I don't know which message you wanted to communicate with the first shot. I think the underexposed face of the ape emphasizes the sad feeling of this shot. When I first saw it, I could percieve in the mind of the child "Sorry, I can't do anything to get you out of there".
The low and pathetic posture of the monkey tells a long story about his captivity. He seems desperate.
A detail disturbs me a little bit. To the left, I can see some blond hair that has nothing to do on this picture...
To answer to your last question, you could maybe have set a wider aperture, but I think it was already pretty wide, when I see the blurred background. Another option would be to set a longer exposure time, or a higher ISO (I don't know if your camera is noise-sensitive...). Post-editing is impossible, since the monkey's face is totally black.
P.S. This pictures is now sleeping in my "favourite photos" folder.
(Excuse me for the poor english, it's not my mother tongue)