Why don't schools assign Long Day's Journey Into Night?

[Anonymous]

I read this in HS, and it's one of the rare books that I think about almost 40 years later. With the increase in discussion about drug addiction and its impact on families, it really surprises me that this isn't more commonly assigned. I get that it's a play, not a novel, so maybe that's a disincentive, but I think they do assign plays to read.

Is there something that I'm not remembering about the play that makes it disfavored currently?

I'm also a little sad that Tennessee Williams seems to be disappearing from common knowledge as well. He wrote some schlock, I guess, but he has several plays that are just heart-breaking in a very real way, and deal with trauma that wasn't discussed 50 years ago, but which people now recognize....sexual assault, homophobia, suicide.