ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -The Hairy Ape is a 1922 expressionist play by American playwright Eugene O’Neill. It is about a beastly, unthinking laborer known as Yank, the protagonist of the play, as he searches for a sense of belonging in a world controlled by the rich.

Detailed explanation-2: -The resounding theme of The Hairy Ape is the effect of industrialization and technological progress on the worker. Industrialization has reduced the human worker into a machine. The men are programmed to do one task, are turned on and off by whistles, and are not required to think independently.

Detailed explanation-3: -For Yank, the ape represents where Yank feels he finally belongs. The ape is physically strong like Yank and is also trapped in a cage just as Yank believes he is trapped in the steel cage built by Mildred’s father.

Detailed explanation-4: -Yank is the leader of the stokers who feed the furnaces in a repetitive and grotesque manner. He represents the unthinking, voiceless working class. Yank expresses a force of indomitable conviction, the lord of the forecastle. Yank feels himself indispensable for the ship for he makes it move.

Detailed explanation-5: -All the major characters-Yank, Long, Paddy-are symbolic but not lifeless. Yank is a symbol of American individualism.