The central character of Eugene O'Neill's The Hairy Ape is Yank,
a fireman (someone who stokes the coal furnace of transatlantic ships). He is
brutish and opinionated. Yank is leader of the firemen and the play opens with
him hanging out with his coworkers in the forecastle of the ship. Though he is
able to command their attention easily, they don't hesitate to make fun of how
he speaks. Yank mocks a fellow fireman when the fireman stands up to make a
speech about how they are in a hell created by the upper class.
He leaves the ship and wanders into Manhattan, only to find
he does not belong anywhere—neither with the socialites on Fifth Avenue, nor
with the labor organizers on the waterfront. Finally he is reduced to seeking a
kindred being with the gorilla in the zoo and dies in the animal's embrace.
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