One of the major themes in the play, A Moon for the Misbegotten by Eugene O Neill, is the fact that people are rarely what they seem to be at first glance. We see this theme in at least three out of the six characters in the play. A Moon for the Misbegotten is the story of an Irish father, Phil Hogan, and his daughter Josie who live in a small shanty on a farm in Connecticut. In the beginning of the play Phil Hogan is portrayed as a drunk, greedy farmer with absolutely no morals. In addition, he seems to be willing to sacrifice anything for a little bit of money. We also see him overindulging in alcohol but being stingy when it comes to sharing it with others. As soon as the curtain opens on the first act, we see that Mike, one of his children is leaving home because he can no longer deal with the lack of morality in the house. Mike also makes the audience aware that he is the third one of Phil Hogans sons that is leaving for this reason.Josie Hogan, the only daughter of Phil Hogan, is the only one who seems to have completely followed in her fathers footsteps. She is a massive, overweight woman. We learn very early on that she is considered to be a slut by everyone in the town, and that she has a very rough way of speaking to people. She also seems to share her fathers attitude that the best way to go through life is as an immoral individual. In the very beginning of the play we find her lamenting the fact that three of her brothers have gone off to live their lives as upstanding citizens.Another important character in this play is the Hogans landlord, James Tyrone, Jr. Before we even meet him, we learn from Josie that he has a reputation of going to Broadway to sleep with whores every night. The first time the audience is introduced to him, he is coming to visit the Hogan farm. We see him as a wealthy, upper-class landowner that has everything but still likes to impose on the less wealthy-namely the Hogans.However, all of these p...
