Beyond the Horizon

O’Neill opens Act I by introducing the theme of dreams and initiating a tragic chain of events that results from decisions to pursue other people’s aspirations. O’Neill begins to build this theme around the central relationship of the play—the close fraternal bond between the brothers Rob and Andy Mayo. The brothers are characterized as a juxtaposition of ideas: Rob is a dreamer whilst Andy is only interested in the physical reality of the land that surrounds him. Rob, whose ill health as a child forced him to stay indoors with only books for company, is absorbed in the adventures and intangible possibilities that lie “beyond the horizon.” It is significant that Rob is reading at the start of the play and when he shuts his book “and turns his head toward the horizon, gazing out over the fields and hills” (126), he is not coming back to the present, but transitioning from the story of the book to the narrative he imagines for his own life that lies waiting beyond the hills. In contrast, Andy is characterized as the complete opposite; he dreams of a wholesome farming life, raising a family, and working the land. Rob describes Andy as being “wedded to the soil” (128).

O’Neill further emphasizes the contrast between the two brothers by aligning Rob with the “far-off sea” (132) and Andy with the “good clean earth” (127). The siblings embody the elements they are aligned with, whilst Rob is subject to the strong current of whimsical dreams and ideas, Andy is suited to hard, steady labor on the land. O’Neill’s use of stage directions to introduce Ruth as a “healthy, blonde, out-of-door girl of twenty” (130) clearly characterizes her as a better match for Andy, foreshadowing the discord that will ensue when she chooses Rob instead. After confessing her love for Rob, Ruth convinces him to stay on the farm, claiming it is “where it’s natural and we know things” (135). However, although the land might be a natural home for her and Andy, Ruth misjudges Rob’s nature, believing she can make him happy if he stays. Ruth’s misguided judgement and Rob’s decision to believe her are the tragic impetus for the events that follow.

The action of Scene 1 unfolds outside, and O’Neill pays close attention to detailing the setting in the stage directions. The scene is set on “a section of country highway” (126) that runs through Mayo farmland. The road itself is significant as a symbol of life, choices, and destiny. However, O’Neill further imbues the setting with meaning by drawing parallels between the outdoor space of the Mayo farm and the Garden of Eden. At the start of play, the farm is a paradise of “rolling hills” and fertile “dark earth of which myriad bright-green blades of fall-sown rye are sprouting” (126). The land begins with so much life and promise but it is overshadowed by serpent imagery: “rough snake fences” (126). Behind the road stands “an old, gnarled, apple tree, just budding into leaf” (126). The apple tree recalls the biblical tree of knowledge that Eve is tempted to eat from and in turn also persuades Adam to eat from, so that he shares in her sin. Here, the tree represents the choice that Ruth will tempt Rob with, leading him away from the road and rooting him to the farm.

Scene 2 transitions indoors to the Mayo farmhouse, establishing the juxtaposition of exterior and interior settings, which is a patten that O’Neill employs in all three acts of the play. The farmhouse is homely and welcoming—it represents the happiness and harmony of the family. The stage directions describe the impression of the home as “one of the orderly comforts of a simple, hard-earned prosperity, enjoyed and maintained by the family as a whole” (136). However, when the scene opens, the atmosphere in the room is tense. Kate and James Mayo are upset because they still think Rob is leaving with his uncle Dick to become a sailor and they “don’t want him to travel all his life” (138). However, Andy has noticed a shift in Rob and Ruth’s behavior and spent the whole evening meal “looking as if he’d lost his best friend” (139).

The tension comes to a head when, after Rob reveals he is in love with Ruth and wants to stay, Andy states his intention to take his brother’s place on his uncle’s ship. James Mayo isn’t fooled by Andy’s lie that he’s always had a secret desire to travel and warns him “I’ve watched you grow up, and I know your ways, and they’re my ways. You’re runnin’ against your own nature, and you’re goin’ to be a mighty sorry for it if you do (146). James delivers this ominous prophecy as he disowns Andy—even Andy’s weak re-assurance to Rob that “everything’ll turn out all right in the end” falls flat against the strong sense of foreboding that O’Neill evokes as the scene draws to a close (150).