I think it was clear from the their playful banter in act one that Phil and Josie had a strong relationship and because of this I like to believe that Phil did what he had to do in a last ditch effort to get Josie to fall in love.
DeleteMy opinions on Phil tend to align with Chris here. While Phil is incredibly manipulative, it is not without good intentions. The way I see it, this level of conniving genius Phil displays is quite necessary if he is to get Josie and Jim together. If it weren't for Phil's scheme, I doubt they would have ever had the opportunity to share in each others love like they did that one moonlit night on account of their own insecurities.
DeleteYeah, I see what you guys are saying, Phil was an interesting character to think about. We probably have several different thoughts and questions because he was dynamic and had a few levels to him, thanks to O'Neill's characterization.
DeleteJenny Lindquist says:
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Act 1 I was extremely interested in the events that were to come later on. To be completely frank, I was really caught off guard by the crude and harsh relationships between the Hogan family. I sympathized with Mike, the youngest of the Hogan boys; in his decision to leave the farm, his father and sister. I had very mixed feelings about Josie in the beginning because behind her hard exterior, I could see a glimpse of an understanding and sympathetic older sister who wanted the best for her brothers. I thought it was a touching moment when she had given Mike the money he needed and had earned but never received, like she had done for her two other brothers before him. On one hand I wasn't very fond of Josie because of how rough and coarse she acted and I was intimidated and taken aback by such behaviors she exhibited. On the other hand I could understand that this was what she was accustomed to, being this way was all she knew because of her father being such an influential figure in her life. Her father was her only constant due to the fact that her brothers had left as soon as they could, and her mother had passed away. By the end of Act 1 I was hit with one major question concerning Josie and Jim and whether or not he would follow through with his promise of meeting later that night.
I know that I disliked Phil Hogan in the first act but after reading Act 2 I couldn't help but loath him more and more. Phil is egotistical and only cares about his own personal gain. I could not help but question his motives due to the fact that he played off of Josie's hurt and vulnerable emotions after thinking she had been stood up by Jim. It wasn't hard to tell that Josie was incredibly embarrassed and upset by Jim not showing. She had gotten dressed up in her best outfit and was waiting for hours for Jim to show. There were tears in her eyes despite her best efforts to try and stay strong especially in the company of her father. Phil seems manipulative and I was extremely skeptical when he started to manifest that story about how Jim was planning to sell away the farm from the Hogans, and that Jim forgot about meeting up with Josie. My reasoning for being so skeptical of Phil was further increased by Josie's revelation in which she said "So he didn't forget-" on page 85. This was the moment that she looked out the window and caught a glimpse of Jim walking down the road on the way to their house. Even though I wasn't really fond of Jim when he was first introduced in the playwright I wasn't surprised that he ended up showing and I was also pleased for Josie's sake. Before, I believed Jim to be somewhat of a pathetic, drunken, womanizer and I had a limited respect for him. As Act 2 went on and Jim kept pleading Josie for her to be herself I began to acquire a soft spot for Jim because of how broken and shattered he was revealing himself to be. It came to be very evident that though on the outside Jim was a full grown man with a prominent drinking problem, on the inside he was just a neglected little boy that missed his mother and needed to be cared for and loved in a maternal way. Jim resorted to self medicating by attempting to numb his internal pain. By the end of the second act I was honestly heart broken for Jim because of his ultimate self hatred and self loathing.
Jenny also says:
DeleteAct 3 is really where both Josie's and Jim's true characters shined through. Josie had finally relinquished the tough girl façade. The truth about Josie's impurity and virtues is also shed light on when it is revealed that her whole harlott appearance is just merely an act and she truly is a virgin. I can't help but empathize with Josie when Jim tells her that he is dead inside because her one love is incapable of loving her back the way she yearns to be loved. In the last line of Act 3 Josie says, "God forgive me, it's a fine end to all my scheming, to sit here with the dead hugged to my breast, and the silly mug of the moon grinning down, enjoying the joke" (pg 130) because there lying in her arms is Jim, the man she loves but who would never truly be able to have because of how shattered and conflicted he truly is within himself. He would never be able to love anyone if he couldn't even love himself. This realization has become apparent to Josie in this moment and I cannot help but feel heart broken for Josie because of the helpless position she must been in.
In conclusion to the end of Act 4 I really want to be optimistic and say that I truly feel that the intentions of Phil were pure and for the good of his daughter. However, the pessimist and realist in me suggests otherwise. Unfortunately, I feel as if Phil's scheme had gone awry and he needed to defend his character to Josie because he couldn't afford to lose his last child from driving her away like he did his sons. He and Josie shared a bond unlike any other in their family after her mother had passed and I think that he couldnt bear the thought of Josie leaving him to tend to the farm and land by himself. I really hope that this isn't that case, but I don't trust Phil or his character enough to believe he had only pure intentions for his daughter and her happiness.
Ahmelia Clark says:
ReplyDeleteAct 1 is very enticing and fast paced, it does not have a long narrator telling us some boring background because the way O'Neill wrote this play, all of the useful information is within the attitude and sly remarks of the characters. Another interesting thing that worked in this plays favor was that although we don't have a long character build up for any of the characters we still connect and understand them due to their morals and the lack of them.The way this play is written makes it okay to like Josie and Hogan even though they aren't our average soft and kind characters we normally fall in love with in books and plays. I think this is because we see through their transparencies even this early on in the book, so instead of hating their crudeness we laugh because we know they have goodness in them. Josie is portrayed as large and mean, but as she is helping her brother leave it shows a sign of weakness for her family. Act 1 had me sold on this play immediately.
Act 2 had me a little surprised, it was filled with a lot of important information and so much happened. I did not expect Jim to stand Josie up, I thought there was something clearly there between them, so when he didn't show I was very upset! Then once Hogan started to explain what had happened at the bar and started to lure Josie in on one of his schemes I started to feel bad for Jim. Clearly something was destroying Jim inside and taking what little he had left did not seem right. The more I read the more I got confused on whether Josie would go through with the plan to trick Jim or not. Hogan and Josie seem to both love each other a great deal, even though its not necessarily shown and I wasn't sure if Josie would chose her love for her father or Jim.
Act 3 was more of a climactic act, it had the truth revealed about Jim "selling the farm" and who Jim was and more of why he was the way he was. When the act starts I sense that Josie is clearly fighting her heart and she wants to hate him but cannot. Then once Jim tells Josie the truth about him selling the farm, Josie I think gets a sense of relief. She knew he would've never of done that and now she knows she was right about him. The way Josie is so guarded through this chapter though makes me like her even more, but I just wish her and Jim would soften up a little bit more towards each other. When Jim told Josie about the blonde girl on the train I did not expect the reaction she had. I thought Josie would be more calm and accepting of his mistakes, although I am almost glad she reacted the way she did, it gave them both a chance to look at each other and see each other for who they were.
The beginning of the play was not how I wanted it to end, just because I love happily ever afters but it made sense and was still great. 'A Moon for the Misbegotten' is a sequel and a search for Jim to accept himself and his mistakes so it makes sense that Jim must leave to finish the journey. I did however would like a better goodbye between Jim and Josie but how their relationship ended and the book was realistic because that's who they were and that's how their relationship was. As for Hogan we learn he lied to Josie to get her and Jim together and once that was revealed a part in my head said "I KNEW IT" I had a feeling that was happening once Jim told Josie what actually happened. I did not see Hogan doing something to hurt Josie so much, because she is his only family left. After being glued to this play I am happy it turned out the way it did and it makes me curious on what Jim will do next.
Natalie Wyse says:
ReplyDeleteRather than have Mr. MacArthur find individual comments to reply to, I’m going to respond in this comment to much of what you all have said. First, I want to say I’ve really gotten a better understanding of the play having read all of your comments. I’m really impressed by all this insight!
First I want to add some speculations to what Breann and Kacey brought up about Josie being the only woman in a house of men. I think it should be noted that Mike is eight years younger than Josie, and thus she necessarily had a mother figure in her life until at least age eight. The play also opens with a description of her as “… able to do the labor of two ordinary men. But there is no mannish quality about her. She is all woman (O’Neill 5).” It may be by nature that she is neither dainty nor attractive to most men, but her femininity expresses itself through the strength that she has. Additionally, that strength is required by her father on the farm, which makes him to be her greatest influence as the one she works with most often. It was from working with her father that we can assume Josie picked up her persona. But the fact that her brothers didn’t do the same may imply that they were able to relate to outside influences in a way that Josie couldn’t (based on her appearance and demeanor compared to other women her age). The only one who accepted and appreciated her was her father, so she did what she could to relate to him. Her brothers found places outside of their household where they were comfortable, and even felt superior to Josie and their father. Left alone, Josie and her father became even closer. That could be a possible explanation for Josie’s personality and relationship with her father.
However, her lack of knowledge of a healthy relationship is probably simply due to lack of example. Her mother seems to be completely out of the picture, and thus her parents’ relationship wouldn’t be all that prominent. Additionally, it can be expected that Phil wouldn’t act like he takes his marriage incredibly seriously (even if he really did take it seriously). Especially if she was young, Josie wouldn’t have been able to pick up on what makes it work. It may also be argued that Phil didn’t know how to make a healthy relationship, based on his pairing together Josie and Tyrone, who clearly couldn’t be together based on Jim’s emotional situation. At 28, therefore, Josie is learning for the first time what a relationship would even look like. I like Kacey’s mention of the media and how the stories she heard may have influence what she thought others would expect of her. Between her joking and her hiding she felt able to deal with her lack of real relationships with people other than her father.
Natalie continues:
DeleteI agree with what Jess and Luke said about Josie, Jim, and their relationship. I want to propose thinking about their relationship as a way of growth for them both; but not quite the growth they had each hoped for. Josie was clearly looking for a sexual relationship but that conflicted with Jim’s past as well as his pressing need for comfort and a familial relationship. But facing this conflict revealed to Josie how she really felt about Jim, thus setting the stage for beginning to know herself better. She also gained some self-acceptance and confidence through hearing Jim’s confession of love for her.
Jim got more of what he was hoping for from the interaction. He was able to find relative peace in seeking comfort from Josie and in confessing his shame. Whether he had hope of redeeming himself in her and his own eyes, or just wanted to clear his conscience (more or less) before the end of his life, is questionable. The fact that he was very late coming to Josie implies the latter, as well as his overall resignation. However, the fact that he made the date, came, and spilled his story implies that he may have sought forgiveness. He may have had hope that he could revive the emotion that had died inside him and continue his life. Josie notes on page 138 that she doesn’t believe Jim could ever get over his loss: “I hate to bring you back to life, Jim, darling. If you could have died in your sleep, that’s what you would’ve liked, isn’t it?”
The other sort of growth that comes in the moonlight is Josie’s revelation that she has the ability to comfort and heal. “Will you listen to me, Jim! I must be a poet. Who would have guessed it? Sure, love is a wonderful mad inspiration,” Josie says on page 129. She has discovered what she is capable of underneath her joking façade and brashness: she can be a caring and healing mother figure.
Jim, also, has proved to himself that there is love left inside him. He confessed it to Josie during the night, and in the morning felt the difference between this peaceful, beautiful feeling and the apathy he would feel after sleeping with other women.
Finally, the symbolism of the moon seems to be somewhat associated with Phil Hogan. It is credited with the growth and revelations experienced during the night, while in reality Phil arranged the meeting of Jim and Josie. Additionally, the moon is personified as laughing by Josie on page 130, a characteristic usually attributed to Phil Hogan. Anyone else have thoughts about this?
Monica Dave says:
ReplyDeletePost #1:
Act I
My initial reaction was that the play was captivating. Possibly it was the way the characters were very realistic and unstereotypical. The back and forth banter between Josie and her father got my attention. I immediately saw their strong bond, and inquired as to why she was the only child Phil could stand. I predict that he may dislike anyone who isn’t his “perfect” wife. But does he tolerate Josie because of her similarities to his wife, or does Phil really connect with her? I find it disconcerting that people could be so comfortable with swindling others. Although it was brave to stand up to Harder, it was also senseless to completely embarrass somebody with power. Phil and Josie look down upon anyone with money, simply because they have it. The family is stuck in their ways, but I predict that Josie will begin to change during the play, as foreshadowed by her encounter with Jim Tyrone. In this act, I do think that Jim and Josie seem to be a good match. This is not just because they are both outcasts, being a tramp and drunkard. They also seem to have deeper layers. Josie has a rock hard shell, which makes me believe she is avoiding rejection. Underneath, I think there is a soft spot for Jim. Jim is known as a drunk, but he loses his mind sometimes and nearly goes into another world. This could mean he struggles with loss or pain, making him more dynamic than you would originally believe.
Post #2:
Act II
In this act, I was amused when Phil claimed to like Jim. I believe this may be because Jim is the only person capable of stabbing him in the back. Jim betraying the Hogans for money is something the Hogans would surely do if in the same position, so the similarities between Phil and Jim allow Phil to like him. Liking Jim makes it more hurtful for both Phil and Josie when Jim sells their land. Josie and Phil make a plan to trick Jim into not selling the land to Harder, but I wonder if Jim even wants to sell it! By the way the act ended, it seems he doesn’t. When he says “You rotten bastard!” I wonder if he is saying it to himself, or someone else he feels anger towards. Maybe there is a reason behind his betrayal, but maybe not. I am looking forward to finding out. After this act, I also find myself making a sort of pros and cons list of Jim. I can’t seem to decide if he is good or bad. Pros: he admits love for Josie, he compliments her looks and personality, he sees through her lies, he gets along with Phil, and he seems to have deep feelings sometimes. Cons: he is frequently drunk, he shows up late to his date with Josie, and he sells the land to Harder. After looking at both pros and cons at this point, I come to the conclusion that Jim is more good than bad.
I believe many women can relate to Josie in some way. Often times, women lack self confidence, making themselves their own worst enemy. Josie very clearly doesn't see the beauty in herself as Jim does. Every time he mentions it she plays it off as a joke and refuses to accept it. She continually pushes his love and affection aside due to her belief that no man could ever truly find her beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI think my heart actually broke during the scene where Josie is plotting against Jim with her father. She believed that if she made a scene down at the Inn, Jim would be so embarrassed to be seen with her that he would sheepishly follow her out. As she describes this plot, her father agrees with the plan as well! Not only was she stood up, but now she believes she is too ugly to even be seen with Jim. Although we as readers know that Jim's compliments are sincere, Josie refuses to accept them. This is not out of rudeness or pride, but simply because she cannot believe them.
I found Josie's character very interesting. In the beginning of the play, I thought by what she said and how she acted that she was promiscuous. It wasn't until Jim Tyrone said he knew that it was just an act and Josie admitted that it wasn't true that I realized she wasn't. This made me recognize she might be hiding behind this act. She didn't want to appear weak or vulnerable. It was also a way for her to cover up her insecurities. These insecurities became clear in Act Three when Tyrone was trying to complement her, but she brushed it off and called herself an "ugly cow of a woman". She especially lacks confidence in her appearance although she is confident in her physical strength. She feels the need to get men to the point where it is clear they want her to make her feel better about herself.
ReplyDeleteAnother way Josie protects herself if with her constant joking. A lot of the time she is talking, especially with Jim, she is making fun of herself or others. I think she uses this as another shield to keep people from getting to close. These actions probably also stem from her insecurities.
Furthermore, Josie acts like she doesn't care about others too much. However, it is clear through her actions that she wants what's best for those she cares about, even at her own sacrifice. For example, she has helped all three of her brothers get away from her father because they are not happy, even though this only means more work for her. She is especially caring for Jim because she knows how unhappy he is. She tries to give him comfort, even if its only for one night. She lets him tell her about his mom's death and tries to make him feel better. She even stays still as he falls asleep on her, even though she is uncomfortable. It is clear that despite Josie hard, confident exterior, she is actually quite caring and insecure inside.
Abigail Chromik says:
ReplyDeleteIn A Moon for the Misbegotten, I was very intrigued in by Josie’s character. I thought it was strange that she was trying to help her brother escape but did not particularly like him. Before Mike’s escape, him and Josie get into an argument and he calls her some incredibly insulting names. She could have easily called her father over and stopped Mike from getting away, but instead she gave him money and warned him when her father was getting closer.I think this shows something about her character. She acts hard and mean, but I believe it’s all an act. You can tell she cares for her brother, quite a lot to help him out so much by getting him out from under their father’s reign. I also noticed this false attitude whenever she talked about or to Jim. She started out denying the fact that she had feelings for Jim when her father said she did and even when Jim would talk to her. When Jim asks her out, it was obvious her attitude was false and she let her guard down. When Jim didn’t show up, I could tell that Josie was hurt, this showed she had real feelings for Jim. When her father told her the story, she goes back to her hard shell personality and wants revenge. Although, when she finds out the truth, she lets down her wall and is able to let Jim see her sensitive side. I think Josie was a really complex character and her personality wasn’t as fierce as she put out to be. This made the book interesting because it allowed the reader to be able to see how she reacts with other characters in the book.
Monica Dave says:
ReplyDeleteAct III
This act shocked me quite a bit when Josie started out looking for revenge, but ended up admitting a deep love for Jim. Josie found out Jim was not betraying her, and she completely dropped her plans of revenge to coddle him. She even admitted she was a virgin. I realized at this point that she had to have trusted Jim immensely to say that. Also, Jim must trust Josie as well, for he actually explained his sorrow over his mother and the story of the blond on the train. He admitted the reason behind all of his pain and his need for alcohol. Josie stuck with him and said all the right things. At that point, I hoped that Phil wouldn’t ruin everything when he came home, and he would believe that Jim was joking around.
Post #4
Act IV
I love the way Josie finally stood up to her father in this act, although her rebellion didn't last very long. She saw that he was only doing everything for money from Jim. It shows his heartless nature because he was scamming the one man he knew his daughter loved. I thought Josie finally broke away from that lifestyle and I even hoped that she would run away with Jim. When she woke Jim up, they played their usual cat-and-mouse game, but it ended in confessions of love. When I found that their relationship simply ended in good-byes, I was left surprised. I found it bland that the author had them leave each other, for seemingly forever. The scene then quickly switched to her and her father, in mere sentences. Then the story finished nearly exactly as it began, with Josie slaving away for her ungrateful, scheming father. Although Phil explained that he was not trying to hurt her or Jim, I find it all lies because of his previous behavior. I even believe that Josie saw right through him, but she chose to continue her life in pain, just like Jim. Josie’s last words for Jim show not only her grief, but also her surrender.
Emily Kravies says:
ReplyDelete1. In the beginning of the play, Josie is introduced as a conniving woman, just like her father who schemes people and cheats people into buying their animals who are in poor condition and are nowhere near worth the amount demanded of them. it seems that when Jim Tyrone expresses an interest in Josie, it's something that she is not used to at all. She talks in the beginning with Mike saying "I don't want a decent man, thank you. They're no fun. They're all sticks like you. And I wouldn't be married to the best man on earth and be tied down to him alone" (10). When Jim comes around and Josie finds that she is falling for the man she never said she would, I think that she may start to think of herself as weak, and this surprises her. It seems that she is having feelings and a side of her is coming out that she has never seen of herself before. When Jim is late for their date she expresses sadness and disappointment, and when she finds out about the prostitute, she is understanding of him, when throughout the beginning of the play we have seen Josie's hard and angry side. She has always been the strong one, standing up for herself in front of her dad and protecting the farm. In the end she continues this strong trait, as she is able enough to say goodbye to the man she says she loves. I think the ending was exactly what it needed to be because there was no way Jim and Josie could live "happily ever after" since after the death of his mom, Jim was never the same. They loved each other and that was enough reasoning for them to never see one another again.
2. I found this play interesting because the dialogue usually had some humor to it, and if it didn't the seriousness of the situation usually made me want to read more. It was overall a light read and I felt like I wanted to keep reading, and it wasn't so much of an obligation as it was wanting to find out what happens next. It was short and sweet, and I didn't feel that any of the scenes were too dragged out. I completely agree with what Azaria said about how liking how Josie and Jim really cut to the chase about their feelings for one another, I also find that refreshing, especially after reading Tess of the d'Urbervilles, where each relationship seems to have a surprising little twist. I was as surprised as the next person when I found out of Jim selling the farm and I thought that that would be what would end their relationship. I was pleased when it was a joke but I knew that, like I said before, there would be no fairytail ending for Josie and Jim regardless.
3. I think that I liked this play more than I liked Tess of the d'Urbervilles, solely based on the main characters. I found Tess very weak and submissive, where Josie is strong willed and stands up for herself - completely the opposite of Tess. I think Tess could use some of Josie's heard head and righteousness and Josie could have used some of Tess's full heart and sweetness.
I waited to post until I was finished with both books. I now realize this was a mistake because I was not able to interact as frequently with everyone. I split my notes and observations for A Moon for the Misbegotten into two sections. I will cover the first section, Acts 1 and 2 in this post.
ReplyDeleteAct 1:
From the beginning it is obvious that Josie has a contrasting personality to what was expected of women in this era. In her early conversation with Mike, it is obvious that she is brash, somewhat controlling, and not afraid to exert her authority. The only member of her family that seems to follow along with this personality is her father, Phil. This sets up a rift between Josie and Phil, and much of society that considers themselves "virtuous", like Mike. Considering how upfront Josie was with her actions, I was quite surprised with her general lack of self confidence in her body and her perception of her attractiveness to men. I did notice a large disparity though, in Josie's confidence around Phil (Hogan), and her confidence around Jim (Tyrone). In the first scene where Tyrone is introduced, Josie seems to act in her usual fashion at the beginning and goes along with her father, but as the scene progresses, Josie opens up to Tyrone. Tyrone is Josie's escape to be comfortable with herself and confident in who she is. Although she still isn't entirely comfortable in her own skin around Tyrone by the end of the first scene, the difference is definitive.
Act 2
In the start of Act 2, where Jim doesn't show up to his date with Josie, it is clear that Josie loves him. She becomes very upset about this seemingly unrequited love, and is transparent about her feelings for Jim. Once again though, Josie's inability to be herself around her father shines through. When she hears Phil coming down the street, Josie's true feelings of sorrow and frustration turn to anger at her father. It is expected that when he come home drunk, that she is brash and knocks him around. Seemingly not wanting to show her feelings, Josie covers up with anger and lashes out at her father. At the end of the Act though, when Tyrone appears, Josie has trouble hiding her love for him and ceases to be upset after only a little while. Here again, the reader can see Josie opening up to Jim, only minutes after being so shut off with her father, and agreeing (although not wholeheartedly) to frame Jim for her father's benefit.
Act 3:
ReplyDeleteThe focus now shifts from Josie and her personality, more to Tyrone and his. There has been much talk earlier in the play by both Phil and Josie of what Tyrone is and isn't in terms of his personality. As the date progresses with Josie, many of these questions are answered. It came as no shock that Tyrone is generally dissatisfied with his life and what it has become. This is obvious through his pursuit of women to have flings with, his alcoholism, and, as Phil explained once, even the way he dresses like a stockbroker. As the date progresses, the banter between the two shifts from jeering at each other, to more deep conversation. The shots back and forth between both parties seems to be the breaking of the shell of insecurity that each holds. Josie's insecurity being her body and the image her father has of her, and Jim's being his life as a whole, which he perceives as a failure. As the conversation moves deeper, and eventually into Tyrone's mother, each character has fully opened up to the other. This is a turning point in the play, where the insecurities of each side have been broken down, and a true understanding is obtained.
Act 4:
From here initial interaction with her father, through the end of the story, Josie is a demonstration of a dynamic character. She is now able to be herself around her father, and speaks her mind about his schemes to frame Jim. Being open and honest, Josie is able to come clean to her father about her true feelings, and he gains a sort of acceptance for who Josie really is. Additionally, it was surprising to see the compassion that Josie showed for Jim and his struggle, which speaks to the way in which she was able to sympathize with Jim fundamentally once each was rid of their inhibitions. Overall, Josie was a dynamic character who didn't play the part of one. Meaning, the reader always knew her true self, but she only showed it later in the play, thus changing her outward behavior to match her inward feelings.
After I had finished the play, I thought a lot about the title. I had trouble understanding it at first, but I think it is actually a really good title. O'Neill is using misbegotten in this case to mean those who don't belong, or people who aren't really accepted by society. In their own way, Josie and Jim are both misbegotten. Josie is a girl with very unusual physical features for women and she also has a very promiscuous image. She will never be accepted as a proper member of society. Jim is a drunk, and although he has quite a bit of money because of his parents, he is a third-rate actor, and never sober enough to really fit in society.
ReplyDeleteIn the title it says a moon for the misbegotten. In the play, Josie and Jim have one night together under the moonlight. The moon can be a symbol of healing. It is referred to several times in that scene. On this night, Jim has come to Josie because he loves her and he wants to find comfort in her. After he reveals how he acted after his mother got sick and died and how ashamed he feels. Josie is able to comfort him. Josie says, "She hears. I feel her in the moonlight, her soul wrapped in it like a silver mantle, and I know she understands and forgives..." Jim has carried the burden and guilt of him being drunk as his mother died and for her funeral for a long time. He was finally able to find peace.
The title helps draw attention to how although Josie and Jim are misbegotten, when they are alone under the moon, they can belong and be happy with each other.
I never really thought about it this way until now, but I believe that it is an excellent interpretation. I think in the end they accept that they are misbegotten. They let each other go, and they have a new understanding of who they are and how they belong in the world.
DeleteI never really thought about it this way until now, but I believe that it is an excellent interpretation. I think in the end they accept that they are misbegotten. They let each other go, and they have a new understanding of who they are and how they belong in the world.
DeleteI really enjoyed this play. It was a great read and the characters were well developed and the ending was heart rendering. The character of Josie in the beginning is depicted as brutish and strong and well built, which is the exact opposite that you would expect from a feminine hero. She doesn't care what other people think about her, she enjoys working on the farm and has a devil-may-care attitude about her life and others with the exception of those closest to her. In many ways, she could have been a male character. But I like how she comes into being a woman as the book develops. She begins to care for people other than her family and she becomes sensitive and shows her love for Jim even though she knows that he won't return. She becomes a well developed character and a more feminine character while at the same time keeping some of the qualities she had at the beginning. Jim is presented as a character that is relatively happy, has a good sense of humor and is prosperous thanks to the estate of his parents who have died recently. His true troubles don't come out until he is with Josie. He shares about his troubled past with the whores that he sleeps around with on Broadway as well as the one on the train. He spills his troubles and begs for Josie's love to comfort him for one night, promising that it would be different than the other nights that he has spent. But in the end, he ends up leaving Josie for New York. In reality, he used Josie like the whores because he just used her to make himself feel better and feel loved and in the end he knows that despite his love for Josie, he can't stay with her. Hogan is the only person that will love her truly. It was his deception that allowed her to experience the true feelings she had for Jim and in the end he did it so that his daughter could experience the love that she truly deserves. The play doesn't need any more characters than that. It's a relatively small cast, but the characters make such a big impact on the reader that its all they need. They each have their own struggles and problems and that makes them excellent characters and they make the story one worth reading.
ReplyDeleteMatthew Vatteroni says:
ReplyDeleteThis play was one of the better plays I've ever read. I enjoyed the chemistry and back-and-forth nature of Jim, Josie, and Phil. I had a few problems, however, when I first started reading. In the first few acts Josie seemed incredibly confused about her feelings and mood towards her father and Jim. Granted there were a lot of lies to go around, but when her and Jim are having their alone moonlit conversation, she kept switching between bitterly sarcastic and empathetic and emotional. According to Jim her sarcasm was a mask she used to hide her true self. She kept going back to the sarcasm from time to time because she was so used to it and caught off guard by this deeply emotional and intimate moment they were having.
My problem with plays is that, unlike a novel, you have limited amount of time and background information about the characters. You have to introduce the characters and make the dialogue speak for itself and show the audience they're in love. I never really got the impression they were in love. I had a hard time believing it with the little information Phil provided us about their constant flirting, but even during their first act alone I didn't truly believe they were in love based off just the dialogue. Her reactions to his openness more often than not closed him back up again and when they both proclaimed their love it seemed forced and heartfelt or true. It sounded like they were saying it because they what they wanted to believe rather than what they actually felt.
Jim and Josie, in my opinion wouldn't have lasted very long had they explored a long term relationship. One of them would have been happy but the other would turn miserable or both would. Jim was beyond saving and Josie felt like she needed to be saved as much as him. While their hearts wanted to be in the right place, in my opinion, Jim made the right choice by leaving.
I enjoyed this play. I found that O'Neill really captured a lot of meaning into the story, eve though it was a quick, fast-paced read. Josie's character was good in the way that she was someone many girls can draw a connection to, but still stood out as her own individual character. Josie hid behind a mask of promiscuity and harsh language. However honest her words to other people were, she was never really honest with herself. She let people think ugly things of her. She let them believe that she was not virtuous, that she was a monster of a woman . Under the mask, she was a kind woman that really needed someone to call her out on her lies. To see through the guise she had put out. Only a man that was willing to see who for who she really was and love her would help her. That came in the unlikely form of Jim Tyrone. Jim saw through her, and I think he really cared for her in the way that he could. Which wasn't really much for he was a very broken man. He was empty and broken on the inside. He was made of his booze and his parents money. He didn't really have much of a soul left. Regardless of that, he loved Josie in the way she needed anyway. I don' t think that Josie ever really needed a man to love her to be happy. I think that she needed someone for a night. Someone to care for and love. Jim was what she needed in the way that he supplied for that need. She began to see herself again, and that she wasn't this hulking woman that no one could love.
ReplyDeleteOn another note I think that the relationship between Phil Hogan and Josie was something truly special. They were family right down to the core. They cared about each other and Phil saw what Josie needed even if Josie couldn't see it herself. He gave her that night with Jim. Josie would have done anything for her father. Her brothers always believed that she was the only one that could ever stand up to him, but I don't think she even needed to. They spoke the same language and had the same morals and ideas. They may have made fun of each other and called each other rude names, but that was their way of showing affection. Josie would have fought for her father and their farm and way of life. She wouldn't leave him because it is where she belonged. She wasn't meant to be a housewife like all the other girls. She was meant to work on the farm with her hands. She was meant to take care of her father and the farm. That was her true love, not any man.
Alex Boyer says:
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Act One, I found it curious how, during the initial meeting of Jim Tyrone and Josie, Hogan seems to sit back and pull the strings to manipulate the conversation how he would like it to go. Jim and Josie both seem to ‘like’ each other, and they both seem aware of the other’s interest. Hogan, outwardly motivated by self-gain and keeping his house (but there are hints he wants them to be happy together), shifts the conversation how he thinks it should go. He coaches Josie on how to best interest Jim’s feelings for her. I do think, however, that both Josie and her father are not as calloused as they at first seem. Josie helping her brother run away and her father trying to get Jim and Josie together all hints to underlying traits of kindness and compassion for each other; whether or not this holds up will remain to be seen on Act Two.
In Act Two, I found it interesting that the relationship between Josie and Hogan seems to have drastically changed. They are now working together for mutual benefit, which during the first few chapters would have seemed improbable. As they are plotting their revenge on Jim, it shows how their relationship is stronger than was shown previously. Though definitely complex and unique, they still seem to joke around like most families do, showing they’re closer than they outwardly appear.
Michaela Davies says:
ReplyDelete1. I agree with Olivia’s comment about how every woman can relate to Josie’s self consciousness in her own beauty. It’s tragic that although Jim continually tells her she is beautiful, she cannot believe it for herself. Like Olivia said this has nothing to do with her pride that she cannot take these compliments, she just simply does not believe him. This aspect of the play is relatable to woman (and men) in this day in age as well as back then. I also find it interesting that her own father spits nothing but negative comments about her appearance in her direction. “To hell with your temper, you overgrown cow!” “Haven’t you a tongue in your head, you great slut you?” These are only a couple examples of the kinds of things her father would say to her. No one would think highly of their appearance if their own parent were insulting them like this!
2. Continuing my thoughts on Josie and Hogan’s dialogue, although some of it was coarse, it was also humorous at times. O’Neill’s play, not having a heartfelt or happy feel to it usually, had an amiable way of incorporating humor into the dialogue. I found Hogan’s outrage and dramatic views to be funny. “Hogan: A fine curse God put on me when he gave me a daughter as big and strong as a bull, and as vicious and disrespectful. Be God; look at you standing there with the club! If you ain't the damnedest daughter in Connecticut who is? Josie: And if you aint the damnedest father in Connecticut, who is?” I enjoyed reading scenes between Josie and her father continually bantering at each other, neither seeming really to take it to heart and immediately spitting back insult after insult.
3. Anyone who would even skim over this play could realize what a large role alcohol played in the actions and attitudes of the characters. It may be an obvious element of the play but I still felt it necessary to comment on the effects it has on the characters and how much of a role it has in the play. For starters Hogan’s fits of rage all were caused by his intoxication. There was not one point in the play where he was sober. Also Josie and her father knew that the only way they could get Jim to marry Josie was to get him drunk. All the personalities of the characters were affected when they were drunk and I think this play portrayed an underlying message about how alcohol affects people’s judgment.
One example of imagery that I really like in the play was how to Josie, Jim looked dead when he fell asleep in the moonlight. The first time this happened Josie got scared and woke him up. Jim responded by saying he was dead. Emotionally, he really felt that way. Before his mom died, he had stopped drinking for his her sake because he was the only one she had left. However, once she got sick he started again because he couldn’t bear the idea of loosing her. He believes that right before she died she woke up and saw him drunk and was happy to die. He feels so guilty because of this and because of how he slept with a whore as he was bringing the body east on a train. It is almost as if he doesn’t want to forgive himself. He continues drinking and doing things that makes him hate himself. After Jim confesses all of this to Josie, he falls asleep again. “His face against her breast looks pale and haggard in the moonlight. Calm with the drained, exhausted peace of death.” It is almost as if since he has now admitted his guilt, he can “die” in peace.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Jim temporarily found peace, he will probably never be truly happy. Josie recognizes this, so in the final line of the play, she says that she hopes he dies soon peacefully in his sleep.
At first I wondered why Jim didn't stay with Josie and get married to her because they both loved each other; but, I realized that Jim's love for Josie was exactly the reason he couldn't stay. He knew he could never really change and be the man that he believed Josie deserved. He didn't want her to get hurt. I think this shows just how much Jim loved her. It would have been easy for him to stay and let Josie care for him, but he was willing to let her go because it was what was best for her.
I really liked the play, 'A Moon for the Misbegotten" I thought it was of a lighter tone then Tess of the D'Urbervilles, which I had read first. Josie was a delightful main character, and I admit, until I read on here that she was in fact not a woman who gets around. I know that she told Jim that, its just that her father believed her to be and she let off the aura of a woman who gets around. The novel itself began light-hearted with her brother running away from home due to his differing beliefs from his father. Josie is the only one who stays, saying that she is the only one who can control their father, that line is one of the central drivers of the story, with Josie stopping her father when he was going to go out of control. She is also surprisingly feminine, due to how she talks with Jim when he gets back from the bar, and how she waited for him all night in her best dress. She talks rough most of the time, buts its almost like an act for her father, when in reality she is more like her holier brothers who left their father.
ReplyDeleteI really admired the relationship between Josie and Jim. In the beginning its more of a light thing, with Hogan teasing her about how she can seduce Jim and her getting all flustered. She then attempts it for real, as in getting him drunk enough to spend the night with her after Hogan said he agreed to sell the farm. She gets him drunk and her a little woozy, and he begins talking about a blonde on a bus. At this point we've learned that Jim is far more promiscuous then Josie ever was, liking his Broadway girls. So we could, and I did, assume that this was just another girl that he liked, albeit on a train. Later on as he gets more smashed, he begins to talk about his mother and her disapproval of all of Jim's bad habits, primarily drinking. In a show of irony, he begins drinking again after her death and that's where the blonde ties in. He met this blonde, while drunk on a train going to bury his mother. The girl herself didn't matter, it was more the spirit of the thing. Jim had to have some semblance of comfort after his mom was dead so he did the only thing he could. I like the character Jim Tyrone more so than both Alec D'Urbervilles and Angel Clare. He just seems so much more real to me than both of them, with him opening up to josie about his problems and trying to leave but her love made him stay. Even though he leaves at the end, its on better terms then when, say, Angel left Tess.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started reading A Moon for the Misbegotten, I wasn’t sure how interesting it would be, given that it is only ~150 pages and takes place over the course of 1 day, leaving seemingly little time for plot development or much action. After reading Act 1 however, I have found that the varied relationships between the characters makes up for the play’s brevity and (so far) limited setting. Josie and her father have a rather unique relationship compared to a typical father-daughter one. They go from shouting, swearing, and threatening physical violence to calm discussion and friendly teasing. Despite this, they seem to get along well, likely due to the fact that they have very similar personalities and Josie reminds Hogan of her mother, as he notes on page 17, “Thank god you’re like me and your mother.”
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting relationship is the one between Josie and Jim. At first it seems that she is friendly to him mostly due to him being friends with her father, and carries on the same teasing, tough attitude she shares with her father. Near the end of the chapter however, she expresses concern for Jim’s health and drinking habit, making him promise to eat something so he doesn’t get ill. He sarcastically says, “Mother me, Josie, I love it” And she replies, “I will, then. You need one to take care of you” (60). It’s not clear at this point if Josie loves Jim, or if she simply cares about him as a close friend, but that will likely become clear as the story progresses.
Delaney Cronin says:
ReplyDeleteMy first entry will be regarding the first act of this play. I found this act to be very useful in superficially forming conclusions about the main characters. In this section of the play, the reader begins to see the exterior of the characters and the way that the act. This gives you the impression that both Josie and Phil are alike in the aspect that they are both crude and selfish characters, unlike Josie’s brothers that happened to be very different and therefore they left the farm to achieve their goals out in the world away from their family. Not much of the play occurred in this act. There was mostly just foreshadowing that existed here to line up the events of the following Acts in which Josie would belive that Jim was to sell the Hardy land to the neighboring land owner.
In both Act 2 and Act three of the play, the reader is able to see the characters for who they really are. By the end of these acts, Mr. Tyrone can be seen as the truly damaged character that he is and I found to feel sympathetic for him in a way due to the truly unfortunate life that he has led. His drinking and the death of his mother lead him to make one of the biggest mistakes of his life and because of this mistake, he will not allow himself to be loved by the woman that he truly cares for and who truly cares for him. Josie in these two acts is hugely revealed as the pure and isolated, yet caring character that she is from the start. Jim Tyrone’s drunken night with her exposes the fact that she, despite her attempts to sway others’ opinions of her, is actually not the promiscuous lady that she is thought to be. Phil Hardy by the end of the play, to me, is now seen as a less selfish and crude man. Although he and Josie maintain their odd and abusive relationship throughout the play and into the ending, their relationship changes throughout the play because Phil’s true intentions are exposed and they are more caring than I expected. He wants happiness for Josie and although that is not thoroughly achieved by the end of the play, both Josie and Phil are in a better place than they were at the start of the play.
I think Josie is overall a very interesting character. She is presented in the beginning of the play as a large, strong, tough woman who is generally in good spirits despite her father calling her names and shouting all the time. As the play progresses, we learn more about her, and she seems full of contradictions. She has helped all three of her brothers escape the family farm to pursue new lives, yet it seems to have never occurred to her to leave herself. She presents herself in the same harsh, tough way her father does, but seems to care deeply about him and Jim. She accepts her father’s rude remarks about her size and promiscuity, even agreeing with him, but seems in reality to be self-conscious and sensitive. She goes so far as to fabricate for herself a reputation of sleeping around despite being unmarried, when in reality this is completely untrue. I think she is an easy character to sympathize with, since most people present themselves to the world in a way that is not entirely accurate. Everyone has insecurities no matter how far they go to hide them.
ReplyDeleteLauren Szestowicki Says:
ReplyDelete1) Right off the bat, I thought that none of the characters were decent people. I found that Josie was rather rude and impatient, Hogan as an old ignorant drunk and Tyrone a sleazy Broadway performer. Josie’s brothers have all left the house going on with their own lives and she is stuck to face the constant belittling and harsh joking manner of her father’s words. There seems to be little love between the two and the only affection that Josie seems to get is from Tyrone who is also rather wealthy, and I implied that it was only for his money as it was that she had hinted to when speaking to her father.
2) As I read on I found that when Josie’s father comes home drunk he acted very suspicious. He knew something that he did not want Josie to find out. But I was left to only infer myself that it couldn’t have been something good at all. However it had been said that Jim was to accept the offer of Harder who increased on the amount that he originally obliged to, and that Jim was greatly speaking of the fondness that he had felt of Josie, but yet he dared not to get to close for her as his own temptation may overcome him and therefore he ignored the day on which they had set their date. This absolutely crushed Josie as she continued to listen on. She could not help but refuse what she was hearing. Jim could not do this to her, but yet she came to the conclusion that it all could have been a very real possibility. Jim was very, very close to Josie’s father so it had given me no doubt but to believe what he had been saying.
3) Reading deeper into the play Josie and Jim do come into contact and more about his past is reviled. He says that after his mothers passing, the sorrow over took him and he began to drink, which led up to how he used a blonde woman in sinister way. He wanted to try to drown out his pain and forget his mothers passing, but in doing so he knew that he had done wrong and his mother would have never approved. Scared of what his mother would think he wanted to end it all. End his life. Drinking would be his outlet. Hearing this Josie didn’t know what to think, yet her love for him took over her heart and she forgave him in his time of foolishness.
4) Coming close to the end of the play Josie had left Jim and gently shut the door behind her, wishing that he himself to reach full forgiveness and peace from within. Josie was confident in the future that lay ahead, that was very apparent. Yes the bitter sweetness of closing the door resembled the closing and ending of a new chapter in her life. She wouldn’t have shut the door if she knew that Jim did not have any glimpse of comfort that he would need to enable him to move on. It was not a hard separation but one that needed to be. Josie had also ignited something between her and her father, as the harsh fighting hadn’t continued and a new tone that they had developed has easily been a more gentile and honest one compared to the rude joking manner that they once had. Although that Josie’s father had lied to her he tried to make it up to her and that was evident in the plan that he had executed. Her happiness was all that he ever wanted, and therefore making sure that she would see Jim for a final time, was the least that he could do for her sorrowing soul. Never the less we can find hope (as the readers) that one day Josie and Jim can fall back into each other’s arms as true lovers. Jim has found a new light in his life which will help in cope in all of his past hardships and in his eyes he looks at Josie unlike anything he has ever seen. She is perfect in her beauty inside and out.
After reading Act I of A Moon for the Misbegotten, I really like Josie's character. She is a very strong hearted, independent woman, although she still works for her father. She is funny and able to joke around and get along with her father easily. She has, however, been a little too nomadic in her love life. Like her, Phil Hogan is also a strong, funny character. The way the two of them converse, arguing and not arguing and laughing about the arguing though, it makes me wonder if they just joke around about their different views or if they really do matter and will later become a problem. Jim Tyrone is a drunk. He does communicate with Josie and Hogan well though. Hogan seems to want to marry Josie off to Jim in order to save the farm, which would be a problem, except that she seems to really like him, and is just letting herself in on her secret of really liking him. They made a date and I'm interested to see if they keep it. Hardy is a stuffy crook who wants the Hogans off their farm. He is easily intimidated though by Josie and her father. I don't think he is going to wind up getting the farm.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Act II of A Moon for the Misbegotten, I think that when Tyrone, at first, doesn't show up, Josie gets really upset and throws her flower across the room. She, despite the joking tone when it was planned, really had wanted Jim to show up. She was beginning to love him and think seriously about what her father had said about her and Jim. Then, as if she hasn't had a rough enough night being stood up and forgotten, Hogan tells her that Jim stupidly said he would sell the farm to Hardy. She is enraged at this because she thought that he had promised her that he wouldn't sell the farm to anyone else. So, she and her also angry father come up with the plan to disgrace the traitor Jim by having him caught "in bed" with his daughter and it making the newspapers to humiliate him. Then Josie decided that in addition to that humiliation, that she wouldn't let him do anything in bed either so he would be humiliated in more than one respect for trying to sell the farm and forgetting about her. As his punishment, he would also have to sign a paper saying the farm was the Hogans' and he'd have to pay them money. The two Hogans are very spiteful and their quest for revenge will be their downfall, I think. As in, somehow their plan will fail. Then, when Jim arrives, having remembered that he was supposed to see Josie, she has to pretend to like him to trick him into bed despite the fact that he'd just basically sold her home, but then she also felt that she liked him still and enjoys him being there. I also believe that there is some pressing matter on Jim's mind, and he can't seem to get it out. I think this because he keeps saying how he is doing things "mechanically". He pours his drink mechanically, or he says something mechanically. I think that Josie is also tense and thinking about the whole selling the farm issue or is just uncomfortable because she keeps doing things forcibly or laughing forcibly.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Act III, I can't say I'm surprised that Jim didn't actually sell the farm to Hardy. He made her a promise not to, and he seems to be an honest man, not lying about his habits or anything else, and he loves her a lot, so he really wouldnt go back on his word. I know that he loves Josie with all of his heart and wants her forgiveness as well as his mother's for being drunk and sleeping with a "pig" all while she had died and he wanted to forget that she had died. So, he went back to drinking, then knowing how upset that would make her, he slept with a stranger in order to further forget it, and when it didn't work, he couldn't forgive himself. I don't think Josie actually forgives him, but she wants to help him get and feel better, all the same. This shows her love for him. I don't understand why they keep talking about the moon, as of yet I cannot figure out the significance of it. Also, there's the significance of Jim looking dead in the moonlight, he feels he is after his mother died because of his horrible sin against her and how he doesn't live for her (or for anything) at all anymore. The moon seems to go from inspiring love in the beginning to creating the illusion of death.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Act IV, I think Josie is bitter with her father to start, because she is thinking rashly that he wanted the money, but she realizes a little later that he only wanted her happiness, and he made a Hail Mary at the last chance of getting it for her. Jim remembers the night and is ashamed of it and is still going away back to New York because it is best for both of them. Josie and her father will be fine if I can take the indication at the end where they start to joke with each other like they always had. Josie essentially wants Jim to find peace and to be put out of his misery. Misbegotten means badly conceived or badly carried out. I think maybe the moon represented a time, as Jim and Josie said, different from all others where he could confess his badly conceived and carried out plan to forget the pain of the loss of his mother. I also think the fact that Josie kept saying how he looked dead in the moonlight and how she wished him peace at the end means that he will probably drink himself to death soon and he'll be put out of his misery because he wants to be dead, since he already feels like he is and he keeps seeing ghosts, probably of his mother. He fell asleep after confessing his faults to Josie, and then fell asleep. He looked dead when he was asleep because he was peaceful but also pale, so it's almost as if he had died in peace and will be able to now actually die in peace.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Act IV, I think Josie is bitter with her father to start, because she is thinking rashly that he wanted the money, but she realizes a little later that he only wanted her happiness, and he made a Hail Mary at the last chance of getting it for her. Jim remembers the night and is ashamed of it and is still going away back to New York because it is best for both of them. Josie and her father will be fine if I can take the indication at the end where they start to joke with each other like they always had. Josie essentially wants Jim to find peace and to be put out of his misery. Misbegotten means badly conceived or badly carried out. I think maybe the moon represented a time, as Jim and Josie said, different from all others where he could confess his badly conceived and carried out plan to forget the pain of the loss of his mother. I also think the fact that Josie kept saying how he looked dead in the moonlight and how she wished him peace at the end means that he will probably drink himself to death soon and he'll be put out of his misery because he wants to be dead, since he already feels like he is and he keeps seeing ghosts, probably of his mother. He fell asleep after confessing his faults to Josie, and then fell asleep. He looked dead when he was asleep because he was peaceful but also pale, so it's almost as if he had died in peace and will be able to now actually die in peace.
ReplyDeleteAbigail Chromik says:
ReplyDeleteEven though Mr. Hogan seems to have a rude and vindictive personality, I believe that, like his daughter, he has a softer side. This was not apparent to me until towards the end of the book. Josie believes that her father is only interested in money and conning people into getting his way, which is true, but not when it comes to Josie. I believe that he wanted to do what was best for Josie and even he didn’t do everything the way he was supposed to, he loved her and did his best for her in his own way. He knows Josie likes Jim Tyrone and tries to get her to give him a chance, which she thinks is only for his benefit, I think he wants her to be happy and stop living the lifestyle she has, being with so many men. He tricks her into trying to be with Jim, but I think he had good intentions and wanted her to be happy because he knew how much Jim meant to Josie.
Ally Margelony says:
ReplyDeleteI found this play to be a very enjoyable read. I found Josie and Jim’s love to be unique. Josie wanted the world to see her as tough and therefore acted sarcastically, so when Jim started complimenting her in a way she never had been before, she became confused. Josie had never been given much attention from men due to her broad and strong appearance. I found her to have a secret softness about her though. She covered up the fact that she was a virgin to seem tough, but I think her virginity spoke a lot about her. Josie never wanted to express her true feelings for Jim because it would make her seem vulnerable and weak. She convinced herself that Jim would be embarrassed to be with her, so she pushed him away in order to protect herself from the rejection she thought he would give her. This relationship, all in all, seemed very unhealthy to most people, but I found it to be romantic in a unique way.