Mealtime at the Tyrone House

The first three acts are centered around it. Many of their conversations take place waiting for it or directly after it. Yet we never actually see them doing it, and, very in line with the structure of the play, family meals at the Tyrone house disintegrate over the course of the day, although they are served with an impressive rigidity.

In theory, these meals must be a way for Mary bring her family together, at least three times a day, but as the day goes on and less and less people actually show up for family mealtime it is clear that it is merely a facade to make it seem as if they are. Discussion before mealtimes has a rushed, expectant air, like everyone is waiting for it to be over already. Discussion after mealtimes usually revolves around what each person is going to do until the next mealtime.

Now for attendance. Breakfast: All four members of the family are present. Lunch: All four members of the family are present, but Mary is on morphine and lunch is stalled considerably because Tyrone is outside talking to the neighbors. Dinner: Just Tyrone and Edmund. Jamie hasn't come home yet, and Mary says she's not hungry (ie. goes upstairs for more morphine). Even the maid is drunk.

It can be concluded that the mealtimes constitute the framework for the structure of not only the play, but every day of the summer for this family. As depressing as the play ended, what makes it even more tragic is the fact that they are all going to wake up the next morning for breakfast, and do the exact same thing all over again. I take back the word disintegrate to describe the meals because it implies that there is some kind of progression; while the nature of the meals vary from one to the next that progression gets blended together and repeated, much in line with the other themes of the play.