¶ … loss affects not just Yank, who wrestles with it throughout the play, but perhaps also Yank's shipmates, Mildred and her aunt, the rich people on Fifth Avenue, the prisoners, and the union members. In what ways does the play suggest that modern existence is inherently dehumanizing?
The Hairy Ape by Eugene O'Neill focuses on Yank Smith, a leader amidst the stokers within the heaving furnaces in a liner across the Atlantic. In the whole play, Yank's sense of "belonging" during the new order peaks, the profusion of pride that he gets from what he does, degenerates after he receives a message of social scorn and discovers how insignificant his manual work is, in the world's eyes. His work becomes meaningless and he turns into a deplorable creature (hairy ape) who dies after being crushed; literally, by the animal's hand towards the end of the play (Oldman, 2006).
At the beginning of the first scene of the play, Yank believes that he has a solid unity with civilization of industries. The directions on stage depict "Yank is sitting at the forefront. He looks broader, more truculent, fiercer and more powerful. He also looks like he believes in himself more than others have in themselves. People respect Yank's superior strength; they respect him out of fear. He also presents himself to them as the most greatly developed person among them." (O'Neill, 1964). As these labourers wander around the ocean liner's stokehole one hour following its departure from New York, the leadership of Yank among the workers is highlighted. When Yank asks for a drink, "several bottles are eagerly offered" (188). O'Neill illustrates Yank's involvement in his place of work by stating that the furnace's realm works as a permanent residence for Yank-"(D)isis home" (191) states Yank. The stokehole, more than the place he lived as a child (from which he fled due to physical assault) signifies Yank's symbolic structure and establishes his entry point into culture. Yank rules over his surrounding; he belongs" (193). He sees himself as an important element of the mechanization of that ship:
'I'm de ting in coal dat makes it boin; I'm steam and oil for de engines; I'm de ting in noise dat makes yuh hear it; I'm smoke and express trains and steamers and factory whistles... And I'm what makes iron into steel! Steel, dat stands for de whole ting! And I'm steel-- --! I'm de muscles in steel, de punch behind it.' (198)
Flaunting his prowess, Yank motivates the labourers into action. He commands them easily through the entire play. Seeing this fervent soliloquy, the workers get "roused into a pitch of frenzied self-glorification" (198).
Although the play plays with the probability, O'Neill nonetheless decides to expose the revolutionary potential of the stokers through Yank. Yank's awareness of his status in society; his sudden, rapid internalization of hegemony ensures his complete self-consciousness as well...
Kite Runner: Character Analysis of Amir The author Khaled Hosseni wrote and published the book, The Kite Runner, in the year 2003 (Miles 207-209). It was during the year 2005 that the book became a bestseller in the United States. It was made into a movie by the year 2007, however it is considered a very challenged book. It faces many issues regarding the Afghan culture. Yet, in some way the
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In the same manner that the bourgeois class had 'imprisoned' the proletariat by letting them aspire to achieve the same wealth and social status that they had, came the looseness of morality required from the proletariat. This is what happened to Emma, whose internal conflict -- that is, whether or not to thoroughly embrace a rich and comfortable life despite her increasing commitment to immorality -- failed to give her
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