Analysis
Through the plight and struggle of an ocean liner fireman, Eugene O'Neill exposes the regression of civilized man to an animalistic state. The firemen are reduced to work animals, caged and abused. The ocean liner functions as a metaphor for the larger confinement and oppression of blue-collar workers into a tight niche in the bottom of society. The cage-like forecastle is representative or the cramped world, void of opportunity, that the men exist in. O'Neill suggests that the men should "resemble those pictures in which the appearance of Neanderthal man is guessed at." The tight quarters of the forecastle and low ceilings force men to stoop low, preventing the men from having normal, upright posture. Only valued for their physical might, their ability to shovel coal into the ship's furnace, the men have abandoned the need for modern or complex thought and have regressed into a Neanderthal state.
O'Neill reinforces the firemen's Neanderthal state in the firemen's speech patterns. O'Neill carefully spells out the broken words and vocal patterns of the men to ensure that the actor will effectively use speech as another barrier and divide between the firemen and the higher class characters. With the exception of Paddy and Long, the men speak in short, simple phrases in broken English. Paddy and Long also have thick accents, but express complex though through their dialogue. In this scene the dialogue between the firemen comes in waves of exclamations:
"Gif me trink dere, you! 'Ave a wet! Salute! Gasundheit! Skoal! Drunk as a lord, God stiffen you! Here's How! Luck!