Albee, Edward - The Zoo Story

3. Jerry' s social and family background:

- his mother (= an alcoholic · Mr. Barleycorn) left his father when he was 10_ years

- thus, his father took to drinking after his wife' s death and he died of an accident

_ at the age of 11_ Jerry was an orphan

- he was brought up by a pious aunt who died on the day of his high school graduation _ unhappy childhood/broken family

4. Jerry' s problems and aims

Problems:

- he feels lonely

- he lacks company

- he has no one to talk to

- he feels misunderstood

- he desperately tries to come into contact with other people

- he is an outsider, utterly depressed, unhappy

- he is unable to establish a relationship with other people

Aims:

- he tries to establish a relationship with another person

- he tries to befriend somebody

Reasons for Jerry' s inability to make friends/for his loneliness:

- childhood experiences (no real family life in his youth)

- psychological problems (he cannot deal with other people)

- anonymity/impersonality of a big city

- alienation of the individual in big cities/in modern society

- big gap between the haves and the have-nots

5. Jerry' s relationship with other people

- p.23: two empty picture frames

- p.25/35: no relationship with women (the contact is restricted to prostitutes)

- p.22/27: no relationship with the other roomers (exception: the drunken landlady tries to seduce him · Jerry feels disgusted with her)

People in the rooming-house:

- a black transvestite; a Puerto Rican family; a crying woman; a person he has never seen; the landlady

_ all tenants of the rooming-house are outsiders _ they are exotic looking _ they are strange

_ they live in terribly small rooms under bad living conditions _ a mixture of all kinds of people

_ the house can be likened to a "human zoo"; the rooms are cages; the people can be compared to animals in captivity

6. The Story of Jerry and the Dog (pages 30-36) - [the development of the relationship between Jerry and the dog]

- overriding principle: "If you can't deal with people, you have to make a start somewhere." (page 34)

a) the dog dislikes Jerry · Jerry tries to make friends with the dog (pages 30-31/32)

b) Jerry fails · he tries to kill the dog (page 32, line 5)

c) Jerry wants the dog to survive (page 33, lines 13f.) · he is interested in a new relationship (page 33) · 1 ^st encounter after the dog's recovery, Jerry loves the dog (page 34): Jerry hopes that the dog will understand

d) Jerry and the dog "made contact" (page 34):

· no real relationship

· lack of communication between Jerry and the dog (page 35): "mixture of sadness and suspicion; [they] feign indifference" · Jerry feels disappointed (· "loss"): "We neither love nor hurt because we do not try to reach each other." (page 36)

_ Jerry has gained new insight: "Kindness and cruelty, the two combined, together, at the same time, are the teaching emotion." (page 36) _ = a means of coming into contact _ = learning process

_ the dog is a substitute for human beings for other people

7. Jerry's relationship with Peter

{· How do Jerry's experiences with the dog influences the way he treats Peter?} "kindness and cruelty combined ..."

kindness:

- Jerry pays compliments (page 13/18)

- Jerry flatters him (page 18)

- [Jerry tickles him (page 38) · disrespectful behaviour?]

- Jerry makes Peter interested in the conversation by telling him "the zoo story" (· by hinting at the zoo)

- [Jerry asks him questions] cruelty:

- verbal and psychological abuse:

- page 41: Jerry calls him a "bastard"

- page 42: Jerry calls him a "vegetable" etc.

- pages 46-47: Jerry attacks Peter verbally (· impotent)

- physical violence:

- page 47: Jerry spits in Peter's face

- page 40: Jerry pokes and punches Peter

- page 47: Jerry threatens Peter with his knife _ Jerry provokes Peter to kill him

8. The ending: Does Jerry achieve his aim to establish a relationship with another human being?

9. ·Message of the play

- live is inhuman, brutal and cruel

- society drives Jerry to his fatal deed

- isolation and a lack of communication are the most serious problems of our modern/technical society · everybody needs somebody he can talk to, otherwise he becomes crazy and is driven to such a fatal deed

10. The significance of the zoo At the zoo:

- Jerry gains new insight into life

- Parallel: animals live alone in their cages; people live in isolation, too

- There is a similarity between the way in which animals live in the zoo and the way in which human beings live together/communicate with one another _ message 2:

- life/society is a kind of zoo

- the bars (= something real) separate animals

- feelings, money, colour of skin, race, religion, social class, attitudes, interests and lack of interests, generation gap,....... separate people

- Jerry wants to die, because he cannot bear this situation

- the zoo is a microcosm of real life