Introduction:
There are various themes of the play “The Hairy Ape”. Eugene O’Neill’s ‘The Hairy Ape’ is one of his early expressionistic plays. It is based on an Irishman Driscoll who was a sailor and worked as a stoker on a transaltanic liner. He committed suicide by jumping overboard in mid ocean. It compelled O’Neill to think over the causes of Driscoll’s utter frustration. (Barret H. Clark: Eugene O’Neill: The Man and His Plays). The result was one of his most successful plays: ‘The Hairy Ape’.
The Theme of Belonging:
Mary Thomas David observes ‘The Hairy Ape’ is the story of a powerfully built stoker Yank, who has the unwavering faith that the stokehole is his world, that it is his strength that makes the ship run, that he is steel and that he belongs. To the other stokers he is the leader, ‘their most highly developed individual’. He is symbol of power and energy behind the ship.
“Who makes dis old tub run? Ain’t it us guys? Well den, we belong don’t we? We belong and they don’t. Dat’s all.”
He expresses his viewpoint so firmly that Long’s theory of class conflict and Paddy’s sweet memory of past life fall into background. He is solely devoted to the stokehole. It is his whole of the world. It happens that to get rid of tiredness, stokers drink in excess and sing in praise of whisky. One of them grows sentimental and begins to sing of his beloved and home. Yank grow angry for he does not approve this sentimental viewpoint.
“I’hell wit kome! Where d’yuh get dat tripe? Dis is home, see? What d’yuh want wit home? (Proudly.) I runned away from mine when I was a kid. On’y too glad to beat it, dot was me. Home was lickings for me, dat’s all. But yuh can bet your shoit no one ain’t never licked me since! Wanter try it, any of youse? Huh! I guess not. (In a more placated but still contemptuous tone.) Goils waitin’ for yuh, huh? Aw, hell! Dat’s all tripe. Dey don’t wait for no one. Dey’d double-cross yuh for a nickel. Dey’re all tarts, get a me? Treat ’em rough, dat’s me. To hell wit ’em. Tarts, dat’s what, de whole bunch of ’em.”
Yank asks the stoker to stop singing for home that is no better than hell. To them the ship is their home. It fulfils all of their necessities of life. With a sense of pride he tells them that he left home in his childhood. He got only beating there. Since he left home nobody could ever beat him. He challenges them to fight him if any of them is willing to beat him. He knows that nobody has this courage. He s satire on the false sentiment that a girl would be waiting at home. He claims that it is an illusion for girls wait for none. They are no better than prostitutes. Just for a small coin they grow eager to betray the old lover. He claims that he always treats them roughly. All of them are faithless enough never to be trusted.
Yank does not approve Long’s view of class-conflict that accuses the capitalists for workers’ misery. According to him Long is a coward who accuses others for his own suffering. In his opinion the rich travelling in cabins of the ship have to do nothing with the miseries of stokers. Yanks claims that stokers are better than those rich passengers. One of the stokers is stronger than all of them. But none of them can ever bear to spend a minute in the heat of the stokehole. If he enters, he would grow faint and a stretcher would be required to take him out. It proves that stokers are superior to the rich travellers. These rich men are no better than a useless load on the ship. On the other hand, being young, acts as a man alive. Yank pleads for stokers and enhances their importance by saying that they belong to the ship. They move it. They run it at a high speed. On account of their hard labour the ship covers the long distance of twenty live knots in an hour. Old ship could never even imagine of such a high speed. Paddy is an old man. can’t work so heavily. He feels confused. Whatever he tells about romantic nights and days, stars and moons, suns and winds, fresh air and fair weather is meaningless in present time when people long for speed and being young. Yank represents that Paddy, an old man enjoyed himself in rest and dreams. He is outdated. He does not belong to the ship.
“De engines and de coal and de smoke and all de rest of it! He can’t breathe and swallow coal dust, but I kin, see? Dat’s fresh air for me? Dat’s food for me! I’m new, get me? Hell in de stokehole? Sure! It takes a man to work in hell. Hell, sure, dat’s my fav’rite climate. I eat it up! I git fat on it! It’s me makes it hot! It’s me makes it roar! It’s me makes it move!”
Yank clarifies why Paddy regards the ship as hell. He is old and weak. He can work but not heavily. He can’t breathe in coal dust and excessive heat of the stokehole. He does not belong to the ship. He belongs to the past. But Yank is a young man. He is not troubled by the engines, the coal dust and the smoke. He does not feel any problem in taking breath in smoke and swallowing coal dust. It gives him energy to work more and more. It nourishes him like food. Being young he has adapted himself to the excessive heat of the stokehole. He enjoys himself here by thinking that his labour has produced so much of heat. On account of his labour, the ship is producing smoke with a roaring sound. He has become a part of the ship. He feels quite comfortable here. He does not know if there is any world outside the ship. He is devoted to his duty. He claims:
“And I’m what makes iron into steel! Steel dat stands for the whole ting! And I’m steel—steel—steel! I’m de muscles in steel, de punch behind it.”
It is the basis of Yank’s sense of belonging. He identifies his physical strength with impersonal strength of steel. He likes the stokehole that is not only the whole world for him but in a sense the whole universe. If the furnace represents hell, the bottle of wine stands for heaven.
The Theme of Alienation:
Alienation stands for transfer of belonging or ownership. Yank’s sense of belonging is destroyed by Mildred. She stands in complete contrast to Yank. She is rich, attractive yet pale, colourless and highly educated. While Yank is poor, ugly, strong and uneducated. Her father Mr. Douglas is President of the Steel Trust. It is an amusement for her to see how the poor workers act in the excessive heat of the stokehole. But seeing Yank she exclaims ‘Oh, the filthy beast and grows almost senseless. The engineers support her. She does not call him a Hairy Ape, but suggests it. Paddy claims:
“Sure, ’twas as it she’d seen a great hairy ape escaped from the zoo.
Yank’s soul is deeply stirred by this bitter incident. Mildred’s reaction destroys the very foundation of his sense of belonging. He was proud of his strength and it shocked him that he appeared horrible to a young girl.
Paddy claims in a sarcastic tone that Mildred had fallen in love with Yank at the first sight. Seeing Yank’s appearance her face had grown pale and she covered her eyes with her hands to save herself from a horrible sight. Her attitude suggested that she feared as if she were seeing a great hairy ape out of cage of the zoo. Thus, Paddy passes satire on Yank who was so proud of his strong body. Paddy tries to prove that Yank’s body is not superior to his (Paddy’s) body. It is inferior on account of being horrible enough to frighten a young lady. If Yank’s body had really been young and attractive, the lady would have fallen in love with him at the first sight.
“‘T was love at first sight, divil a doubt of it! If you’d seen the endearin’ look on her pale mug when she shrivelled away with her hands over her eyes to shut out the sight of him! Sure, ’twas as if she’d seen a great hairy ape escaped from the Zoo!”
According to Long, Mildred’s visit was with a great purpose. Her father is a big capitalist. He makes the half of the steel in the world. He is the owner of the ship on which they are employed. In this way all of them are not more than petty slaves to him. Being his daughter Mildred had inspected the ship and the stokehole to know how her slaves work there. To her these slaves are like animals whose sight amuses children and ladies of romantic nature. In fact, Long intends to break Yank’s illusion that they belong to the ship. He means to say that the ship is private property of Mr. Douglas and Yank is merely a slave there. In the eyes of the masters, he has no value. They regard him as an animal instead of a man. Here Long gets an opportunity to prove his theory of class- conflict based on the idea that for all miseries of the labour, the capitalists are responsible. “‘Er old man’s a bleedin’ millionaire, a bloody capitalist! ‘He’s got enuf bloody gold to sink this bleedin’ ship! ‘E makes arf the bloody steel in the world! E owns this bloody boat! And you and me, comrades, we’re his slaves! And the skipper and mates and engineers, they’re ‘is slaves! And she’s ‘is bloody daughter and we’re all ‘er slaves, too! And she gives ‘er orders as ‘ow she wants to see the bloody animals below decks So and down they takes ‘er!”
It shocks Yank very deep that Mildred regarded him as a hairy ape. He declares that he will show her how he is better than her. He belongs to the ship while she is only a worthless luggage on it. It is his strength and hard labour that make to ship run at the high speed of 25 knots a hour. Though Mildred only travels on the ship. She has no contribution in the driving of the ship. It in itself proves that he is superior to her.
“Ain’t she de same as me? Hairy ape, huh? I’ll show her I’m better’n her, if she on’y know it. I belong and she don’t, see! I move and she’s dead! Twenty-five knots a hour, dat’s move! Dat carries her but I make dat. She’s on’y baggage. Sure!”
Yank is deeply shocked after knowing that Mildred regarded him as a hairy ape. Now he begins to believe in Long’s theory of class-conflict that capitalists are responsible for the miseries of poor workers. Yank decides to take revenge from Mildred. For the purpose, Long takes him to Fifth Avenue. Yank thinks Mildred would be there.
Long tells Yank that he has brought him there to show how the capitalists lead a luxurious life. In fact, it is not a personal matter between Yank and Mildred. It is a much higher issue an eternal conflict between the Labour and the Capital. Yank represents poor workers and Mildred or her father Douglas stands for capitalists. Long intends to make Yank conscious of this class-conflict. In this conflict all workers stand at his back just as all capitalists’ support Douglas. It is not a duel between two individuals but a war between two classes.
“Ain’t that why I brought yer up ‘ere—to show yer? Yer been kookin’ at this ‘ere ‘ole affair wrong. Yer been actin’ an’ talkin’s if it was all a bleedin’ personal matter between yer and that bloody cow. I wants to convince yer she was on’y a representative of ‘er clarss. Yer’ve got to fight, not ‘er alone. There’s a ‘ole mob of ’em like ‘er, Gawd blind ’em!”
Yank suffers from the animal desire of taking revenge. With Long he reaches Fifth Avenue but here he feels that he is in a strange world. At least he does not belong it.
The Theme of Quest for Identity:
Yank finds himself in a world of strange nature. Here he finds in shop small diamonds cost so high that a starving family can be fed the whole year in the cost of a small stone. In another shop furs are being sold at a very high cost. It confuses Yank and he begins to make a search for his identity. But his heart is burning with the fire of revenge too. But now his vision is widened in the sense that he wishes to take revenge from the whole wealthy class for Mildred represented it.
Long asks Yank to act wisely otherwise police would arrest them and their purpose would fail. He ought to take all easily and keep his anger controlled. Violent force does not bring about success. It is defeated by wisdom. It is wisdom to highlight the demands to secure popular support. It is a peaceful constitutional method. Democratic means are strengthening the labour class day by day. By winning more and more seats in elections real power can be attained.
“Easy goes, Comrade. Keep yer bloomin’ temper. Remember force defeats himself. It ain’t our weapon. We must impress our demands through peaceful means—the votes of the on-marching proletarians of the bloody world!”
But Yank has identified himself, by the time, with altogether a changed person who is not devoted to duty but believes in disorder. He hates all of those who are prosperous. Looking at a lady, Yank expresses his disgust. He points out that her face is not looking attractive. It may rather frighten the looker. He advises her to impress or attract someone else. He remarks that she is like that wicked passenger who travels in a ship without paying for journey. Her face is covered with heavy make up all painted and powdered. She has decorated herself as if she were going to die. By insulting the lady, Yank feels pleased as if the lady were Mildred. Indirectly he intends to prove that these women also look like apes.
“Holy smokes, what a mug! Go hide yuhself before de horses shy at yuh. Gee, pipe de heinie on dat one! Say, youse, yuh look like de stoin of a ferryboat. Paint and powder! All dolled up to kill!”
Yank’s ill treatment with others at Fifth Avenue disappoints Long and he goes away leaving Yank alone there. Now Yank grows uncontrolled. His activities make him arrested by police. Now he is a cell of the prison on Blackwells Island.
There was a time when Yank used to identify himself with steel. But the moment it comes to him that he has to fight against the class represented by Douglas, he hates steel. Because Douglas is the manufacturer of steel. He believes that the cage in which he is arrested is made of steel supplied by Douglas. But here all things are made of steel whether cages, cells, locks, bolts or bars. It is Douglas’s conspiracy against him in his opinion. He decides to associate himself with fire that can melt iron and steel. He will destroy all things made of steel.
“He made dis—dis cage! Steel! It don’t belong, dat’s what! Cages, cells, locks, bolts, bars—dat’s what it means! —holdin’ me down wit him at de top! But I’ll drive trou ! Fire, that melts it! I’ll be fire—under de heap-fire dat never goes out.”
Yank decides to break all things made of steel. He gets success in bending the iron bars of his cage. The guard is surprised and remarks that a man can’t do it. Yank replies that a hairy ape can do it. He accuses the guard for being coward and declares that he is getting out of cage. He knows that no guard can stop him. Thus, the strength that was being utilized in the stokehole of the ship for a constructive purpose is being wasted in lawless activities, just because of a childish action by Mildred.
Yank visits the local office of I.W.W. and joins it. He offers to destroy all factories of steel as well as all the things made of it if I.W.W. supplies explosives to him. Yank’s consciousness is the thing of central attention in the play. His frustration is exposed in the interior monologue that suggests what he thinks i.e., his inner reality. In the play it is introduced when Yank is thrown out of the local office of I.W.W. He had entered the office and joined I.W.W. in hope of getting their support in the destruction of steel and works that make steel. But instead of giving a helping hand they take Yank for a detective appointed to spy their activities. They, therefore, throw out Yank.
It makes Yank think he belongs not to these people too. These people are expert only in making speeches. They are not inclined to do any real service to the poor working class. It is no achievement that working hours are reduced or wages are increased. There ought to be something to please the inner soul that demands not money but equal rights and human treatment in society but only that are not given. There was a time when he belonged steel. He was steel but because of inequal laws and injustice steel imprisoned him. Therefore, he wishes now to destroy it. What is the use of all this progress if man is allowed to live like man in his own world?
So dem boids don’t, tink I belong, neider. Aw to hell with ’em!
Yank is not accepted anywhere in human society. In the beginning ‘The Hairy Ape’ seemed to be an abusive term to him but now he takes pride in it and visits the monkey- house at the Zoo. He reaches the hairy ape and takes him to be his brother. It shows his psycho-analysis: his return to the animal world. Yank opens the cage and asks the hairy ape to come out of the cage to shake hands with him. He proposes to take the ape for a walk upto Fifth Avenue. He hopes the ape will help him in destroying it things present there. Yank knows there all things present to capitalists. Thus, he will be able to take revenge with the help of the hairy ape.
Yank: Pardon from de governor! Step out and shake hands! I’ll take yuh for a walk down Fif’ Avenoo. We’ll knock ’em often de oith and croak wit de band playin’. Come on, Brother.
The hairy ape disappoints Yank by hugging him so strongly that his ribs are crushed and a cry comes out of his mouth. The ape throws him in the cage and goes away in darkness. Yank realizes that the ape hugged him like Zybszko, a champion wrestler. Yank has no complaint against the ape’s violent behaviour. His heart is broken with the thought that even the ape does not accept him as his brother. It shows that Yank does not belong to him.
Yank: Say—dey oughter match him—wit Zybszko. He got me, aw right I’m trou. Even him didn’t tink I belonged.
Yank calls all ladies and gentlemen to come close to him for he is not an ordinary creature. He one and the only in the world for none belongs to him and he belongs to neither human beings nor apes. He is dying therefore he is asking them not to miss the opportunity for then after they would only hear about him but his sight would not he available. It is a great irony that even in these circumstances he is able to establish his superiority on account of being the one and only genuine gorilla, the hairy ape, brought from an unknown forest. He is sure people would be interested in having a look at him after knowing that he is a strange creature.
Yank: Ladies and gents, step forward and take a slant at de one and only— (his voice weakening)—one and original-Hairy Ape from de wilds of—
It is this monologue that brings to light the hidden reality or the inward truth that Yank fails in his quest for identity. That was the happiest time in his life when he belonged the ship. Then after he marches fast but on the road of self-destruction.
Related Questions on the Same Topic:
Evaluate the theme of belonging in “The Hairy Ape’.
Or
“The leading theme of ‘The Hairy Ape’ is the quest for identity in the modern times and man’s failure to find any suitable place in the world.” Discuss.
Or
The basic theme of ‘The Hairy Ape’ is alienation and quest for identity. Discuss.