The Hairy Ape — second half (scenes V through VIII)
by Eugene O’Neill, 1922
CHARACTERS
ROBERT SMITH, “YANK“
PADDY
LONG
MILDRED DOUGLAS
HER AUNT
SECOND ENGINEER
A GUARD
A SECRETARY OF AN ORGANIZATION
Stokers, Ladies, Gentlemen, etc.SCENES
SCENE I: The firemen’s forecastle of an ocean liner — an hour after sailing from New York.
SCENE II: Section of promenade deck, two days out — morning.
SCENE III: The stokehole. A few minutes later.
SCENE IV: Same as Scene I. Half an hour later.
SCENE V: Fifth Avenue, New York. Three weeks later.
SCENE VI: An island near the city. The next night.
SCENE VII: In the city. About a month later.
SCENE VIII: In the city. Twilight of the next day.TIME — The Modern.
Scene V
SCENE—Three |
Up the side street YANK and LONG come swaggering. LONG is dressed in shore clothes, wears a black Windsor tie, cloth cap. YANK is |
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LONG—(Indicating it all with an oratorical gesture.) Well, ’ere we are. Fif’ |
YANK—(Dully.) I don’t see no grass, yuh boob. (Staring at the sidewalk.) Clean, ain’t it? Yuh could eat a fried egg offen it. The white wings got some job sweepin’ dis up. (Looking up and down the avenue—surlily.) Where’s all de white-collar stiffs yuh said was here—and de skoits—her kind? |
LONG—In church, blarst ’em! Arskin’ Jesus to give ’em more money. |
YANK—Choich, huh? I useter go to choich onct—sure—when I was a kid. Me old man and woman, dey made me. Dey never went |
LONG—Did yer old man follow the sea? |
YANK—Naw. |
LONG—Not bad? Well, we pays for it wiv our bloody sweat, if yer wants to know! |
YANK—(With sudden angry disgust.) |
LONG—Wait and yer’ll |
YANK—I don’t wait for |
LONG—Yer wants to get back at her, don’t |
YANK—(Vehemently.) |
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LONG—(As disgusted as he dares to be.) |
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YANK—(Spitting on his hands—belligerently.) De more de merrier when I gits started. Bring on de gang! |
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LONG—Yer’ll see ’em in arf a mo’, when that church lets out. (He turns and sees the window display in the two stores for the first time.) Blimey! Look at that, will |
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YANK—Aw, cut de sob stuff! T’ hell wit de starvin’ family! Yuh’ll be passin’ de hat to me next. (With naïve admiration.) Say, dem tings is pretty, huh? Bet yuh dey’d hock for a piece of change aw right. (Then turning away, bored.) But, aw hell, what good are |
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LONG—(Who has moved to the furriers—indignantly.) |
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YANK—(Who has been staring at something inside—with queer excitement.) Take a slant at |
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LONG—(Bitterly.) It’s straight |
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YANK—(Clenching his fists, his face growing pale with rage as if the skin in the window were a personal insult.) Trowin’ it up in my face! Christ! I’ll fix her! |
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LONG—(Excitedly.) Church is out. ’Ere they come, the bleedin’ swine. (After a glance at YANK’S lowering face—uneasily.) |
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YANK—(With abysmal contempt.) Votes, hell! Votes is a joke, see. Votes for women! Let dem do it! |
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LONG—(Still more uneasily.) Calm, now. Treat ’em wiv the proper contempt. Observe the bleedin’ parasites but ’old yer ’orses. |
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YANK—(Angrily.) Git away from me! Yuh’re yellow, dat’s what. Force, dat’s me! De punch, dat’s me every time, see! (The |
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YANK—(Glaring from one to the other of them—with an insulting snort of scorn.) Huh! Huh! (Without seeming to see him, they make wide detours to avoid the spot where he stands in the middle of the sidewalk.) |
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LONG—(Frightenedly.) Keep yer bloomin’ mouth shut, I tells |
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YANK—(Viciously.) G’wan! Tell it to Sweeney! (He swaggers away and deliberately lurches into a top-hatted gentleman, then glares at him pugnaciously.) Say, who d’yuh tink yuh’re bumpin’? Tink yuh own de |
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GENTLEMAN—(Coldly and affectedly.) I beg your pardon. (He has not looked at YANK and passes on without a glance, leaving him bewildered.) |
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LONG—(Rushing up and grabbing YANK’S arm.) ’Ere! Come away! This wasn’t what I meant. Yer’ll ’ave the bloody coppers down on us. |
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YANK—(Savagely—giving him a push that sends him sprawling.) G’wan! |
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LONG—(Picks himself up—hysterically.) I’ll pop orf then. This ain’t what I meant. And whatever ’appens, yer can’t blame me. (He slinks off left.) |
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YANK—T’ hell wit |
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THE WOMAN—(Ecstatically, with a gasp of delight.) Monkey fur! (The whole crowd of men and women chorus after her in the same tone of affected delight.) Monkey fur! |
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YANK—(With a jerk of his head back on his shoulders, as if he had received a punch full in the face—raging.) I see |
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YANK—(Seeing a fight—with a roar of joy as he springs to his feet.) At last! Bus, huh? I’ll bust |
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GENTLEMAN—I beg your pardon. (Then irritably.) You have made me lose my bus. (He claps his hands and begins to scream:) Officer! Officer! (Many police whistles shrill out on the instant and a whole platoon of policemen rush in on YANK from (Curtain) |
Scene VI
SCENE—Night |
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YANK—(Suddenly starting as if awakening from a dream, reaches out and shakes the bars—aloud to himself, wonderingly.) Steel. Dis is de Zoo, huh? (A burst of hard, barking laughter comes from the unseen occupants of the cells, runs back down the tier, and abruptly ceases.) |
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YANK—(Dully.) I musta been dreamin’. I tought I was in a cage at de Zoo—but de apes don’t talk, do |
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YANK—(Dully.) I was a fireman—stokin’ on de liners. (Then with sudden rage, rattling his cell bars.) I’m a hairy ape, get me? And I’ll bust youse all in de jaw if yuh don’t lay off kiddin’ me. |
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YANK—(Defiantly.) Sure ting! Ain’t dat what youse all are—apes? (A silence. Then a furious rattling of bars from down the corridor.) |
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A VOICE—(Thick with rage.) I’ll show yuh who’s a ape, yuh bum! |
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YANK—(Scornfully.) De guard? Yuh mean de keeper, don’t |
VOICE—(Placatingly.) |
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YANK—Sure, |
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YANK—(Disgustedly.) Aw, yuh’re all wrong! Sure dere was a skoit in it—but not what youse mean, not dat old tripe. Dis was a new kind of |
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YANK—(Unheeding—groping in his thoughts.) |
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YANK—I |
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VOICE—Hey, feller, take a tip from me. If you want to get back at that dame, you better join the |
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YANK—Wobblies? What de hell’s |
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VOICE—Ain’t you ever heard of the I. W. W.? |
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YANK—Naw. What is it? |
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VOICE—A gang of blokes—a tough gang. I been readin’ about ’em to-day in the paper. The guard give me the Sunday Times. There’s a long spiel about ’em. It’s from a speech made in the Senate by a guy named Senator Queen. (He is in the cell next to YANK’S. There is a rustling of paper.) Wait’ll I see if I got light enough and I’ll read you. Listen. (He reads:) |
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VOICE—(Disgustedly.) Aw hell! Tell him to salt de tail of dat eagle! |
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VOICE—(Reading:) |
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YANK—(With vengeful satisfaction.) Wreckers, dat’s de right dope! Dat belongs! Me for |
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VOICE—Ssshh! (Reading.) “This fiendish organization is a foul ulcer on the fair body of our Democracy—” |
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VOICE—Democracy, hell! Give him the |
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VOICE—Ssshh! (Reading:) |
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ALL—(With abysmal scorn.) Aw, hell! |
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VOICE—Give that Queen Senator guy the bark! All togedder now—one—two—tree— (A terrific chorus of barking and yapping.) |
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GUARD—(From a distance.) Quiet there, youse—or I’ll git the hose. (The noise subsides.) |
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YANK—(With growling rage.) I’d like to catch dat senator guy alone for a second. I’d loin him some |
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VOICE—Ssshh! Here’s where he gits down to cases on the |
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VOICE—(To YANK.) Hey, you guy. There’s your ape stuff again. |
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YANK—(With a growl of fury.) I got him. So dey blow up tings, do |
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VOICE—Sure. Give it to him. On’y keep it to yourself, see. We don’t wanter listen to no more of that slop. |
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VOICE—Here you are. Hide it under your mattress. |
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YANK—(Reaching out.) Tanks. I can’t read much but I kin manage. (He |
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GUARD—(Angrily.) I’ll loin youse bums to wake me up! (Sees YANK.) Hello, it’s you, huh? Got the D. Ts., hey? Well, I’ll cure ’em. I’ll drown your snakes for |
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YANK—(Glaring at him.) Or a hairy ape, yuh big yellow bum! Look out! Here I come! (He grabs another bar.) |
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GUARD—(Scared now—yelling off left.) Toin de hoose on, Ben!—full pressure! And call de others—and a strait jacket! (The curtain is falling. As it hides YANK from view, there is a splattering smash as the stream of water hits the steel of YANK’S cell.) (Curtain) |
Scene VII
SCENE—Nearly |
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YANK—(Comes |
SECRETARY—(Turning around on his stool.) What the devil is that—someone knocking? (Shouts:) Come in, why don’t you? (All the men in the room look up. YANK opens |
YANK—(Blurts out.) Hello. |
MEN—(Reservedly.) Hello. |
YANK—(More easily.) I tought I’d bumped into de wrong dump. |
SECRETARY—(Scrutinizing him carefully.) Maybe you have. Are you a member? |
YANK—Naw, not yet. Dat’s what I come for—to join. |
SECRETARY—That’s easy. What’s your job—longshore? |
YANK—Naw. Fireman—stoker on de liners. |
SECRETARY—(With satisfaction.) Welcome to our city. Glad to know you people are waking up at last. We haven’t got many members in your line. |
YANK—Naw. Dey’re all dead to de |
SECRETARY—Well, you can help to wake ’em. What’s your name? I’ll make out your card. |
YANK—(Confused.) Name? Lemme |
SECRETARY—(Sharply.) Don’t you know your own name? |
YANK—Sure; but I been just Yank for so long—Bob, dat’s it—Bob Smith. |
SECRETARY—(Writing.) Robert Smith. (Fills out the rest of card.) Here you are. Cost you half a dollar. |
YANK—Is dat all—four bits? Dat’s easy. (Gives the Secretary the money.) |
SECRETARY—(Throwing it in drawer.) |
YANK—Sure. (But he still stands, embarrassed and uneasy.) |
SECRETARY—(Looking at him—curiously.) What did you knock for? Think we had a coon in uniform to open doors? |
YANK—Naw. I tought it was locked—and dat yuh’d wanter give me the once-over trou a peep-hole or somep’n to see if I was right. |
SECRETARY—(Alert and suspicious but with an easy laugh.) Think we were running a crap game? That door is never locked. What put that in your nut? |
YANK—(With a knowing grin, convinced that this is all camouflage, a part of the secrecy.) Dis burg is full of bulls, ain’t it? |
SECRETARY—(Sharply.) What have the cops got to do with us? We’re breaking no laws. |
YANK—(With a knowing wink.) Sure. Youse wouldn’t for |
SECRETARY—You seem to be wise to a lot of stuff none of us knows about. |
YANK—(With another wink.) Aw, dat’s aw right, see. (Then made a bit resentful by the suspicious glances from all sides.) |
SECRETARY—(Breezily, feeling him out.) |
YANK—Aw, I know all about it. |
SECRETARY—(Sarcastically.) Well, give us some of your valuable information. |
YANK—(Cunningly.) I know enough not to speak outa my |
SECRETARY—Who said you didn’t? |
YANK—After I’m ’nitiated, I’ll show |
SECRETARY—(Astounded.) Initiated? There’s no initiation. |
YANK—(Disappointed.) Ain’t there no password—no grip nor nothin’? |
SECRETARY—What’d you think this is—the Elks—or the Black Hand? |
YANK—De Elks, hell! De Black Hand, dey’re a lot of yellow backstickin’ |
SECRETARY—You said it! That’s why we stand on our two feet in the open. We got no secrets. |
YANK—(Surprised but admiringly.) Yuh mean to say yuh always run wide open—like |
SECRETARY—Exactly. |
YANK—Den yuh sure got your noive wit |
SECRETARY—(Sharply.) Just what was it made you want to join us? Come out with that straight. |
YANK—Yuh call me? Well, I got |
SECRETARY—(With pretended carelessness.) You mean change the unequal conditions of society by legitimate direct action—or with dynamite? |
YANK—Dynamite! |
SECRETARY—So—that’s your idea, eh? And did you have any special job in that line you wanted to propose to us. (He makes a sign to the men, who get up cautiously one by one and group behind YANK.) |
YANK—(Boldly.) Sure, I’ll come out wit it. I’ll show youse I’m one of de gang. Dere’s dat millionaire guy, Douglas— |
SECRETARY—President of the Steel Trust, you mean? Do you want to assassinate him? |
YANK—Naw, |
SECRETARY—(Stepping away from YANK.) Very interesting. (He gives a signal. The men, huskies all, throw themselves on YANK and |
MAN—No gat, no knife. Shall we give him what’s what and put the boots to him? |
SECRETARY—No. He isn’t worth the trouble we’d get into. He’s too stupid. (He comes closer and laughs mockingly in YANK’S face.) |
YANK—(Aroused by the word to fierce but futile struggles.) What’s |
SECRETARY—Throw him out, boys. (In spite of his struggles, this is done with gusto and éclat. Propelled by several parting kicks, YANK lands |
YANK—(Bitterly.) |
A POLICEMAN—(Who has come up the street in time to hear this last—with grim humor.) You’ll get off at the station, you boob, if you don’t get up out of that and keep movin’. |
YANK—(Looking up at him—with a hard, bitter laugh.) Sure! Lock me up! Put me in a cage! Dat’s de on’y answer yuh know. G’wan, lock me up! |
POLICEMAN—What you been doin’? |
YANK—Enuf to gimme life for! I was born, see? Sure, dat’s de charge. Write it in de blotter. I was born, get me! |
POLICEMAN—(Jocosely.) God pity your old woman! (Then matter-of-fact.) |
YANK—(In a vague mocking tone.) Say, where do I go from here? |
POLICEMAN—(Giving him a push—with a grin, indifferently.) Go to hell. (Curtain) |
Scene VIII
SCENE—Twilight |
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YANK—(With a hard, bitter laugh.) Welcome to your city, huh? Hail, hail, de gang’s all here! (At the sound of his voice the chattering dies away into an attentive silence. YANK walks (Curtain) |
Click here to read the 1st half of the play: scenes I through IV
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