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140
Eugene O’Neill
to provoke change, breaking the pattern must come from one of the
Mannons themselves.
Christine, a Mannon by marriage, is the first to make the attempt.
Faced with the sense that the Puritanism of the Mannons is going to
destroy any chance of happiness that she has available to her, Christine
seeks the ultimate escape: like David Mannon before her, she
commits suicide. She chooses death, rather than waiting for it to be
imposed from without. In this, she exercises her freedom, which puts
her outside the determinism of the Mannon curse.
Orin, tormented by a not unfounded belief that by killing Adam
he also killed his mother, is ready to follow his mother’s example.
However, Lavinia seizes control and, through sheer force of will, forces
them both to take another route: she and Orin leave the poisoned
atmosphere of the family estate entirely, and travel to the South Sea
Islands.
These islands, according to O’Neill, represent all that Puritan New
England is not: “release, peace, security, beauty, freedom of conscience,
sinlessness, etc.” (Falk 121) The effect on Lavinia is powerful. Her
severe, angular image and all-black clothing (“I was dead then,” she
says of her previous mode of dress [O’Neill 345]) has given way to
curves, sensuality, and color. In fact, she has come to look like her
mother, and Orin his father. Her attitude has changed as well. “I loved
those islands,” she tells her would-be fiancé Peter.
They finished setting me free. There was something there
mysterious and beautiful—a good spirit—of love—coming
out of the land and sea. It made me forget death. There was no
hereafter. There was only this world—the warm earth in the
moonlight—the trade wind in the coco palms—the surf on the
reef—the fires at night and the drum throbbing in my heart—
the natives dancing naked and innocent—without knowledge
of sin! (O’Neill 348)
To the surprised and delighted Peter, she blurts out “Oh, Peter, hold
me close to you! I want to feel love! Love is all beautiful! I never used
to know that! I was a fool!” And then she “kisses him passionately.”
(O’Neill 348). Having once escaped the power of the Mannon estate
and its curse, she never wants to return. “We’ll be married soon, won’t
we,” she asks Peter, “and settle out in the country away from folks and