"An ape, a most ill-favoured beast. How like us in all the rest?" (Cicero)[1]. How does Great Apes support this view?

“An ape, a most ill-favoured beast. How like us in all the rest?” (Cicero). How does Great Apes support this view?

All literary works provide the reader with an escape – an escape into a world other than their own, where they can immerse themselves in someone else’s life and adventures, and so for a while forget their own. However, the difference with Great Apes is that we are not actually allowed to forget our own world – instead we have to confront it. Will Self lets us begin the story in a recognisably human world, but then we are frighteningly transported into this chimp society, where we follow the journey of Simon Dykes, a former human, through this opposite but strangely similar world of chimpunity. Through the use of humour and satire the continuum of behaviour that links humans to apes is revealed, and this is what forces us to assess just what it means to be human.

The novel clearly borrows from the Fourth book of Gulliver’s Travels, where Lemuel Gulliver finds himself in a land where horses are the dominant species, and human beings are regarded as little more than savage animals. Self has taken this conceit a step further by making the dominant species chimpanzee’s, which as we know from scientific research only differ from humans in approximately two percent of their DNA. Unlike Swift, who created a world which was completely unlike our own (and the dominant species were totally unlike human beings), Self has created a world which we recognise: the dominant species social hierarchy, constructions, cultural artefacts and ideology all mirror our own. Their world is the same as ours, and the chimps make the same assumptions and judgements about us as we do about them; this being that the minor difference between the two species is of overriding importance in how we as a species perceive ourselves.

We see from this clever inversion the folly of philosophical enquiry into human existence – it is enquiring into the mere two percent of difference between two extremely closely related species, and ignoring the other ninety eight percent of our shared genetic makeup. The novel reveals how we exaggerate the philosophical significance of this discrepancy, because it reassures us, and keeps us elevated on the species ladder. Humour and satire are the techniques Self uses to do this. Satire is when our “prevailing vices or follies are held up to ridicule” , and Self does this through inversion, exaggeration and extension. Humour is present throughout, but it is not a comfortable feeling of amusement – it is rather a bitter recognition of the questionable nature of human characteristics. This humour is rooted in a view that Roger Scruton puts forward in his essay ‘Laughter’;

“Animal forms, such as apes….sometimes appear to us as ludicrous because something about them resembling man leads us to subsume them under the conception of the human form, and starting from this we perceive their incongruity with it.”

We cannot help seeing these chimps as chimps posing as humans rather than intelligent chimps in their own right, which is indeed a ludicrous idea and serves to show their incongruity with us. This, therefore, can be said to be the basis for humour in Great Apes.

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Self’s first task is to ensure we as readers can fully empathise with the main character, Simon Dykes, in order for us to be able to suspend our disbelief and become immersed in the action. This is easily done at first by the representation of the human Simon and his human friends, but then Self has to be careful to keep hold of the reader in the same way when the story shifts. The author fortunately manages this easily through his representation of Simon’s reaction at discovering he has woken up in a world of chimps;

“And then he was on his feet, perhaps screaming – he could not have said because the whole world was roaring around him now” (p.99).

His hysterical reaction and ensuing bewilderment and terror at what has happened is a great starting point for the transition into another world. If Simon’s reaction had been portrayed less convincingly then we would not have been able to put ourselves in his place. By accomplishing this, Self has put us in a good position to understand this story, and the deeper implications of it.

This section is very important to the novel as a whole in helping us suspend our disbelief – if Simons reaction had been portrayed less convincingly then we would not have been able to put ourselves in his place. By accomplishing this, Self has put us in a better position to understand this story, and the deeper implications of it.

It is important to look at how Self has effected the complete role reversal present in Great Apes. He is very thorough – nothing is left unchanged, not even language, where new words, such as “signlence” (p.206) (as opposed to silence), have been inverted to realistically portray non-signing chimps. In addition, the chimps constantly emit animal sounds, such as “Wraaf”, “HooGraa”, and “Clak-clak-clak” (p.236-7). If the chimps actually spoke in a human manner, then they would be too familiar to us – this strange method of communication is an important dividing line between the two species, which inhibits the reader from associating too closely with the chimps. The important thing to remember here is that the chimps do have a method of communication, as we do. It may not be the same method, but it is successful nevertheless, and is the basis of their society, as verbal language is the basis of ours.

Apart from the language used, everything else relevant to the role reversal is also much of what causes humour and revulsion in the story. The most poignant reversal has to be the part where Sarah’s feelings towards her father and his abuse of her as a child are revealed – “a trauma Sarah had felt so confused about during sub-adulthood” (p.140). Our sympathy is aroused until we realise Sarah is complaining about the lack of beatings and matings she received at the hands of her parents! This succeeds in showing the wide divide between the two species, as well as repelling and amusing us at the same time. We are somewhat prepared for this shock through our early experience of Dr. Zack Busner, and his morning mating household – “perhaps thirty in all, squabbling, scrapping, grooming and copulating” (p.34).

These animals acting like humans but also mating with any chimp in sight is disgusting to us – we cannot imagine humans ever acting this way, except perhaps in films of a pornographic nature. Their constant grooming – picking various items from each other’s fur – is vile enough, but their sexual antics really mark the gulf between them and us. The way it goes on is almost too ridiculous to comprehend, but we have to imagine it to receive the full effect of our difference with them.

The appearance of the chimps is perhaps the funniest aspect – as Simon himself comments, it is like living in a PG Tips commercial, as the chimps wear clothes, and the females wear “swelling protectors” (p.290) to hide their very different sexual organs. A good example of humour, revulsion and fear epitomised in Great Apes is on p.289, where Simon laughs hysterically at a middle aged female in a “plain grey jacket and plainer white blouse” mating a succession of chimps on a staircase, her swelling protector “a heap of pleats, some steps below where its owner bucked and yawped.” We can see the hilarity of the scene as Simon does, which is followed by probably the most bestial scene in the novel – Busner and Simon are chased by the chimps the latter was ridiculing. Self keeps the humour going with comments like “the Ready Brek breath of the big chimp”, but still we are reminded here of the ferocity of this species, and also of our own – we know gangs of people can, and often do, attack others in our society. Here the author has satirised violence in our world by the naturally animalistic behaviour of the chimps.

From these examples, we can see the main areas in which chimps differ from humans; sexual and social etiquette. Is this enough to class them as a lower species, the fact that their activities in these areas are different from ours? Do different tribes across the globe not hold differing views on these areas of life? I believe Self is proposing the possibility that, had historical events been different, chimps may have evolved as the dominant species, and that their world would be overwhelmingly similar to ours – Simon Dykes recognises this chimp world as the same as the human world, except that chimps inhabit it! It is like our species got lucky, and so managed to dominate all the others – with only two per cent difference between us and chimps, could it have been this way, as Self suggests – could chimps have ruled the world instead of us?

This is supported by the discussion Dykes and Busner have on human and chimp sexual practices, where Busner remarks;

“you sign of numerous consortships, and of consistent exogamous mating despite their existence. Mark me if I’m wrong, but it looks to me much the same as what chimpanzee’s get up to “huuu”?” (p.295).

To which Simon replies “the old ape did have a point”. Self is again questioning the outlook of mankind; we see ourselves as so different, and so above, other species, but we actually seem to share more traits with ‘lower’ species than we’d like to admit. Obviously, we do not usually mate with members of our family, but many will copulate whenever the chance arises, which is the very behaviour of chimps!

The satire is continued by Self’s inclusion of humans in captivity, which is a complete turn around for us – we get a sense of what it would be like to be on the other side of the bars, with strange creatures looking in at our every move;

“There were other chimps….who held camcorders and filmed each other adopting what they imagined to be human like postures.” (p.246)

Simon’s comments on how odd the humans look remind us of the change to creatures forced to live in captivity, out of their natural surroundings. This line is continued by the revelation that humans are frequently tested on, which holds connotations for us of horrific incidents of human testing like that carried out under the Nazi regime, for example. Contrastingly, this is an everyday occurrence for many animals in human society.

Through the story, we are being given a new perspective on many factors of contemporary society. By satirising these issues, Self seems to be proposing the possibility that it could have been us in the position of the lower species, and is consequently posing the question ‘How would you like it?’ which echoes the argument of many animal liberationists world-wide. I am not sure of Self’s stance on animal issues, but whether intentionally or not, he is certainly urging us to reconsider our position in the hierarchy of this world.

Returning to the aspect of humour, there are occasions when Self takes it almost too far, at the risk of almost losing our almost belief in the story. The reversal of the status of the dog and the horse is a good example, as it seems almost gratuitous. There does not seem to be any real reason for it, except perhaps to simply bewilder Simon and the reader further! The same could be said of the parody of the programme Masterchef, where Self has altered the title to “Sub-Adult Dominant Chef” (p.376) and Lloyd Grossman’s surname to “Grosschimp”. This is far fetched enough, but then Grosschimp and the chef begin to “tussle” on air! This silliness, as it could perhaps be called, comes to a head in the closing pages of the book, where Simon hears that the humans cry is “Fuuuuuckooooff!” (p.396). But at the same time, this could also be the most satirical line in the book. If we could understand animals, would they be shouting a similar expletive at us in their own language? The way they are treated by humankind leads us to feel this is highly probable.

Throughout the book, we secretly hope that Simon will wake to find this all a horrid nightmare, so we can be returned to the reassuring familiarity experienced in the opening chapters. We do not want him, as we would not want ourselves, to have to live the life of a chimp among other chimps. But as the story progresses we gradually lose him to the chimp world – he begins to sign, then groom, and then to mate. The ending brings the realisation that he is now a chimp, and so all our hope is extinguished with this fact, and we are left with a disturbed, uncomfortable feeling, but also a stimulating and important look at humanity through the authors representation of chimpunity.

In this study, we have seen how similar chimpanzees and humans actually are. The ape remains “ill-favoured” as Cicero quoted, but is this the case because we are frightened by its likeness to ourselves? If we were to treat apes more like humans, is there a possibility they could develop into a capable, signing community and so overrun the human world? Obviously, this is an almost impossible scenario, but the faint plausibility of it is perhaps what causes us to cling on to that two per cent difference between us and our simian friends. We know apes can and have been taught basic language skills, so know they have the potential, but who wants to admit they are gaining on us? By treading them down and hanging on to that two per cent difference, we can hopefully prevent their development as a communicating breed and also forget about that ninety-eight percent of genetic makeup that is exactly the same as ours.

Self has satirised many of the worst aspects of humanity through his representation of a parallel world of chimpanzees. He has shown we would need to change little of either species to make both indistinguishable from one another. Great Apes works as an interesting, unique and thought provoking probe into human nature which urges us to see these “ill-favoured beasts” we share our world with in a new light. At the same time we are provided with a disconcerting style of humour, which, coupled with Self’s capable subject handling and skill leads to one of the most successful and original works in twentieth century satire.

from the opening quotes to Great Apes, Will Self, Penguin Group, London 1998

from the Oxford Companion to English Literature, Ed. by Margaret Drabble, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1985

from The Philosophy of Laughter and Humour, ed. John Morreall, State University of New York Press, Albany 1987

from Great Apes by Will Self, Penguin Group, London 1998