Long Day's Journey into Night, Eugene O'Neill's autobiographical play about the Tyrone family, presents an interesting case study for examining both Scarf's and Beavers's views of family dynamics. While Scarf mentions power, intimacy, conflict, and individuality as key pieces of the family dynamic puzzle, Beavers defines five levels of family relationships.
Level 1: "The Optimal Family," allows not only for intimacy but for individuality within a given family. No one member holds the power because everyone is free to express an opinion or pursue a desire—even if it means expressing negative feelings. Members trust each other enough to know that they can work out their conflicts. It's doubtful that the Tyrone family ever fell into this category. James's obsession with not falling into poverty meant he suppressed his own desires and feelings; consequently, he expected others to do the same. His acting career took precedence over family needs, so those relationships took a back seat.
Level 2: "The Adequate Family," is egalitarian and also allows all family members to express feelings and desires. Rules can be changed in order to work out conflicts as they arise. Again, the Tyrones never met this standard of family function. Mary was not her husband's equal in the relationship, and she knew it was useless to express her desire to stay home and not travel for James's work. As the breadwinner, he made decisions about which jobs to take, so she lacked power in the relationship.
Level 3: "The Rule-Bound Family," requires family members to abide by unspoken "shoulds" and "oughts" of behavior. Perhaps in the early years of the Tyrones' marriage, they reached at least this level of functioning. What members experienced emotionally had to be squelched by what they believed they ought to feel; thus, Mary couldn't express her need for a stable home for herself and her children. Her individual needs were subjected to her husband's drive to make money, and the two weren't emotionally intimate enough for her to feel safe confronting him regarding the parts of her life that were making her miserable.
Level 4: "The Borderline Family," functions according to a strict list of rules. If the Tyrones had ever functioned at level 3, they quickly entered level 4 and passed on to level 5. In level 4, members are expected to subsume their interests to the family dictator. In the Tyrones' case, this dictator would be James Tyrone. Thus the boys were expected to pursue the educations and careers that James deemed suitable, and Mary, of course, was expected to rid herself of her addiction to morphine. This concentration of power in one family member robs the family of any chance for intimacy—real feelings and desires cannot be expressed, and judgment and criticism fly as conflict escalates with no real chance for reconciliation.
Level 5: "The Family in Pain," describes the Tyrones perfectly. Ghosts of the past torment each member; conflict has never been properly addressed, and true feelings can never be expressed except in flashes of emotional outbursts, after which they are quickly withdrawn. The family seems to have no leadership; although James was once the family dictator, now that his boys are well into adulthood, he knows he can't control their actions anymore. Mary is hopelessly addicted, and she doesn't fear James's reprisals, especially once she is under the influence of morphine.
This is the most dysfunctional family system, and the Tyrones epitomize it. It is like a country descending into anarchy: as each day in the Tyrone family repeats itself, the family continues its long, inevitable slouch towards night.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-me-in-we/201311/5-styles-family-relating
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