Project Gutenberg 2003-05-01 Public domain in the USA. 106 O'Neill, Eugene 1888 1953 O'Neill, Eugene Gladstone O'Neill, Eugene G. (Eugene Gladstone) The First Man Produced by Charles Franks, Robert Rowe and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. "The First Man" by Eugene O'Neill is a play written in the early 20th century. The drama revolves around the complex relationships within the Jayson family, particularly highlighting the character of Curtis Jayson, an anthropologist who is preparing for an important expedition while grappling with the emotional fallout from his past and a significant change in his life. The opening of the play introduces Curtis, his wife Martha, and their friend Edward Bigelow, setting the stage in their home. As they discuss Curtis's upcoming expedition—the chance to uncover the origins of mankind—tensions surface when Martha reveals she is pregnant, which complicates Curtis's plans and deepens the existing emotional turmoil. The dialogue highlights Curtis's preoccupation with his work and the unease he feels about the changes the pregnancy represents. Martha, understanding the implications, wishes to embrace this new chapter, contrasting with Curtis's conflicted feelings about fatherhood and his commitment to their intellectual life together. This dynamic sets up the core conflicts of the play, suggesting themes of sacrifice, love, and the struggle to balance personal desires with social expectations. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 78.8 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en American drama -- 20th century PS Text Category: Plays/Films/Dramas Category: American Literature 173340 2025-07-02T09:28:58.451701 text/html 173817 2020-12-27T16:52:18 text/html 119436 2025-07-02T09:29:02.910637 application/epub+zip 121291 2025-07-02T09:29:00.019662 application/epub+zip 121291 2025-07-02T09:28:59.003674 application/epub+zip 218253 2025-07-02T09:29:05.009629 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 211459 2025-07-02T09:29:02.323659 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 181997 2022-09-02T12:47:15.730324 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 144530 2025-07-02T09:28:57.870698 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 144455 2020-12-27T16:52:18 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 18345 2025-07-02T09:29:05.132635 application/rdf+xml 10650 2025-07-02T09:28:59.493663 image/jpeg 3016 2025-07-02T09:28:59.248657 image/jpeg 58128 2020-12-27T16:52:18 application/octet-stream application/zip 55233 2020-12-27T16:52:18 application/octet-stream application/zip 116085 2025-07-02T09:28:58.464692 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia