Identity

In O'Neill's masterpiece, Long Day's Journey into Night, Mary Tyrone insists, "None of us can help the things life has done to us. They're done before you realize it, and. . . . they make you do other things until at last everything comes between you and what you'd like to be, and you've lost your true self forever." Like Long Day's Journey into Night, Anna Christie focuses on the search for identity. But, unlike those in the Tyrone family, Anna Christie is able to discover a new sense of self through her contact with the sea and through a loving relationship.

Appearances and Reality

Closely related to the theme of identity in the play is that of appearances versus reality. Both Chris and Anna, at times, appear to be what they are not. Even though when Anna walks into Johnny-The-Priest's, "plainly showing all the outward evidences of belonging to the...