Current production

The Zoo Story

(source: eNotes)

Here are some notes your students may find useful as background for review writing or just for thinking about and discussing the play before or after watching it.

Introduction

Themes

Links

Introduction

Structure

The Zoo Story by Edward Albee is rather simple in structure. It is set in New York’s Central Park on Sunday afternoon in the summer. In this production however the play could be set in any park anywhere. The staging for the play, therefore, consists of two park benches with foliage, trees, and sky behind them. The place never changes, and the action of the play unfolds in a linear manner, from beginning to end, in front of the audience. Everything happens in the present, which gives the play its immediacy and makes the events that unfold even more shocking. As an audience member, watching the play makes one feel as if one is witnessing a crime and is directly involved; this sense of involvement is achieved through the structure of the play. 

Style

What makes The Zoo Story dense and difficult to define is the style in which it is written. It does not fit into the purely realistic nor the totally absurd genres that were both popular in 1958 when Albee wrote the play. The Theatre of the Absurd was a movement that dominated the French stage after World War II, and was characterized by radical theatrical innovations. Playwrights in this genre used practically incomprehensible plots and extremely long pauses in order to violate conservative audiences’ expectations of what theatre should be. Albee took this absurd style and combined it with acute realism in order to comment on American society in the 1950s. With The Zoo Story, Albee points to French playwright Eugene Ionesco’s idea that human life is both fundamentally absurd and terrifying; therefore, communication through language is equally absurd. Albee is also drawing from existential philosophy in The Zoo Story. Existentialism is concerned with the nature and perception of human existence, and often deals with the idea that the basic human condition is one of suffering and loneliness. Jerry and his position in American society are clearly examples of this point of view. Another literary style which began emerging around the time that The Zoo Story was written is postmodernism. Postmodernists continued to apply the fundamentals of modernism, including alienation and existentialism, but went a step further by rejecting traditional forms. Therefore, they prefer the anti-novel over the novel and, as in The Zoo Story, the anti-hero over the hero. Although Albee does not belong solely in the realistic, absurdist, existential or postmodern literary genres, it is evident that all of these movements had an impact on The Zoo Story and Albee as a playwright. 

Literary devices

Albee used various literary devices in The Zoo Story. The first device is the anti-hero. An anti-hero, like a hero, is the central character of the play but lacks heroic qualities such as courage, physical prowess, and integrity. Anti-heroes usually distrust conventional values and, like Jerry, they often accept and celebrate their position as social outcasts. Along with the anti-hero, Albee uses satire and black humour in The Zoo Story. Satire employs humour to comment negatively on human nature and social institutions, while black humour places grotesque elements along side of humorous elements in order to shock the reader and evoke laughter in the face of difficulty and disorder. Albee uses both of these devices in The Zoo Story to comment on the way different social classes choose to view and ignore each other in American society; specifically, he highlights the way in which members of the upper classes deal with members of the lower ones. This is illustrated with the character of Peter, who Albee uses as an example by having Jerry methodically bring him down to an animalistic level in order to show that he is just like everyone else. Another device that Albee uses in The Zoo Story is allegory. Allegory involves the use of characters, representing things or abstract ideas, to convey a message. Jerry’s story about his landlady’s dog could be seen as an allegory for his own inability to relate to others. In the end, Jerry says that he and the dog harbour “sadness, suspicion and indifference” for each other, which is similar to the relationships that Jerry has with other people. Some critics have argued that The Zoo Story is an allegory for Christian redemption. Jerry, as the Christ-like figure, martyrs himself to demonstrate the need for and meaningfulness of communication. This Christian allegory viewpoint is also evident in some of the dialogue, such as when Jerry sighs and says “So be it!” just before impaling himself on the knife Peter is holding. This can be viewed as a reference to Jesus Christ’s words as he dies on the cross: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Although the manner in which Albee employs literary devices in The Zoo Story is subject to critical interpretation, all of the devices are readily apparent and are used to create a compelling drama.

Themes

Absurdity and reality

The first theme of The Zoo Story has to do with absurdity and reality. During the beginning of the play, Jerry initiates the conversation with Peter and carefully chooses topics with which Peter will be familiar, such as family and career. However, Jerry soon begins to insert strange comments and questions into what is on the surface a conversation between two strangers trying to get to know each other. This is apparent during the moment when Jerry, assuming that Peter does not like his daughters’ cats, asks if Peter’s birds are diseased. Peter says that he does not believe so and Jerry replies: “That’s too bad. If they did you could set them loose in the house and the cats could eat them and die, maybe.” These unreasonable and ridiculous, or absurd, moments in the play begin to shake Peter’s sense of reality and place. However, Jerry is quick to counter these moments with genuinely pleasant, benign comments and interesting stories to keep Peter engaged. Throughout the play, as Jerry’s stories continue, he is careful to control the conversation and manipulate Peter. By the end of the play, Jerry has managed to alter Peter’s perception of reality to such an extent that Peter becomes involved in a physical fight over what he believes to be “his” park bench and in an act of self-defence helps Jerry kill himself. The reality of what has transpired then strikes Peter full force, and he runs off howling “Oh my God!” 

Alienation and loneliness

The theme of alienation and loneliness, which in The Zoo Story is presented as being representative of the human condition as a whole, is largely what motivates Jerry to do the things that he does. From the beginning of the play, when Jerry enters Peter’s world, it is obvious that Jerry lacks simple social skills. Jerry’s first words are not, “Hello, may I sit down,” but rather: “I’ve been to the zoo. I said, I’ve been to the zoo. MISTER, I’VE BEEN TO THE ZOO!” Through Jerry’s stories, Peter learns that Jerry lost his parents at the age of ten and then went to live with his aunt, who died on the afternoon of his high school graduation. Jerry also makes very explicit comments about the boarding house he lives in and the other inhabitants there who act as a sort of family to Jerry, even though he does not really even know them. He even includes them in his prayers at night. Albee establishes Jerry’s alienation from the rest of the world rather quickly and then continues to fill in the whole picture of his life for the audience. It is the pain that comes with this loneliness that forces Jerry to kill himself with Peter’s help at the end of the play. Jerry finally finds solace after he has been stabbed, and he tells Peter: “I came unto you and you have comforted me. Dear Peter.” 

Wealth and poverty

The final major theme of The Zoo Story is wealth and poverty, and the illusions that are created between the social and economic classes. This theme is closely related to alienation and loneliness because Albee establishes the societal pressures of class as the cause of Jerry’s suffering. The issue of class is brought up early in the play when Jerry is asking Peter about his family and his job, and then asks: “Say, what’s the dividing line between upper-middle-middle class and lower-upper-middle class?” Obviously, Jerry belongs to neither of these classes, and by his own admission is simply being condescending. However, the illusions that Jerry has about Peter’s life are very close to the truth, whereas to Peter Jerry’s life is completely foreign.

The Zoo Story is particularly interesting right now because Albee has just written a second act for the play (not yet available in Australia). The original play was written in 1958 and the second act called Homelife was written in 2004 and premiered on Broadway this year. The two acts together are called Peter and Jerry and this work is unique in that it spans the career of this great contemporary playwright.

Zoo Story
and Albee links


 
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