The Hairy Ape
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Key Facts
full title · The Hairy Ape
author · Eugene O'Neill
type of work · Play
genre · Early Expressionist
language · English
time and place written · Early 1920s, United States
date of first publication · 1922
publisher · Library of America
narrator · Not applicable (drama)
point of view · Not applicable (drama)
tone · O'Neill is sympathetic to the plight of the modern industrial worker, victimized and enslaved by social class, but does not imagine a new class system within the work.
tense · Not applicable (drama)
setting (time) · Early 1920s
setting (place) ·
aboard a transatlantic liner headed to europe and new york city. ·
protagonist · Yank
major conflict · Mildred Douglas, an innocent aristocratic girl, visits the stokehole, sees Yank, and calls him a "filthy beast" and faints.
rising action · Mildred's request to see the stokehole; Yank screaming up at the whistle-blower; Mildred seeing Yank
climax · Mildred and Yank look at each other
themes · The fear of entrapment; the regression of mankind; the frustration of class
motifs · Belonging, thought, slavery, service
symbols · Steel, Rodin's "The Thinker," Apes, Steel
foreshadowing · Characters repeatedly calling Yank an ape
