Difficulties in the Hairy Ape

University of Salahaddin
College of Languages
English Department

An essay about:
The sources of difficulty in understanding “The Hairy Ape”

Subject: Drama
Instructor: Dr. Tara Dabbagh
Written by: Brwa, Eman, Hawnaz, Mariam, Mazin
Date: 29/11/2011

Expressionism was one of the movements that appeared in the early 20th century. It is soon applied to drama. Among the playwrights who wrote expressionistic plays is Eugene O’Neil. His play “the hairy ape” considered as an expressionistic play. Though this kind of drama is new, we face difficulties in understanding it. So this essay is shedding light on some of these difficulties which students face that are the language, plot, the historical background, religious conflict with our religion, and the new techniques in expressionism dramas.
One of the difficulties that many non-native speakers face while reading O’Neil’s play is language difficulty. Concerning the language of his play “the hairy ape” we find difficulty specially because he uses a form of writing in terms of spoken in a distorted way to suit the purpose of his play.
First, using an abbreviated style that is using short phrases. This raise problems in grasping the idea behind the speeches easily. We need to pay a great attention to it to get the idea and that is a disturbing quality of language. Second, the syntax of the language is compressed that is no word order in most of the sentences. This may lead to misunderstanding of the meaning of the lines. Third, because the writer uses a language in form of spoken that is the language of daily life. So he uses short terms of words in which the spelling of them is very difficult specially in the language of Yank. This make us face difficulties in understanding the speeches for example something is written as somep’n, with as wit or wid, work as woik, girl as goil. [Written by EMAN]
Plot in expressionism might have three difficulties to understand. These are episode, not real conflict, and ideas.
First of all episode, plot in the play replaced by episode; we have circle plot so that throughout the play we little by little conscious that there is tough issues which it becomes tough truth it is difficult because the readers wait to get the result which make them convent in spite of that they be aware of. Difficulty in episode that there is turning point, the reader always waiting for what would happen the difficulty is that they couldn’t guess. For instance in the hairy ape, after meeting weak but rich Mildred with powerful Yank.
Second, no real conflict, actually conflict is exist but it is inner conflict which makes difficult to understand the conflict is hidden behind dialogue, even silent, pause and sound. For example in 5th scene Long said Yank in Fifth Avenue that “…they wouldn’t bloody well pay that for a hairy ape’s skin…” and Yank clenching his fist, his face growing pale with rage…said in stage direction. Next, in the episode avoid of cause and effect, which makes difficult to understand and the reader at the beginning always search for something to make understand, and there is no connection between the characters.
Third issue is philosophical idea which dominated the whole elements like characters, episode, theme, language tone and atmosphere. At the end the reader carry the heavy idea it is last difficulty in which some reader accept the idea and others don’t. If you don’t accept it means that you didn’t understand it perfectly but if you accept the idea so your conscience’s sleep be aware suddenly and in the same time you know that how much you are unable. It is last issues that your mind is dominated by the theme, actually thinking about issues but do nothing. In hairy ape, writer insult issues for reader but in the end didn’t resolve it and the poor reader alone faced the big issues. [Written by MARIAM]
Having a historical background about their life at that time is essential to understand the hidden ideas in the play especially the ironies, O’Neil used. We should have a sufficient knowledge on their main aspects of life like politics, economics, social problems; before starting to read the play in order to understand it in a better and deeper way otherwise we face many difficulties in understanding it.
The main idea in the play that we can get easily, is the clash between the poor and the rich, the lower class and the upper class, and that the poor hated the rich people, this is the shallow meaning that we can get it easily but the deeper meaning of this shallow meaning and the message behind it is that materialism and industrialization had taken control over the people and as a result the people dehumanized from their humane qualities and the rich people are described that they were mechanized as if they were robots like the gentle man (scene V). If the teacher didn’t explain these things we didn’t realize it.
Another important idea is the contrariness and competing with religion that’s communism. It’s difficult for us to find out the ideas of communism because we haven’t seen it here, and we’re not so acquainted with it for example when Long says “Listen ‘ere, Comrades” here the word “Comrades” is a word that used by communists and O’Neil wanted to express communism through Long, but we didn’t know that if the teacher didn’t tell us. Another example is that when the Secretary (in scene VII) says to Yank “the door is never locked” that shows as if they are in a competition with the church (because the of church is always opened). So the idea of communism is somehow odd for us that’s why we should hear something about it before reading the play. [Written by MAZIN]
Another difficulty that we faced in this play was the ideas that are presented in the play. O’Neil was an unbeliever even was a communist for a short time, so that the idea of communism is clearly shown in the play. That is why things that he believed in are very difficult from things that we believe in as Muslims. One of the ideas that is difficult for us to accept is that he questioned about the idea of belongingness throughout the whole play. He wondered to where do we belong, and he showed this question through the character of Yank. For example, Yank at first thinks that he belongs to the ship and the steel. When Yank in the market said that “steel dat’s me! Youse guys live on it and tink yoh’re somep’n. But I’m IN it, see! I’m de hoistin’ engine dat makes it go up! I’m itــــde inside and bottom of it sure I’m steel…” (P.38, scene V).
Then in the prison he thought that the steel that he was imprisoned in was made by Mildred’s father, so that he said I am not belonging to the steel instead I will become fire to melt it. And till the end of the play he was not sure where he belongs as the writer at the end of the play said “And, perhaps, the Hairy Ape at last belongs.” (p.58, scene VIII). While I’m as a Muslim don’t have such question because I know God created us and he will judge us according to our deeds so that accepting the idea of belonging is difficult for me personally because I feel belong.
Another idea that is difficult for us to accept it is that; O’Neil believed strongly that humans were originally apes but as time passed by, they changed to the shape of human and he believed that they will not feel belonging until they become apes again, in this idea O’Neil was affected by Darwin’s idea in his book the origin of species. For example, when Yank in the prison said to the prisoners “Ain’t dat what youse all areــــapes?” (p.41, scene VI). This speech shows us that O’Neil thought that all humans were originally apes, while we as believers know that we are not originally apes but we are the descendants of Adam and Eve who were humans as well. His aspect of life is clearly was shown in his drama like his communism idea, sense of belonging and origin of human being, that are difficult for us to accept because we believe in God. [Written by HAWNAZ]
There are new techniques that are used in this play that make it difficult for us to find the idea the writer wanted to say. It showed the type character and they act as anti-realistic idea, it is also difficult, its character usually have a mask on their face it isn’t show the reality of character, sometime their dialog isn’t real, it is monolog which is difficult to get it, characters haven’t full name, they have nickname as father, son, engineer, aunt… it isn’t understandable, we don’t know who are them, their voices are sonic effect, noisy, boring, shouting as anarchy when you read the text and watch the movie, you feel depressed, some grammatically mistakes which syntax to be distorted. It has many symbolic for example: materialistic, gold, steel, money, color, whistle, etc. we cannot find that idea behind it easily, full of figures of speech in the most scenes, we see metaphorically speech compared human life with animals life we cannot understand writer’s thought just we express our thought, morphology to be distorted most of words are short form when we read it, we should find original words, so it is bored for reader the writer mixed real nature and artificial things, it is difficult to know what is writer’s mean. The of pretence as other side, pretence in clothes and characteristic, in reality they are human but we don’t know why pretence as animal, violence, shouting, angry, brutality, etc. it is difficult to find the writer’s thought. For example the hero of the play is Yank he pretence as a kinds of animal we cannot understand the animal’s behavior. So many new words it is strange for us for example: Rodin’s “the thinker”, Hinsultin, Frankensteins, etc. finally political and economic ideas are the other side we cannot decide how express our feeling because that era is difficult from now, that idea of maker of steel are prison in cages which he made that steel. [Written by BRWA]
In conclusion, this play and its kind are new for us and dealing with something new there will be difficulties to face and all the difficulties that we faced in studying this play are; the new style of the language that’s distorted, the complexion of the plot not as the normal dramas we studied before, understanding the things related to the historical background, accepting the new ideas that are opposed to our religion, and to be familiar with the new, say, strange techniques of expressionistic plays.