The Hairy Ape is abnormally subdivided for a drama, separated into eight distinct standalone scenes. In keeping with stylistic practices during the modernist period and immediately after, O'Neill breaks from traditional, centuries-old drama structure, refraining from using acts that are split into multiple scenes. This stylistic choice is one commonly made by modernist writers and their predecessors. During this period, it was common to break from traditional formal structures within an artistic genre—a choice that was symbolic of the political, cultural, and technological changes occurring in the world at the time.
Scene structure aside, The Hairy Ape is notable for being written "in the vernacular." O'Neill's modernist drama stylistically adheres to the speech patterns of a specific group of people (for a good chunk of the text) in an attempt to realistically portray a community and "type" of people within it. In The Hairy Ape, O'Neill uses a form of vernacular English that reflects the way many working-class people spoke at the time. This dialect also feels specific to New York City and the surrounding area, especially in its reflection of Yank and the other laborers. Mildred, on the other hand, has a more transatlantic way of speaking that is often associated with wealth and sophistication. In this way, O'Neill emphasizes the apparent divide between working-class people and the wealthy people who benefit from their labor.
