The Hairy Ape Group
Question:
If Yank is the protagonist of "The Hairy Ape", who is the antagonist?
Answers:
-
eNotes Editor
Posted by lit24 on Wednesday October 15, 2008 at 9:13 AMThe antagonist is the character or a group of characters or even an institution who represent the opposition against whom the protagonist must contend with.
Yank's first antagonist would be Paddy who represents the past era of wind driven ships, "He's old and don't belong no more. But me, I'm young! I'm in de pink! I move wit it! Sc1.
The next antagonist would be Mildred who is a representative of the capitalist class as opposed to Yank who belongs to the working class. In Sc.3 Mildred, on seeing Yank, exclaims in horror "Oh, the filthy beast!" and faints. In the next scene when Yank is seen discussing Mildred's fainting with his friends he remarks,"She didn't belong, dat's what."
In Sc.5 Yank is placed in opposition to both Long and the capitalist class. Long is "a secretary of an organisation" whereas Yank belongs to the working class. Their clothes emphasise this difference:"Long is dressed in shore clothes, wears a black Windsor tie, cloth cap.Yank is in his dirty dungarees." Long wishes to use Yank as a means of peaceful protest against the entire cpaitalist class:"remember force defeats itself. It ain't our weapon. We must impress our demands through peaceful means." But Yank's hatred is personal and he begins to beat up the indiviual members of this class.
He is soon arrested and sent to jail where he comes face to face with his final antagonist the gorilla who kills him.
Sources:
-
Posted by greg88 on Thursday November 13, 2008 at 9:30 AM
PADDY

