Zoo Story Essay, Research Paper

When we are confronted with the word gaol, we by and large envision cold, difficult concrete and steel bars ; slits for Windowss that let in every bit small sunshine as possible and unsafe, fear-provoking felons. These parturiencies are thought of topographic points where the crud, trash and law-breaking perverts of the universe are kept. Surely, middle-class and upper category upstanding, jurisprudence abiding citizens would ne’er be categorized as captives.

In Edward Albee s, The Zoo Story, there appears the phrase, where of all time better in this humiliating alibi for a gaol ( p.35 ) . Albee asks us to believe of the term gaol in a different but similar context. Imagine if you would, a menagerie. Animals rolling about in semisynthetic scenes that replicate their natural home ground and interacting with other animals ; nevertheless, what keeps the animate beings from assailing the people and/or running off from the menagerie ne’er to be seen once more bars! Like the animate beings of the menagerie people live and hide behind bars. In kernel, the universe as a whole can be viewed metaphorically as a gaol.

This gaol we as worlds live in is frequently of our ain creative activity ; a prison, of kinds, that our heads conjure to protect us from emotional hurt. Within the narrative it becomes blatantly obvious that Jerry s universe is his gaol. Jerry says, I live in a four-story brownstone rooming-house on the upper West Side I live on the top floor ; rear ; west It s a ridiculously little room, and one of my walls is made of beaverboard ( p.22 ) . He so goes on to depict the dwellers of the floor, which he lives on. a coloured queen which ever keeps his door unfastened when he is tweaking his superciliums ( p.22 ) . Later in the narrative he tells Peter, I think the suites are better as you go down, floor by floor ( p.27 ) . I think he is seting himself as being worse off than anyone else in the edifice by stating that it merely gets better as you go down the floors.

Now Peter on the other manus, lives in a nicer gaol or coop than Jerry ; yet, he still is behind bars. These bars are Peter s protection from world. In contrast to the impression that Jerry s realit

Y is his gaol, Peter s denial of world is his gaol. He lives in a safety-world that he created for himself where he believes his life is perfect. He has the married woman, the two girls, parrakeets, and cats. All to the good, except for the fact that Peter would wish a boy, a Canis familiaris, and no birds. There are there are two parrakeets. One uh one for each of my girls ( p.18 ) . Here, Peter exhibits embarrassment for the first clip in the narrative ; he shows that he truly is non as pleased with his life as he lets others believe. At this early point in the narrative Peter has non yet realized that he has in fact barricaded himself in a sheltered environment, metaphorically talking. In the sum of clip that Peter has spent in his metaphorical gaol which he created, the thicker the bars have gotten. Without being cognizant of it, Peter has become really lonely. He is hungering for the company of anyone other than his household and/or colleagues ; for this ground he is really tolerant of Jerry throughout the narrative. By the terminal of the drama the biggest indicant of Peter s purdah is the bench in the park that he frequents. The bench becomes symbolic of Peter s coop. Amidst Jerry s jab, Peter says, I sit on this bench about every Sunday afternoon, in good conditions ( p.41 ) ; therefore, bespeaking a predictable, humdrum, insistent life manner. Peter s demand for redemption from the coop he lives in is finally what drives him to pick up the knife at the terminal and point it violently at Jerry.

We all put ourselves in these coops of life, some intentionally, some sub-consciously ; but, no affair how or why we do this it can take its toll on us finally. Leting the bars we put up to turn thicker and thicker is damaging to the mind. Unfortunately, if we are incognizant of our sadness as Peter was of his, we can stop up being more susceptible to the things we try to protect ourselves from. Although, have bars up isn T ever a bad thing. Sometimes we need protection from people who want to do us injury. In Jerry s instance, he was coherent of his state of affairs ; nevertheless, it seemed as if he believed that the lone manner out would be decease!