Character List

Yank  -  

The play's antagonist. Yank works as a Fireman on a Transatlantic Ocean Liner. 
Yank, whose real name is Bob Smith, was born in New York City and was brought up in a lower class family.

He protest against the belonging in modern, industrial society. He is the Leader of the firemen in the ship .

He defends the ship as his home and insists that the work he does is vital—it is the force that makes the ship go twenty-five knots an hour.
Yank come to class awareness. His attempt to get revenge on Mildred Douglas widens to revenge on the steel industry and finally the entire Bourgeois.Throughout this struggle Yank defines "belonging" as power.Yank symbolizes the struggle of modern man within industrial society—he cannot break class or ideological barriers, nor create new ones. Yank is the outsider, and eventually just the freak at the zoo for people to cage and point at.



Mildred Douglas

The impetuous twenty-year-old daughter of the owner of Nazareth Steel. Mildred has enjoyed the advantage of all of life's monetary privileges and has no real knowledge of work or hardship. 
In an attempt to understand the poorer classes she does service project and studied sociology in college.
 Mildred's reaction to Yank causes his class awareness.

Although Mildred should be considered the antagonist of The Hairy Ape, she is equally victimized by class as Yank. Though Mildred has more education and cultural experience than Yank, she still cannot escape her cultural identity. Mildred describes herself as the waste of her father's steel company, as she has felt the benefits, but not the hard work that brought them.
For example, Mildred will not change out of her white dress and Yank's coal dust is saturated into his skin.


Paddy -  
An old and wise Irishman who works with Yank as a fireman aboard the Ocean Liner. Paddy, known for drunkenness, thinks the firemen are forced to do slave labor. Paddy reminisces about his days working on a Clipper ship where men were free.
Read an in-depth analysis of Paddy.

Long - 
 A fireman aboard the Ocean Liner who preaches Marxism. Long takes Yank to New York City to prove to Yank that all members of the upper class are the same.

The Secretary -  Works at the I.W.W. office in New York City. He comes to believe that Yank works for the government and throws him out on the street.