What happens in zoo story?

What happens in zoo story?

In The Zoo Story by Edward Albee, two strangers named Peter and Jerry meet on a park bench in New York City’s Central Park. Jerry asks Peter about his life without revealing much about himself. In the end, Jerry commits suicide by throwing himself onto a knife he has just given to Peter.

Why does Jerry pull a knife in The Zoo Story?

Jerry tells Peter that he wants the bench to himself and that he will only tell him “what happened at the zoo” if Peter gives up the bench or fights for it. After Peter agrees to fight Jerry for the bench, Jerry pulls out a knife and throws it at Peter’s feet, to make it a more even fight.

What is the theme of The Zoo Story?

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.

What does the zoo symbolize in The Zoo Story?

In The zoo Story symbolism is part of the very fabric of the play functioning within, as well as enlarging its surface meaning. The zoo constitutes the central symbol of the play and is an image of human isolation and absence of contact and communication. It is an apt and poignant symbol.

How does zoo end in the book?

Finally, on a trip to Botswana, he survives an attack by a large band of male lions in which about one hundred people are killed over a large area. He saves the life of ecologist Chloe Tousignant. Upon returning to America, he finds his girlfriend dead in his apartment, killed and partly eaten by his pet chimpanzee.

What role do animals play in The Zoo Story?

Animals probably represent Jerry’s baser nature. That is, animals act, sometimes brutually and sometimes seemingly without cause of attack. In a zoo, those animals also suffer isolation….

How does zoo story end?

By Edward Albee The very end of The Zoo Story has Peter screaming “OH MY GOD!” and then Jerry says, “Oh…my…God,” and then he dies.

Who tosses the knife first in The Zoo Story?

Peter grows increasingly agitated by this encounter. Jerry becomes abusive, tosses Peter a knife, provokes him into a fight, and then impales himself on the knife. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.

Why is it called The Zoo Story?

The title is a kind of joke or tease; another way in which the play refuses to quite make sense; it’s about frustrating you, rather than making you happy with action or adventure or a love story or even a pleasant trip to the zoo. The Zoo Story also refers to the play itself, though; it’s a story about a zoo.

How is The Zoo Story absurd?

By Edward Albee The Zoo Story is a play in which you never get to hear the story of the zoo. That’s absurd because it reflects how sometimes the world just doesn’t make sense. According to the philosophy of absurdity, humans want to find value and meaning; they want to know what happened at the zoo.

What does the dog symbolize in zoo story?

By Edward Albee That’s the landlady’s dog Jerry is talking about; a giant, evil beast with a red “erection” (157) and a foul temper. The dog attacks Jerry, Jerry tries to poison him. You’re probably thinking the dog symbolizes some sort of existential whatsit about the horror of humanity and the cruelty of life.

What role does the dog play in The Zoo Story?

The Zoo Story is almost humorous in the absurd lengths to which Jerry goes to deal with the dog. The dog, which is owned by Jerry’s landlady, always tries to attack Jerry upon entering the house, so he decides to take some action about it. In the story, regardless of what Jerry does, the dog treats him the same.

What is the plot of the Zoo Story?

Summary. The Zoo Story is a stunning tour de force by a new playwright. It is theatrically simple yet thematically complex. The long one-act play has only two characters, strangers to each other, who meet in Central Park on a summer Sunday afternoon. When the curtain rises, Peter is sitting on a park bench reading a book.

What is the setting of the zoo by John Steinbeck?

The Zoo Story Summary The entire play is set on a park bench in Central Park. One Sunday afternoon, Peter, an upper-middle-class family man and publishing executive in his mid-forties, is reading a book on a bench. Jerry, a sloppily dressed transient in his late thirties, approaches and announces that he is coming from the Central Park Zoo.

When did Albee write the Zoo Story?

The Zoo Story is a one-act play by three-time Pulitzer Prize winning American playwright, Edward Albee. Written in 1958, it premiered in West Berlin, Germany in 1959. It had its United States debut at the Provincetown Playhouse in Cape Cod, Massachusetts in 1960.

What is the difference between the Zoo Story and homelife?

The Zoo Story is infused with a young man’s frustration and hormonal energy, while Homelife is the product of an older, more contemplative mind.” All of the action of The Zoo Story takes place on a Sunday afternoon on a bench in New York City’s Central Park.