The treatment of this scene, or of any other scene in the play,
should by no means be naturalistic. The effect sought after is a
cramped space in the bowels of a ship, imprisoned by white steel.
The lines of bunks, the uprights supporting them, cross each other
like the steel framework of a cage. The ceiling crushes down upon
the men's heads. They cannot stand upright. This accentuates the
natural stooping posture which shovelling coal and the resultant
over-development of back and shoulder muscles have given them. The
men themselves should resemble those pictures in which the
appearance of Neanderthal Man is guessed at. All are hairy-
chested, with long arms of tremendous power, and low, receding
brows above their small, fierce, resentful eyes. All the civilized
white races are represented, but except for the slight
differentiation in color of hair, skin, eyes, all these men are
alike.
The curtain rises on a tumult of sound. YANK is seated in the
foreground. He seems broader, fiercer, more truculent, more
powerful, more sure of himself than the rest. They respect his
superior strength--the grudging respect of fear. Then, too, he
represents to them a self-expression, the very last word in what
they are, their most highly developed individual.
VOICES--Gif me trink dere, you!
'Ave a wet!
Salute!
Gesundheit!
Skoal!
Drunk as a lord, God stiffen you!
Here's how!
Luck!
Pass back that bottle, damn you!
Pourin' it down his neck!
Ho, Froggy! Where the devil have you been?
La Touraine.
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