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25-WORD SUMMARY

Yank, a brutish fireman, searches for his place in a world of wealth inequality after being called a
filthy beast by Mildred, a monopolizers daughter.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The Industrial Revolution is a huge player in this work. As the world, particularly the major cities like
New York, came to their constructive and industrial heights, thousands of workers like Yank were needed to
keep progress running smoothly. These people were often living on next to nothing, while the rich lived in
total luxury, creating an enormous wealth gap despite launching the U.S. into the 20th century as a leader in
the global marketplace.
This period was also one of great social change. From Prohibition to flappers and jazz, America was
rapidly altering its cultural identity to one where, in the words of contemporary composer Cole Porter,
anything goes. Social norms and ones place within that hierarchy could change at a moments notice, pushing
American cities to the forefront of the cultural scene, but leaving behind the ways of the past at a rate unseen
up to that point.

AUDIENCE

After winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1920, audiences came to the theatre expecting great things from
ONeills new works. Additionally, these audiences were made up of people who had lived through the tough
times in New York that Yank experiences in the play, making them highly sympathetic to his downfall and
mistreatment.

IMAGERY
-Fire/steam/smoke: Representative of Hell, a caged
and slaving existence
-Rodins The Thinker: Yank is the one above it all,
trying to figure out his place in a complicated
society
-Primates: ONeill characterizes some people as
apes to symbolize the regression of mankind
-Steel: A culture of industrialism, strength, and
constant building
-Light vs. Dark: Juxtaposition of rich/poor, upper/
lower class, haves/have-nots, civilized/uncivilized

CHARACTER

-Yank is the modern tragic protagonist, for he is no

hero to begin with, yet he does meet a tragic end
through his own character faults. We would like to
despise this ape-like brute, yet it is through his
perspective that we view the issues ONeill wishes
to examine, so in the end we come to pity his plight.
-Mildred represents the Philosopher King, going
down into the Cave, yet being greeted only with
disbelief and brutality. She characterizes the entire
upper-class, a group shown to be totally indifferent
to the suffering of those toiling in their employ.

VOICE

In typical ONeill fashion, a number of dialects are

represented with phonetic spellings, including Irish,
Italian, and especially lower-class New York. Yanks
thick dialect and ravenous diction make him at times
nearly incomprehensible and certainly cement his
place as a character far down the social ladder. The
shorter bursts we hear of the upper-class manner of
speaking come from Mildred and her Aunt whose
almost comically gilded diction signifies them as the
absolute antithesis of Yank.Additionally, non-spoken
industrial sounds like gears and shoveling act to
bring the audience into ONeills grimy underbelly.

THEMES

-Wealth Inequality: How is one to survive in a

culture dominated by those at the top? How does one
escape the cage of working for the Big Man?
-Societal Belonging: What happens to the man who
cannot fit in with the rich, but is also too much of a
Thinker for the uneducated poor?
-Industrialization/Steelmania: What are the societal
implications of the advancement of industry? How
do we reconcile what weve lost along the way?
-Regression of Man: Is society somehow making
people devolve back into apes? Does this mean that
there are really people who are above others?