ndustrialization makes him proud of slavery. He is no longer free. He is a part of a machine. His body is strong, but his soul is shrinking. This is the first step of human regression.

Mildred’s Insult- Man Reduced to Animal: When Mildred Douglas visits the stokehole, she sees Yank. She cries, 

“Oh, the filthy beast!” 

Then she faints. The words cut deep. To her rich eyes, the worker is not human. He is dirty, sweaty, and looks like an ape. Yank, who thought he was the engine of the world, begins to believe he is only an animal. Here, we see industrialization has reduced man from human to beast in the eyes of society.

Fifth Avenue- The Worker Cannot Belong: Yank goes to Fifth Avenue, New York. He sees clean, rich people after church. He tries to shout, but they ignore him. He pushes and even hits a gentleman. The police arrest him. His dirty body does not fit the rich street. The industrial worker has no place among the rich. He is out of society. He is treated like a wild animal, making trouble. This is a regression from citizen to outsider.

Prison and I.W.W.- The Cage of Regression: In Blackwell’s Island prison, Yank compares men to animals in cages. He tries to bend the iron bars but fails. Guards beat him. He is powerless. Later, in the I.W.W. office, workers first welcome him. But when he talks of blowing up the Steel Trust, they reject him as a spy. Even his own class does not accept him. A policeman also behaves like this, 

“Yank—Say, where do I go from here?

Policeman— Go to hell.”

Industrial society has broken him. He is neither a man nor a worker. He is only a rejected creature.

The Gorilla- Final Regression: In the Zoo, Yank stands before the gorilla. He feels they are the same. He opens the cage. The gorilla hugs him, breaks his ribs, and throws him inside. He says,

“Christ, where do I get off at? Where do I fit in?”

He dies in the cage. This is the final regression. He begins as a proud worker. He ends as a dead ape. Industrialization destroys his humanity and leaves him with only death.

“The Hairy Ape” shows human regression under machines. Paddy remembers free sailing days. Long speaks of politics. Mildred insults the worker. The Fifth Avenue crowd ignores him. The prison locks him like an animal. The I.W.W. rejects him. Finally, the gorilla kills him. Yank’s fall proves O’Neill’s message: industrialization makes men lose dignity, freedom, and even their humanity.