Free Essay

The Hairy Ape

In:

Submitted By ednalop
Words 342
Pages 2
The Hairy Ape

"The Hairy Ape" tells the story of a laborer, Yank. He is searching for belonging throughout the play. In the beginning, he feels secure in his role as a fireman of an ocean liner. But when Mildred Douglas comes to the stokehole, she sees him and calls him a filthy beast, which causes an identity crisis in Yank. He goes to New York and finds that he doesn't belong there, either. Eventually, he goes to see the gorillas in the zoo, and the beast kills him in the end of the play.
Yank is a representative of an early 20th century industrial worker who loses faith in the machine. The world in "The Hairy Ape" is bleak. Man has lost faith in himself. Many people have idealized wealth and privilege. O'Neill uses Yank's search for belonging to show that loss of faith ends up in death.
O'Neill uses steel throughout the story to represent strength. Steel also represents the cage that Yank feels that he is in. This cage is first symbolized by the fireman's forecastle of the ocean liner. "The lines of bunks, the uprights supporting them, cross each other like the steel framework of a cage."(1103) The workers are described as brutes, "hairy-chested, with long arms of tremendous power, and low, receding brows above their small, fierce, resentful eyes."(1104) This description could be used by many to describe the gorilla later in the play.
Yank represents their leader, and in the beginning of the story, the men agree with his opinion, and follow along with his jokes when he is trying to "t'ink". The men speak in unison and are compared to machines, suggesting they have been dehumanized. Yank describes his unhappy childhood, and Long, a socialist, agrees with Yank that the ship is the only home they know and "‘ome is 'ell."(1106) Long blames their unhappy state on the "lazy, bloated swine what travels first cabin."(1106) Yank calls the wealthy passengers "just baggage."(1107) "We belong and dey don't." (1107)

Similar Documents

Free Essay

O'Neill, Eugene."The Hairy Ape"

...Hi class; Part II: The play of "The Hairy Ape", by Eugene O'Neill is a sad portrayal of social injustice. The character of Yank is brutish and simple and in one pivotal moment he is made to feel inferior to the point that it haunts him psychologically. His strength and appearance were his identity and he felt like he "belonged". Yet, after being referred to as a "filthy beast" by Mildred, he is ashamed of his language, demeanor, and appearance. Yank begins a search to find himself and his place in the world. This search leads him to see how society perceives him when he becomes violent on Fifth Avenue and is imprisoned for thirty days. While there, he is confronted with the opportunity to repay society for their betrayal, but again his ideas are rejected. Yank is searching for acceptance and decides to visit the zoo to see a real ape. He sees a reflection of himself in the caged beast as both have been displaced and imprisoned. Both the ape and Yank do not belong in polity society. He thinks for a moment that he and the ape are kindred spirits of a sort and he opens the cage. He is crushed by the ape, which he had just referred to as his brother. The ape throws him into the cage and shuts the door. His last act of defiance is to die standing while gripping the bars of the cage. Even the ape feels that he does not belong.  Work cited: O'Neill, Eugene."The Hairy Ape". American Literature Since the Civil War.  Create edition. McGraw-Hill. 2011. Pg....

Words: 274 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

The Hairy Ape

...The firemen, workers who shovel coal into the engine of a Transatlantic Ocean Liner, sit in the forecastle of the ship drinking and carrying on with each other. They are an hour out of New York City and have seven more days aboard ship. The men are burly and muscular. Yank, the fiercest looking of the men, sits in the foreground quietly. Whenever Yank speaks the men immediately hush. Yank asks for a beer and the men immediately give one to him. As Yank and the men drink, Yank remains in control as the leader of the group. Yank and the men joke about thinking as they drink. Yank, in a joke repeated during the play, tells the men to be quiet because he is trying to "tink." The men mockingly repeat after him, "think" and then erupt into a chorus of "Drink, don't think!" Cutting through the general mayhem, a drunken tenor sings a tune about his lass at home. Talk of home outside the ocean liner infuriates Yank and he tells the tenor to be quiet. Long, quite drunk, stands up and makes a Marxist speech, preaching to the men that if the ship is home, their home is hell and the Upper Class put them there. Yank tells him to join the Salvation Army and get a soapbox. Paddy, a wise, older fireman tells the men that life on an Ocean Liner is hell by comparison to his life on a Clipper Ship. Paddy reminisces about the freedom he enjoyed, the purpose he had and skill for which he was valued. Yank tells Paddy that he is dead, "living in the past of dreams" and glorifies his own job as the strength...

Words: 292 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Hairy Ape Essay

...Eugene O’Neill wrote a play called the Hairy Ape that focuses on the time period in America during the industrial revolution. The play follows a man, Yank, searching for how he fits into the world. The themes of the play revolve around how the United States was changing during this crucial moment in America’s history. New ideas, technologies and cultures were emerging, and O’Neill saw this. He wanted to express his views and opinions of how America was changing through his plays. His plays became influential and powerful because it focused on real-life issues and problems that were occurring during that time, even though the plays were fictional stories. The Hairy Ape is no exception and is one of many of his fantastic plays that delved into the dark reality that was occurring in post WWI America. O’Neill opens his play with a scene showing some firemen working in the engine room of a ship talking amongst each other. This scene is important because it already shows a major topic that O’Neill is tackling: the transformation of humans into “machines” by industrialization. The firemen work in a harsh and monotonous environment; they repeat the same task over and over without putting any thought into it. They are also shown as uneducated, primitive and uncivilized people. O’Neill portrays these people this way to show how degrading humans into tools are making them less intellectual and less “human.” Humans have the capability to think, create and be innovative, but O’Neill sees...

Words: 2083 - Pages: 9

Free Essay

English Review Sheet

...English 2328 Spring 2011 Unit Two: Early Twentieth Century Review Sheets |Survey Highlights |Modernism in American Literature |Imagism, Imagery, Image | |Major Authors |Some distinguishing characteristics— |From Pound's "A Retrospect": | |Historical Context |Rejection of traditional values and assumptions, in society and art. |—Three principles of Imagism: | |Intellectual Movements |Strong break with traditional literary forms and techniques of |1. Direct treatment of 'thing' whether subjective or objective. | |Genres, Elements of Literature |expression. |2. To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the | |Authors |—Avant-garde, innovative |presentation. | |Robert Frost, Ezra Pound, and T. S. Eliot |—Frost's "old-fashioned way to be new" |3. As regarding...

Words: 2032 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Bigfoot Research Paper

...In the United States alone, there are over 5,000 reported sightings of Bigfoot to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO); over seventy of those sightings have occurred in Minnesota (BFRO, 1995). Sasquatch has been a feature in many cultures’ folklore throughout history, having a variety of different names and mannerisms, but the physical descriptions of the cryptid are all the same -- large, brown, hairy, and smelly beasts. While many may believe that these eyewitness accounts and stories have been pranks or hoaxes, advancements in modern technology has allowed believers to become closer than ever to proving those skeptics wrong. The most famous form of Bigfoot evidence is footprint casts, as their large size was what coined the name Bigfoot in the first place, yet many skeptics will say that the prints hadn’t been made by sasquatch, but pranksters. DNA is number one form of evidence that all Bigfoot researchers and believers are hoping for, as it’s the one form of evidence that cannot be denied. So sasquatch hunters go into the woods with the goal to come home with a sample of hair or blood, and hope to capture photographs of the beast itself. Researchers will soon be able to prove that the quality, and quantity, of sasquatch...

Words: 1947 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

What Does A Cage Symbolize

..."The Hairy Ape" by Eugene O'Neil was written in 1921 during the time of the industrial revolution in America. It highlighted some of the substandard working conditions of the time. The main characters of the play are in a much greater degree in a figurative cage versus a literal cage. The imagery of a cage is spread throughout the play. The living conditions of the firemen on the transatlantic ocean liner is the first figurative description of a cage. The men sleep in very cramped quarters. They have bunk beds that line the wall giving the appearance of a cage. The ceiling in this room is low and the men are not able to stand up straight in this room. The working conditions or also inhuman. They have very poor lighting. It is very hot with little or no ventilation. The men are constantly breathing in coal dust. They have to work hunched over and are given very few breaks. A foreman with a whistle watches over them and blows a whistle anytime...

Words: 505 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

What It Do

...The Yeti is the Tibetan name for Abominable Snowman. The Yeti is one of several unidentified creatures that live in the highlands of Southern Asia. There have been many different sightings of the Yeti and all of the descriptions have been different. The Yeti was described as a large variety as a hybrid of a man and ape standing over two meters tall and having black or brown fur. Another type of Yeti was described smaller than an average man with a reddish-brown fur. But these different types of Yeti have two things in common; they both walk upright and are very hard to pin down. In 1832, a British representative named B.H. Hodgson was in Nepal and he published an article in a scientific journal about a strange mountain creature that he came upon off in the mountains. He described the creature very hairy and it attacked his servants. The village people named it “rakshas” which means demon. This was the first ever report of the Yeti by a westerner. In 1913 a group of Chinese hunters were reportedly wounded and captured a hairy man like creature. The creature was imprisoned in Patang at Sinkiang province for five months until it died. It was described having a black monkey like face, large body covered with silvery yellow hair several inches long, and its hands and feet were very man like. The creature was also incredibly strong. In 1954, the London Dialy Mails went on an expedition to hunt and catch the Yeti alive. They discovered authentic Yeti scalps and zoologists...

Words: 695 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Lit Final Amu

...Ali Wally Professor Perez Literature 221 25 September 2013 Connection’s Throughout this eight-week Literature class we have read many short stories and poems. When I started the class I didn’t know what to expect and as the class went on I continuously learned more about different types of writing and most importantly myself. Even the pieces of writing that I didn’t like I could connect with, there was always an underlining symbolism or metaphor that made it possible. But like any person I had favorites and least favorites. Walt Whitman’s ‘I saw in Louisiana a Live Oak Growing’ all the way from week one was one of my favorite pieces of writing we have read all semester. The writing speaks, telling the reader to reach out for friendship and companionship. The last two lines ‘uttering joyous leaves all its life without a friend a lover near, I know very well I could not,’ (Whitman pg. 7). Whitman is telling the reader that life would mean very little without the company we keep. I can relate to what he is saying because it couldn’t be more true. There is not a single person in this world, no matter how strong or independent that would make it without at least one other person in their life. This piece makes me think of my family, which is so important to me. Another of my favorite reads was one of the shortest of the semester in week three, Carl Sandburg’s ‘A Fence’. There was a big emotional pull in this story for me. The emotional fence is...

Words: 1457 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Bigfoot Essay

...Bigfoot is an ape-like creature apparently inhabiting the Pacific Northwest forests of North America. Frequently described as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid and popularly referred as Sasquatch. The scientific community abdicates the existence of Bigfoot and considers it to be a combination of folklore, misidentification, and hoaxes. Despite the negative scientific consensus, yet Bigfoot is the most famous example of a cryptid within crypto-zoology. Tales of untamed man exist amongst the indigenous population of the Pacific Northwest. Their description varies both regionally and locally. Similar stories are spun across the globe except Antarctica. Some regional versions contain more nefarious creatures. Paul Kane in 1847, reported stories...

Words: 518 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Inspection Report - Sample

...The following report provides a brief description of the first five (5) wild things encountered during the exploration of the island currently identified as WTWTA. The five wild things have been labeled as • Long-Nosed Sea Monitor (Foundem inwaterus) • Horned Lion (Leo decapitatum) • Razor-Toothed Sheep (Ovinus noshaggum) • Bearded Behemoth (Needus clippingem) • Ginger-tressed Hairy Duck (Canardus hirsutus) The current labels are used for cataloguing purposes in order to make note-taking easier. Long-Nosed Sea Monitor (Foundem inwaterus) This ocean-dwelling creature seems to keep at least a third of its body above the waterline. Two horns protrude from a head that is covered in blonde hair. The mouth, lined with nine incisors along the upper jaw, resembles that of an alligator, giving this wild thing the appearance of having a long nose. There are six spines along the back of the neck and three claws on each of the visible front feet. The top of a wing-like structure covers the top of the front feet. Attempts to observe the rest of the body have so far been unsuccessful. Horned Lion (Leo decapitatum) This quadruped seems to lead the wild things and is almost double the size of the smallest wild thing: the razor-toothed sheep. A total of sixteen claws are evenly spread across this creature’s four feet. The body and head resemble that of its namesake, the lion. The difference, however, lies in the three horns that adorn the head. Two are located...

Words: 706 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Evolution

...Tanner Pardue #16 Video 1 essay: Is it correct to say the evolution is just a theory? Is Gravity just a theory? Many people would argue about weather Evolution is a fact or theory. There are certain characteristics that make a theory a theory and a fact a fact. A theory is something that is thought to have happened or why something happens etc. but a theory is something that hasn’t been proven. When someone’s theory is proven it is considered a fact. So with knowing this I must agree that Evolution is just a theory because there is no complete proof or evidence to prove support or back up the theory of evolution. Therefore due to the definition of a fact and theory evolution must be a theory. Too me Gravity is not a theory. I believe this because gravity has laws; each law explains how gravity works. When these laws are tested in both environments with and without gravity the laws are proven to be true and work. Therefore due to the definition of a Fact in my personal opinion gravity would be a fact since the laws of it can be proven to be true. Video 2 essay: Why was Darwin considered to be a “revolutionary”? Charles Darwin is one of the most famous biologists in history. With a Theory called Natural selection he helped prove that biology makes since and how all species evolve to be designed how they are over time. As he studied the Galapagos Islands off South America he observed many different species of animals. He looked at how they reacted around each...

Words: 1535 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Neanderthals: Video Analysis

...The Neanderthals were archaic humans and existed about 60,000 years ago. There are some surprising things about Neanderthals that can relate to homo sapiens. As in the beginning of the video they actually brought up that physical capability and extremely strength that Neanderthals had in doing the many different tasks in hunting and gathering they had. While Homo sapiens are also physical capability in many different tasks too. During the video they also brought up the importance of tool making and using tool effectively as Neanderthals built their own sharp tools by hand and with rocks. As Homo sapiens built tools too, but in more industrial ways. 2. What was scientists’ original impression of Neanderthals? The scientists’ original impression...

Words: 382 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Autobiographical Nature in the Writings of Five Well Known Poets

...Among the five authors that I have chosen they all relate themselves to the material that they write. The authors that I have chosen are, the poets, Robert Frost and Robinson Jeffers, the prose writers, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman and Willa Cather, and the dramatist, Eugene O’Neil. In all of their writings they have an autobiographical nature that tells the reader about the authors own life. Without the aspects of these authors’ lives their writing could differ. This aspect of revealing ones own life through writing can be seen in Robert Frost’s poems not because he portrays his own life, but quite the opposite. It is commonly known that Robert Frost life was filled with much depression. Because of this, Robert Frost tends to dwell on the surreal beauty of nature in life. It is seen in his poems such as “The Pasture” that Robert Frost puts what has fulfilled his life in his writing. Like these other authors, Robinson Jeffers also involves his life in his poetry. Throughout his life Jeffers religious intent shows him to be a pantheist whose God is the evolving universe. In his poem “Credo” he talks about how nothing is real except but what we make it. The idea that God is in our minds, and he creates the images that makes things real. The religious background of his life affected him to write the poems of the permanence of God. Similar to Jeffers deep appreciate of God, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman has a profound value for the culture of rural New England. In her story...

Words: 587 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Tropical Rainforest

...a different group of animal and plant species. Each rain forest has many species of monkeys, all of which differ from the species of the other two rain forests. In addition, different areas of the same rain forest may have different species. Many kinds of trees that grow in the mountains of the Amazon rain forest do not grow in the lowlands of that same forest. One animal in the tropical rain forest is the gorilla.The word "gorilla" comes from the history of Hanno, a explorer on an expedition on the coast of Africa to the area that is now Sierra Leone. They encountered a savage people, the greater part of them were women, whose bodies were hairy, and who our helpers called Gorillae.The word was then later used as the species name, though it is unknown whether what these ancient people encountered were truly gorillas, another species of ape or monkeys, or humans. ...

Words: 522 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Manscaping Research Paper

...ladies love running their hands on them. Keep them neatly trimmed. When you can already wrap the hairs around your finger or see them peeking off your shirt, it is time to run to the salon. However, if you are a guy who wants a shaved chest, make sure that all of your bodily hair shaved, too, or else you’ll look like a Calvin Klein reject who’s trying too hard. (Familiar with The 40 Year Old Virgin? Then you should learn a thing or two from that.) Shoulder, Ears, and Back Hairs One thing. Shave or wax them. Contrary to chest hair, ladies don’t like them – not at all. Back and shoulders should be smooth and without a trace of hair. It is sure ways to look like you haven’t evolved well, like stuck between an ape and a man. And that’s a definite no. This also applies to hairy ears. No matter how you love them, you need to keep them clean from...

Words: 610 - Pages: 3