Alienation and A Sense of Belonging of Human Beings in Eugene O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape

This paper analyzes the sense of belonging and alienation of human beings, focusing on Yank's efforts to belong toward society in O'Neill's The Hairy Ape. As a social satire, the subtitle A Comedy of Ancient and Modem Life in Eight Scenes provides the key to the understanding the struggles to belong and social class relationships that take place in ancient as well as modem society. Yank confronts the conflict between the desire to belong and isolation due to dehumanization and reification(objectification) in the industrial society(capitalism). Just like in the 1920s, O'Neill reveals the sense of alienation and belonging that Yank experienced are a common phenomenon in 21st century society. O'Neill argued Yank as a universal human being who craves for a sense of belonging. Furthermore, he suggested that a longing for the sense of belonging is deeply intertwined with a consciousness of existence of human being. O'Neill emphasized the pursuit of the sense of belonging as the master key for the value of human existence through the protagonist who leads to death. (Chungnam National University)