The Hopeless Pursuit

Eugene Gladstone O’Neill (1888-1953) is one of the greatest playwrights in the Americanliterary history in the twentieth century. American famous critic John Gassner (1953) believedthat there were only opera houses in America before Eugene O’Neill and drama emerged afterhim. O’Neill is plagued in his whole life by the indifference and absurdity in the modern societyand the lack of a sense of belonging of modern man. His works reveal modern man’s survivalcircumstances and inner experience, which truly represent American’s life and mental state inthe twentieth Century. The Hairy Ape is O’Neill’s masterpiece with the expressionistic technique.He portrays that the protagonist Yank persistently searches for belonging, reflecting modernman’s situation of loneliness, despair and loss of sense of belonging.This thesis tends to apply Sartre’s existentialism to probe into the protagonist’s identitycrisis and its causes on the basis of the review of the literature. The paper firstly analyzes theformation of the protagonist’s identity crisis in the light of Sartre’s “being-in-itself” which refersto the passive existence of an object without consciousness of freedom. However, Yank descendsto a slave of machines who worships the machinery and technology blindly and fanatically. Dueto the conflicts of Yank’s inner world with the environment, he is trapped in a dilemma ofanxiety and alienation. Then the thesis explores a series of the protagonist’s struggle to get rid ofthe identity crisis from the angle of “being-for-itself” which refers to the active existence withthe consciousness of freedom. To pursue self-identity, Yank goes into the living place of upperclass the Fifth Avenue and participates in a labor organization named I.W.W. but both end withthe failure. With anguish and despair, Yank walks into the zoo where ends his tragic life then.Finally, the paper analyzes the roots of Yank’s tragedy which include the development of humancivilization and technology, the loss of faith, the dilemma of alienation and other aspects.This thesis mainly consists of six parts.Chapter one is an introduction of this thesis. There is a brief introduction of EugeneO’Neill’s life experience, writing styles and so on. Chapter two presents the literature review andtheoretical base. This chapter not only begins with a brief domestic and foreign literature reviewon The Hairy Ape but also gives an interpretation on the relevant theories of identity crisis andexistentialism. Chapter three analyzes the formation of Yank’s identity crisis which consists ofthe seedbed period, the incubation period and the breakout of identity crisis. Chapter fourexposes the struggle and effort of Yank to get rid of identity crisis. He goes to the Fifth Avenue and then joins the labor organization but both are rejected. At last, he dies in the zoo. Chapterfive analyzes the roots of Yank’s identity crisis. Chapter six makes a summary of the thesis.