The Straw

O‘Neill, Eugene, 1888-1953Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 178K words
Chapters: 18

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Straw by Eugene O'NeillAuthor: O'Neill, Eugene, 1888-1953,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Sep 16, 2007

Editor's review

The Straw is a one-act play by Eugene O'Neill, released free in the original English by Project Gutenberg. O'Neill was one of the founders of modern American drama, and his early one-act plays often drew on seafaring and working-class life, a vein to which this play also belongs. Short in length and focused in cast, it advances its situation through everyday dialogue and shows ordinary people's feelings and choices under duress, bearing O'Neill's characteristic attention to human fragility. As a one-act play it is tightly structured and well suited to understanding O'Neill's short-form craft and the language of early twentieth-century American drama. While reading, note the pauses and subtext between lines, which are exactly how O'Neill portrays inner life. The book is an English text, suitable for drama lovers and students of English literature as close-reading or read-aloud material.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in modern American drama and O'Neill's work
English literature students using it for one-act play textual analysis
Drama enthusiasts seeking a short, compact script for reading aloud or staging
Readers who want to understand the American underclass of the early twentieth century through short plays

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a full-length novel
Beginners who struggle with English and need a Chinese parallel text
Drama readers who prefer strong plots and complex stage settings

Reading tips

Read through once for the plot, then read closely for the pauses and tone in the dialogue.
Try reading the parts aloud to feel the rhythm and tension of a one-act play.
Understand the play in the context of O'Neill's early seafaring short plays.
After reading, map the character relationships and points of conflict to test your grasp of the subtext.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is The Straw a full-length or a short play?

The Straw is a one-act play by O'Neill, short in length with a concentrated cast and setting, suitable for reading in one sitting. The materials do not give a page count, but the one-act form means it is closer to a short text than a multi-act full-length play.

What language level is needed to read this book?

The book is in the original English, with dialogue largely in colloquial speech. Readers with intermediate English can finish it with a dictionary; for dramatic analysis, some experience in close reading of literary texts is advisable.

Does this edition have notes or an introduction?

According to the materials, this is a public-domain electronic text released by Project Gutenberg, usually containing only the play's text and necessary copyright information, without modern scholarly notes, introduction, or production notes. Readers needing background must consult other sources.

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About the author

O‘Neill, Eugene, 1888-1953 Author

Eugene O’Neill (1888–1953) was a landmark playwright in the history of American drama. The library holds five of his works: Beyond the Horizon, The Hairy Ape, Anna Christie, The Straw, and The First Man. These plays mostly draw on the struggles and spiritual predicaments of ordinary people, focusing on the conflicts among fate, desire, and human weakness. Stylistically, they combine a stark depiction of real life with strong symbolism and a tragic tone. O’Neill excels at revealing the disillusionment and loss of modern people caught between ideals and reality through his characters’ inner conflicts and the pressures of their surroundings. His dramatic language is plain yet tense, his structures are tight, and his dialogue often carries deep compassion. Although public information about his life is limited, the works in the library alone show that he treated drama as a serious vehicle for exploring the human soul. His writing has had a profound influence on the development of modern drama in the United States and beyond.