Zoo Story

A detailed Summary of Zoo Story


When we are confronted with the word jail, we generally envision cold, hard concrete and steel bars; slits for windows that let in as little sunlight as possible and dangerous, fear-provoking criminals. These confinements are thought of places where the filth, scum and law-breaking degenerates of the world are kept. Surely, middle-class and upper class upstanding, law abiding citizens would never be categorized as prisoners.

In Edward Albee's, The Zoo Story, there appears the phrase, "...where ever better in this humiliating excuse for a jail..."(p.35). Albee asks us to think of the term jail in a different but similar context. Imagine if you would, a zoo. Animals roaming around in man-made settings that replicate their natural habitat and interacting with other creatures; however, what keeps the animals from attacking the people and/or running away from the zoo never to be seen again-bars! Like the animals of the zoo people live and hide behind bars. In essence, the world as a whole can be viewed metaphorically as a jail.

This 'jail' we as humans live in is often of our own creation; a prison, of sorts, that o


Now Peter on the other hand, lives in a nicer 'jail' or 'cage' than Jerry; yet, he still is behind bars. These 'bars' are Peter's protection from reality. In contrast to the notion that Jerry's reality is his 'jail', Peter's denial of reality is his 'jail'. He lives in a safety-world that he created for himself where he believes his life is perfect. He has the wife, the two daughters, parakeets, and cats. All to the good, except for the fact that Peter would like a son, a dog, and no birds. "There are... there are two parakeets. One... uh... one for each of my daughters"(p.18). Here, Peter exhibits embarrassment for the first time in the story; he shows that he really is not as pleased with his life as he lets others believe. At this early point in the story Peter has not yet realized that he has in fact barricaded himself in a sheltered environment, metaphorically speaking. In the amount of time that Peter has spent in his metaphorical jail which he created, the thicker the bars have gotten. Without being aware of it, Peter has become very lonely. He is starving for the companionship of anyone other than his family and/or co-workers; for this reason he is v

Some common words found in the essay are:
Zoo Story, Amidst Jerry's, , reality 'jail',

Approximate Word count = 786
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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