By 
The present study tries to scrutinize The Iceman Cometh and Long Day’s Journey into Night by Eugene O’Neill. Here, the critical panorama is based on “The American Dream” as a national myth; it is the myth of success or a fulfilling life for all Americans. The theoretical framework is based on the ideas of some critics such as Lewis, Carpenter and Pradhan on “The American Dream”.
This study follows a historical perspective and asserts that “The American Dream” has been with Americans since the beginning of American history. And then he shows that this particular dream has been a myth for centuries.
For this research, first of all, an exhaustive study is made on the history of America as well as on concepts such as “The American Dream” and “American Myth”. Elements of “The American Dream” are then traced in The Iceman Cometh and Long Day’s Journey into Night. Next, these elements are considered as inaccessible myth. Totally, it shows how O’Neill represents “The American Dream” in both of his works.
When O’Neill began writing plays, there was an unreasonable acceptance of materialism and traditional values in the American theater, and the presentation of life and character was hackneyed. O’Neill’s works from the beginning reveal a truer and better understanding of the man and his life. Tilak Raghukul (1975) believes that:
From the beginning, O’Neill saw life as something not neatly arranged in a studio, but something terrifying, magnificent, and often quite horrible, something akin to a tornado, an earthquake, or a devastating fire (p. twenty).
O’Neill considers the mythical characters who have come to America and have been searching for their dreams and a fulfilling life. He writes about forty plays, most of which are about the American family. O’Neill began and ended his dramatic career in realism. All of his important works represent a tragic vision of America. A dozen violent deaths and more than two dozen non-violent deaths, as well as causes of insanity in his drama, are an indication of the consistency of his tragic vision. H. Clark Barrelt (1947) says:
When the United States was close to victory in World War II, O’Neill told his compatriots I go by the theory that the United States, instead of being the most successful country in the world, is the greatest failure (p.152 ).
This quote shows how aware O’Neill was of the failure of American values. In both The Iceman Cometh and Long Day’s Journey he represents the failure of the American man. It shows the man who is looking for a full life but does not find it in reality, so reality becomes painful for him. Metaphorically, in both works O’Neill reveals the lie of “The American Dream” and sees it as a way to escape reality.