Dr. Bahee Hadaegh & Elham Haqrezaie
Shiraz University, Iran
Yank, O’Neill’s proletariat character, is the embodiment of an individual’s roaring for existence. The portrait of him depicts a human being bereft of the individuality needed for him to live and breathe. Abraham Maslow considered individuality a process through which one shows needs the satisfaction of which is crucial to one’s well-being, and consequently, the ultimate actualized self determines one’s happiness. The role of society in providing the individual with opportunities to satisfy those needs is irrefutable. Yank’s needs as a human being is exploited by the hands of capitalism in the most desirable manner to the ideology-owners, and his striving to escape the pre-established order results in his sinking into the void. Having been confined to the constructed reality desired for him to perceive, Yank’s individuality proves illusive when faced with the illusiveness of the reality which gave birth to it. In this paper, first, Maslow’s theory of human needs is elucidated and its significance in the capitalist society is examined drawing on Marx and Althusser’s perspectives towards capitalism and ideology. Second, Yank’s position as a human being bearing the ineluctable desires forming his individuality while being fed by the capitalist system is discussed.
The above abstract is a part of the article which was accepted at The International Conference on Current Issues of Languages, Dialects and Linguistics (WWW.TLLL.IR), 2-3 February 2017, Ahwaz.
