《异化与本真：尤金·奥尼尔戏剧荒诞特征艺术》：
Apart from Shane's poor performance in both study and work，the long-termisolation between them becomes so intensified that Shane developed trouble in normalcommunications with his father when they met each other.He could hardly bring outhis real thoughts in the way his father expects.The troubled communications mainlyresult from long-term isolation and ensuing estrangement.Undoubtedly，there waslove between them，but the love was not that of freedom and candidness.Thecommunications between O'Neill and his daughter Oona are trapped in a similarpredicament，particularly after her marriage to the comedian Charlie Chaplin，whichO'Neill refused to accept.Thereby，with O'Neill's personal tendency to "silence"，andseries of communications troubles，the relations between the family members are farther estranged.
Accordingly，O'Neill instills into his plays his perceptions of ruinous family communications and fills his characters' communications with " silence ".Communication troubles are noticeable.in view of silence.In many of his plays can be detected the stifling silence resulting from incommunicability.Similar to Beckett's Waiting for Godot，human impotence in communications is in parallel with speechlessness.In the early plays，human plight echoes the silent threats from nature.In the middle plays，the communications are at times abruptly cut off by sensitive awareness of each other.In the later plays，silence reflects consciousness of one's own self.In such plays as The Web（1913）and Thirst（1913），silence often looms up in the whole play，tinged with a sense of death.Other cases are the meaningless talk between Keeney and Mrs. Keeney in I/e ； the dancer's desperate cry for salvation in the "menacing silence" in Fog（1914）； the intolerable silence in Andrew's family in Beyond the Horizon； the beating drums intensifying absence of communication in Emperor Jones； the impossibility of understanding due to the increasing quietness between Lavinia and Christine in Mourning Becomes Electra； the sinister silence in which Deborah reveals her inner thoughts in More Stately Mansions； the muted revelries in the Iceman Cometh，and the horrible family stillness in Lon.g Day's Journey into Night.
These characters are often situated in such extreme silence that there is no basic difference between talk and silence.Failure in communication is often demonstrated in silence because silence can bring about either consciousness or indifference.The application of silence helps human beings recognize the void of living because only in silence they begin to "wonder" and "speculate".Albee says，"Only in silence are we confronted with the actuality of our situation as human beings."（Sutcliffe，1981，p.256）To be conscious is to be speculating in silence.Many of O'Neill's characters choose indifference.Those insane dreamers like the Captain in his early plays hardly show signs of understandings to what others complain.Faced with pleas for quitting their crazy illusions，they often respond with resolute indifference and self-opinionated obstinateness.Heidegger regards silence as one form of communication，"Silences are as much a part of talk as are spoken sounds： someone hands me another
hammer，he need not bother to explain 'No，not that one - try this instead! "'
（Glover，2001，p.14）For the absurdist playwrights，communication is regarded as impossible in silence.In the cases of Beckett and Ionesco，linguistic expression becomes so unnecessary in communications that conversations are constantly absent.
Silence partially necessitates the sense of the absurd.According to Camus，"the absurd
is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of
the world." （Nolan，1981，p.5）
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