Genre
Expressionist drama
Language
English
Setting and Context
1922 on an ocean liner and in New York City
Narrator and Point of View
Drama, focused on the protagonist Yank
Tone and Mood
Somber, frenzied, desperate, anguished
Protagonist and Antagonist
Yank (protagonist); Mildred (antagonist)
Major Conflict
Yank feels insulted and humiliated by Mildred's recoiling in horror from him; he feels he must exact revenge.
Climax
Yank delivers a monologue to a gorilla, speaking of his hopeless position in life.
Foreshadowing
Yank is on several occasions overpowered by groups of people piling atop him; he is killed similarly in the overpowering hug of a gorilla.
Understatement
Mildred expects “a good thrill” from her visit to the stokehole but gets the shock of her life.
Allusions
The character of Long speaks in terms drawn from socialist discourse.
Imagery
O'Neill sets up each scene with dramatic lighting. Scene 3 in the stokehole, for example, is filled with shadow and light from the furnaces.
Paradox
Yank is the strongest of the stokers, proud yet also sensitive to insult.
Parallelism
The gorilla, like Yank, is strong and feared, yet imprisoned and made impotent.
Personification
The gorilla seems to respond to Yank's monologue as though it were human like him.
Use of Dramatic Devices
The final scene is taken up by a lengthy monologue in which Yank lays out all he has been thinking and the hopeless conclusion he has arrived at. It is almost a soliloquy, but he is in some sense addressing the gorilla.
