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I seen de sun come up. Dat was pretty, too—all red and pink and green. I was lookin' at de skyscrapers—steel—and de ships comin' in, sailin' out, all over de oith—and dey was steel, too. De sun was warm, dey want' no clouds, and dere was a breeze blowin'. Sure it was great stuff. I go it aw right—what Paddy said about dat bein' de right dope—on'y I couldn't get in it, see? I couldn't belong in dat.

This quote, found at the end of Scene Eight, is the first time in the play Yank identifies himself with nature. Yank's contented description of the bits of nature, the sunrise and the breeze, he views while spending the night at the Battery is the first time he speaks of nature's beauty and importance. It is the first time Yank gives value to nature.

Feeling displaced and rejected, Yank must once again justify his existence that leads him to notice nature which he subsequently finds valuable. Yank even disassociates himself with industry, telling the ape that the skyscraper and ships he observed were "above his head." Rightly, Yank also tells the ape that he could never "belong in dat." Yank finally realizes that he is not a machine, but an organic life form that is distinct from technology. In the beginning of the play, Yank identifies himself with steel and industry not only because it was his livlihood, but also because he thought it had great functionality on Earth. Discarded from the system, Yank searches for what he still belongs to. This search leads down to the greatest common denomiator among men—their animalistic nature.

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