# The Hairy Ape — Character guide

> Key figures in The Hairy Ape by Eugene O’Neill.

- [Yank](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hairy_ape_se/characters/yank.md): Yank rules the firemen's forecastle by sheer muscle and a fierce pride in feeding the engines that drive the ship, insisting the stokehole is his rightful home. When Mildred Douglas descends into the pit and recoils from
- [Paddy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hairy_ape_se/characters/paddy.md): Paddy is the forecastle's elder voice, drunk and doleful, whose monkey-like face carries the sad patience of a man who has outlived his trade. He needles Yank with the suggestion that the lady's visit was love, not insul
- [Long](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hairy_ape_se/characters/long.md): Long is the forecastle's agitator, leaping onto benches with a bottle in hand to declare the ship a hell and the stokers its damned. He insists the blame lies with the bloody Capital that put them there, offering Yank a 
- [Mildred Douglas](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hairy_ape_se/characters/mildred.md): Mildred is a restless heiress who slaps her aunt, mocks her own chastity, and descends into the ship's fiery pit seeking something real to feel. Her horror at Yank's blackened, gorilla-like form is instinctive and absolu
- [Aunt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hairy_ape_se/characters/aunt.md): Mildred's cynical, aristocratic aunt who accompanies her on the ship.
- [Second Engineer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hairy_ape_se/characters/second_engineer.md): The ship's officer who escorts Mildred to the stokehole.
- [Secretary](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hairy_ape_se/characters/secretary.md): The officious secretary of the I.W.W. local who interviews Yank.
- [Policeman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hairy_ape_se/characters/policeman.md): A New York cop who arrests Yank after a street confrontation.
- [Pinkerton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hairy_ape_se/characters/pinkerton.md): A detective who guards the millionaire's home and mocks Yank.
- [Whiskey Johnny](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hairy_ape_se/characters/whiskey_johnny.md): A drunken sailor Yank meets in a bar on the waterfront.
- [Rodin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hairy_ape_se/characters/rodin.md): A sculptor mentioned in a passing allusion, not a living character.
- [Voices](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hairy_ape_se/characters/voices.md): Unseen crowd voices in the prison scene, not a distinct character.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hairy_ape_se/characters