Behind The Cages
Uploaded by alekk on Dec 14, 2003
Teacher: Bocsor Péter
Introduction to Literature 2 Seminar
2003. 03. 22. Spring, Szeged, Hungary
Tóth Gabriella
Imprisoned Souls
The Zoo Story, by Edward Albee is a one-act play, with a simple plot, representing a deep, socio-philosophical question: the feeling of being isolated, and loneliness People in modern, post-industrialised society can often feel that they are unimportant, ignored and their life is not more than vegetation. Many times people can only see one way out of the prison of their lives, but this way sometimes leads them to a tragedy.
The drama, in my point of view, can be interpreted as the metaphor of human alienation. The two empty picture frames, mentioned by Jerry; the word ”Zoo”, in the title and all through the play; and the rooming house, in which the protagonist lives, are the symbols of human beings, being isolated from each other. The separation of people is caused by the invisible fences that they create around themselves.
Peter, one of the two main characters, -a mild-mannered publisher-, is living the everyday life of an upper middle-class married man, who is perfectly satisfied with his life at the beginning of the play. We see Jerry, at the same time, initially, as a young, shabbily dressed, aggressively hostile man. He accosts Peter; who is sitting quietly on a bench, reading a book; and starts to poor out his emotions and life story. It turns out from Jerry’s monologues that he is lonely, but not really physically, but rather emotionally. He has ”no feelings about any of his parents”. His “good old Mom and good old Pop” departed this life when he was only ten years old. The reason for his coldness towards his parents is that his mother left the family and died of having been a heavy drinker. His father died of for similar reasons. He can not create a lasting relationship with the opposite sex either. When Jerry gives the list of his personal belongings, he mentions ”two empty picture frames”, which, on the one hand, refer to the fact that he does not have anyone to love and he is not loved by anybody either. That is why the frames remained ”pictureless”. The empty picture frames, on the other hand, mean more than being unloved by others. They are also the symbol of being unaware of who we are.
The description about the board house, given by Jerry, gives us the impression of...