Eugene O'Neill's play, The Hairy Ape, demonstrates the working class of the 1920s' response to feelings of inferiority, unacceptance and dissatisfaction with their lives, themes often associated to many of the Lost Generation's works.
The writing style and components of this play help demonstrate the feelings of social inferiority and the separation of classes, a major theme of this play and concept of the 1920s.The play The Hairy Ape starts out in the coal-feeders forecastle of a ship. The firemen are behaving uncivilized, similar to like animals. In this first scene, we are introduced to some of the most prominent firemen, Yank, the leader who according to the play "… seems broader, fiercer, more truculent, more powerful, more sure of himself
…show more content…
He decides to try to join them. In the following scene, after being released from jail, he tries to join the organization but believing that Yank is actually a spy from the government, the secretary has security remove him. In the last scene, Yank goes to a zoo, eventually ending up at the gorilla exhibit. He, in an act of irrationality, ends up letting the gorilla out of his cage and makes the beast angry. The gorilla then strangles Yank, making Yank's demise be at the hands of the animal he was so often compared to. The play's stage directions often contribute to the overarching theme with its use of caricaturizing the characters and settings as well as its repetition to embellish the messages the playwright was trying to express. For example, O'Neill uses exaggeration to show the firemen's animalistic similarity in the first scene when stating "The men themselves should resemble those pictures in which the appearance of Neanderthal man is guessed at. All are hairy-chested, with long arms of tremendous power, and low, receding brows above their small, fierce, resentful eyes." (1.1) this use of embellishment helps provide the reader with the image of the stereotypical "caveman" mirroring their behavior. Another example of the stage
The author has a unique way of placing the reader at the scene with his unique description of the setting around him. He also has a special way of describing the characters
Without literary devices, the stories you read would be dull and uneventful. This is why Richard Connell effectively uses similes and imagery in “The Most Dangerous Game” to help give it life. In this story, Connell used similes to give the reader a feeling of how things looked or felt. On page 19 the author wrote “...but it was like trying to see through a blanket” (Connell).
“Even cannibals wouldn't live in such a god-forsaken place” “Connell 1”. This is an example of foreshadowing, a type of literary device used in the short story The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell. Literary devices are great ways of enhancing the reader’s understanding of a story. Two devices that help you understand the story the best are imagery and similes. Imagery helps paint a mental picture for the reader, while similes compare two unlike objects using like or as.
Although Jack expresses strong desire to become chief, the boys elect Ralph as a leader, suggesting an air of charisma that made him worthy of his position. He believes a leader has to “think, be wise… grab at a decision”, someone who can look after others and keep the group in
Upton Sinclair portrays the economic tension in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries through his novel “The Jungle”. He used the story of a Lithuanian immigrant, Jurgis Rudkus, to show the harsh situation that immigrants had to face in the United States, the unsanitary and unsafe working conditions in the meatpacking plants, as well as the tension between the capitalism and socialism in the United States during the early 1900s. In the late 19th century and early 20th centuries, there were massive immigrants move into the United States, and most of them were from Europe. The protagonist, Jurgis Rudkus, like many other immigrants, have the “America Dream” which they believe America is heaven to them, where they can
O’Brien describes certain objects or events in his novels that can come only from memory not imagination. Tim O’Brien uses the rhetoric device of imagery to add a deeper truth to his novel and immerse the reader in the horrors of the
Thesis: In The Monkey's Paw by W.W Jacobs, the realistic essence of the monkey's paw made it fundamentally creepy. Point 1: The monkey's paw is a symbol for inclination for greed, exposing our superior wants as people, even the most humble. Point 2: Consequences for the actions of those using the paw develops the image of regret and fear. Point 3:
At this point in the story, the reader begins to sense the theme of inaccurate perception and false accusation, for the
William Golding’s fictional, British novel, Lord of the Flies, presents a character that serves a two-part function as a “scapegoat” and a certain commentary on life. During WWII, a group of British boys are being evacuated via plane when they crash and are stranded on an island without adults. As time progresses, the innate evilness of human nature begins to overcome the savage society of young boys while Piggy, an individual representation of brains without brawn, becomes an outlier as he tries to resist this gradual descent of civilness and ends up shouldering the blame for the wrongdoings of the savage tribe. Up until his untimely death, Piggy is portrayed as the most intellectual and most civil character in the group of stranded boys. Right from the beginning, Piggy realized that “[they] got to do something,” (8) and he recognized the shell Ralph had picked up as a conch.
Panic, anxiety, and most importantly, fear, are all components that form the adventurous tale, The Most Dangerous Game. Rainsford, the protagonist of the story, is widely recognized as an experienced hunter who ventures off in a ship to travel to Rio in order to hunt jaguars. However, the story turns when Rainsford falls off his ship, encounters a hunter who hunts men, and becomes the prey himself. Although Connell sets up an intense plot by using irony, characterization, word choice, and other literary devices, imagery is one of the main aspects that releases an uneasy feeling within the audience. Imagery is a common literary device that authors use to engage a reader into the story, by painting the scene in the audience’s mind.
The characters in the play reveal some of the gender stereotypes through the way they are presented in the beginning of the play, “The sheriff and Hale are men in the middle life… They are followed
Did you know that authors use many different literary devices to tell a story? A literary device is a technique writers use to make their stories unique and interesting. Literary devices like simile, metaphor, suspense, personification, allusion, irony, foreshadowing, and imagery are used in lots of stories. In the short story ¨The Most Dangerous Game”, Richard Connell uses literary devices such as suspense and simile to help the reader gain a clear understanding of the story. In this essay, I will provide two examples of literary devices used throughout Richard Connell’s short story.
This is shown when the characters in this novel speak out against a concept they know nothing about. Therefore, the literary terms an author uses can make an immense impact to the connections the reader makes to a novel, and help to shape a theme that is found throughout
Along with these elements, imagery supports characterization throughout the novel. These elements help to support the theme that chaos can occur in even the most peaceful places. In his novel, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses conflict, imagery, and characterization to strengthen the story, and develop the theme in the novel. Steinbeck’s development of George and Lennie’s conflicts and even Candy’s help to advance the plot and develop the theme in the novel. George’s internal and external struggle is clear at the beginning of the
Many times, Maurier uses characterization to allow the reader to better understand the characters in the story. For example, when the birds begin to come down the chimney and she writes, “He got sticks and paper and put them on the embers, then reached for the can of paraffin,” (74) the reader is able to learn about Nat. You may discover that Nat is a very witty and intelligent man as he knows that the smoke will keep the birds from entering and kill any birds that are already in the chimney. Next, Nat says, “I’ve got to go get food. I’ve got to go to the farm to find food,” (78).