The Hairy Ape—as might be assumed by its title—has much to say regarding the relationship between human and animal. In particular, monkeys, apes, and pigs are used throughout the text as motif to solidify the connection between a particular "type" of man and the more "animalistic" qualities of humanity.
In Scene 1, the "voices"—which represent the men working on the freighter—call out, addressing a man named "Jenkins":
Jenkins—the First—he’s a rotten swine—
In a similar vein, O'Neill uses stage directions in Scene 1 to describe the appearance of an old Irishman:
[They all turn to an old, wizened Irishman who is dozing, very drunk, on the benches forward. His face is extremely monkey-like with all the sad, patient pathos of that animal in his small eyes]
These two instances of the motif (as well as many others) help to create a general sense that humanity is intrinsically connected to the animal world, drawing on the evolutionary connection between monkeys and men. This connection was controversial for the time: though Darwin wrote his seminal text, On the Origin of Species, nearly 60 years before the publication of The Hairy Ape, evolution remained controversial amongst American Christians. This would eventually lead to the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925, which tackled whether evolution should be taught in schools. The Hairy Ape, published only three years earlier, takes place against this backdrop of religious and secular opposition.
O'Neill's writing often plays with the motif of eugenic science and the related concept of "breeding" people for their desirable social or physical traits. This outdated and problematic scientific idea makes its way into both the dialogue and scene direction in The Hairy Ape, as in the following excerpt from the beginning of Scene 1:
All the civilized white races are represented, but except for the slight differentiation in color of hair, skin, eyes, all these men are alike.
In this set of stage directions, O'Neill explores the idea that one could, in the future, achieve a racially homogenized populace through eugenics and breeding. This was a commonly held belief both in the scientific community and within the general populace by the 1920s, setting the stage for Hitler's rise to power in Germany as well as mass sterilization programs in the United States and Canada.
Such eugenic language is common throughout The Hairy Ape, appearing again in a comment made by Mildred about her "breeding stock" in Scene 2:
[With weary bitterness] But I’m afraid I have neither the vitality nor integrity. All that was burnt out in our stock before I was born.
Neither "vitality" nor "integrity" are characteristics that can be passed as a complete package from parent to child. This is a concept that is understood in modern genetic science; at the time, however, O'Neill and many of his contemporaries would genuinely have believed in the accuracy of eugenic concepts.
Throughout the text, there is a background fixation on representing certain groups of people as a large, uniform, and indistinguishable mass. Aside from Yank, Paddy, and Long, the working men are not singled out from the crowd, simply speaking as one set of uniform "voices," all with the same tone. This manifestation of the motif, in particular, calls on a common fear of upper-class eugenicists at the turn of the 20th century: the increased proliferation of a "degenerate" working class that would eventually "pollute" the genetic "stock" of an entire country's population. Needless to say, this was a problematic and bigoted view.
In the following passage from Scene 1, the working men all chant together, quite literally unthinkingly:
Drink, don’t think! Drink, don’t think! Drink, don’t think! [A whole chorus of voices has taken up this refrain, stamping on the floor, pounding on the benches with fists]
This is directed towards Yank, who had previously stated that he was trying to think. Later in the play, O'Neill describes Yank as the Thinking Man, singling him out from his peers who, at times, are characterized more as a hive mind than as individual people. Despite his distinction from this "degenerate mass," Yank remains tied to it. In a way, Yank's distinction implies that he is not like other members of the working class, who don't want to think and actively encourage others not to.
O'Neill's writing often plays with the motif of eugenic science and the related concept of "breeding" people for their desirable social or physical traits. This outdated and problematic scientific idea makes its way into both the dialogue and scene direction in The Hairy Ape, as in the following excerpt from the beginning of Scene 1:
All the civilized white races are represented, but except for the slight differentiation in color of hair, skin, eyes, all these men are alike.
In this set of stage directions, O'Neill explores the idea that one could, in the future, achieve a racially homogenized populace through eugenics and breeding. This was a commonly held belief both in the scientific community and within the general populace by the 1920s, setting the stage for Hitler's rise to power in Germany as well as mass sterilization programs in the United States and Canada.
Such eugenic language is common throughout The Hairy Ape, appearing again in a comment made by Mildred about her "breeding stock" in Scene 2:
[With weary bitterness] But I’m afraid I have neither the vitality nor integrity. All that was burnt out in our stock before I was born.
Neither "vitality" nor "integrity" are characteristics that can be passed as a complete package from parent to child. This is a concept that is understood in modern genetic science; at the time, however, O'Neill and many of his contemporaries would genuinely have believed in the accuracy of eugenic concepts.
Throughout The Hairy Ape, physical infrastructure (like the ship itself or the buildings in New York City) replicates the structure of socioeconomic class, with wealthier people being physically as well as financially "above" and separate from the working class. In the following excerpt from the beginning of Scene 5, O'Neill describes these physical barriers in concrete terms in a stage note, describing a tantalizing shop window in New York City:
Here the adornments of extreme wealth are tantalizingly displayed. The jeweler’s window is gaudy with glittering diamonds, emeralds, rubies, pearls, etc., fashioned in ornate tiaras, crowns, necklaces, collars, etc. The general effect is of a background of magnificence cheapened and made grotesque by commercialism, a background in tawdry disharmony with the clear light and sunshine on the street itself.
This shop window represents a darker side of the class divide, particularly as it relates to the "American Dream." The working class are allowed to glimpse the tantalizing artifacts of wealth through the window, but are held at bay by the glass and the shop's infrastructure. This glimpse into a possible wealthier future dangles in front of them like a carrot on a stick, pushing them to work harder. But the glass does not disappear, and the bourgeoisie do not want the working class to find a way through it. On the contrary, these displays of wealth serve to tantalize and motivate poor people to continue working for a wealth they will never experience themselves.
