The Hairy Ape | Teaching Key Figures

Character Descriptions

This section provides a short description of all the major characters in the book. This can be printed out as a study guide for students, used as a "key" for leading a class discussion, or you can jump to the quiz/homework section to find worksheets that incorporate these descriptions into a variety of question formats.

Characters

Mildred Douglas - She is young and idealistic and at the same time oddly aware that her idealism is without real impact or significance. She has a history of social activism and empathy for the lower class in spite of her wealth.

Guard - His role is to keep the prisoners in line. He is faced with Yank, a very strong and surprisingly out of control prisoner.

Long - He also sees the dehumanization that is occurring and ties it to the importance of the machine. He agrees with Yank when he sees...
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