What does Jerry's trip to the zoo symbolize in "The Zoo Story" by Edward Albee?
I believe that Jerry's trip to the zoo was one of those examples of 'having to go a long distance out of the way in order to come back a shorter distance correctly." What did Jerry say about his trip to the zoo? He said he saw SEPARATION and ISOLATION...between the animals and the people and the animals and other animals. This is very similar to the metaphoric zoo Jerry lives in every day in his rooming house where everyone is separated from each other and Jerry does not ever break through the "cages" to get to know anyone. Jerry comes to an epiphany at the zoo. Man cannot reach to make contact with others. He decides that he will attempt to disprove his theory with Peter or "die trying."
For some reason, which is not clear to me, often when life gets chaotic,...
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it's compared to a zoo; how often have we heard "what a zoo!" in these situations. My experience of zoos is that they are places of order with all the animals in their cages and paths that take us along the way. Anyway, I think the zoo in this question is being used in the first sense, to stand for the chaos, class warfare and absurdity of life that Jerry has lived through. Peter has not been to the zoo. He has money, status, and is involved in an intellectual activity when Jerry exits the zoo and meets him. Jerry is not going back to the zoo, although we do not know this as the play begins. He is finished with it and is going to enlist the aid of Peter in finalizing his exit.
What is Jerry's purpose in Edward Albee's The Zoo Story?
Jerry has been seen by critics as a "Christ figure" or at the very least a martyr who changes Peter's life forever with his short "encounter." Jerry brings the message to Peter that there is indeed suffering in this world..suffering which Peter may not know in his own life with a wife, 2 daughters, 2 cats and 2 parakeets. Jerry is determined to convince Peter that Socrates was right when he said "an unexamined life is not worth living." Jerry dies delivering this message but Peter will never be the same with the knowledge that he was forced to acknowledge that Sunday in the park.
Edward Albee's "The Zoo Story" is a darkly humorous examination of two people's existence. The entire drama is an interaction between a middle aged family man and a misplaced, lost, man who is trying to "get to the zoo" through an internal examination of his soul. Jerry is necessary to the play because it is Jerry who plays the Christ-like figure to Peter, who becomes an "apostle" of truth at the play's end.
Jerry is an everyman. He represents all of us who are unhappy with the circumstances of our lives. Jerry demonstrates the inability of communicating with people and it is not until the final moments of the play does Peter really "hear" what Jerry has to say. For Jerry is a prophet of sorts, dispensing his views on existentialism, life, sexuality, his parents, the interaction of people, on literal and symbolic "zoos", etc. One could say that the reader is privy to the happenings in this one cage of a zoo. Jerry is the wild, aggressive animal, and Peter is the more reserved one.We study Jerry and his message as we would study a different sort of creature in a zoo.