Depiction of Social Realism and the Need for Action

Albee uses provocative language in trying to put his points across and he keeps his readers indulged through the use of irony and sarcastic sentiments by the characters. He reflects the society as it is to his audience pointing out the realities that might sometimes be hard to come in contact with and accept. The Zoo story looks at the society from two different viewpoints allowing the readers to understand the contrasts between them (Goldman). Albee touches on the need to belong versus the feeling of being a reject of the society, the absence of a communicative culture in the society and violence and the hypocritical nature of the society and the never-ending love and desire for material things. Through the characters Peter and Jerry and their independent lives, Albee emphasizes on the need for communication and interaction between people in the society, not like the vegetables that lack thoughts or actions, in order to ensure that they overcome the despair and loneliness.

He wants to be noticed and included as part of something so as seize existing like a vegetable and live life as it should be lived. His lack of visitors also shows his isolation and leaving his door open could elude to wanting company which is a big part of belonging in a society (Albee). Jerry goes ahead and describes the other family in his neighborhood and he refers to them as the Puerto Rican family, he does not know much about them but he has observed that they like laughing and making fun. The fact that Jerry does not know his neighbors names and refers to them by features they portray shows how disconnected the world he lives in is and the fact that it lacks communication and capacity to interact.

Jerry lives in the suburbs and refers to the living space there as laughable with other conjoined rooms inhabited by his neighbors. He is well connected in the society’s circuit and unlike Jerry he actually has an active social life. The life that Peter leads is the ideal life of an American, it looks more like fancy than it does reality. He is protected and meant to believe it makes him sophisticated, things that Jerry’s encounter with him is meant to change. Peter lacks that aspect of communication also and the conversation with Jerry is meant to bridge that gap. Jerry desires to share his life and experiences with someone and it is this urge that brings him to the park where he meets Peter (Katherine, 37).

The plan fails and so he notes that he tries to start a whole new relationship with the dog which at this point is nothing but respect for each other. The story of Jerry and the dog is meant to help Jerry forge a meaningful relationship with Peter and to bring him in on the realities of his life, of life in general inhibited. Peter does not have prior knowledge of the existence of characters such as that of the landlady since the world he lives in is protected, he says “I find it hard to believe that people such as that really are” (Albee, page 28). However by the end of Peter’s encounter with Jerry, his life and perspective are changed.

He engages in a fight that is prompted by Jerry and this brings to life a part of him that he did not know he had. He is blind to the world before him and fails miserably at seeing the reality of things until his encounter with Jerry. He, just like a vegetable just sits there and lets life happen, life as he knows it and understands it without the slightest effort to seek out the true reality of life and its challenges. Ergo, Jerry’s insult is meant to shade light on the ignorance Peter bears to how exactly the real world operates. Jerry then takes a knife and hands it to Peter who refuses to take it, showing his reserved character and the absence of violence in his life (Harehdasht, 21).

However, Jerry pokes him and attacks him until Peter takes up the knife and Jerry runs into it killing himself. Peter is fixated to material things and the contest that Jerry puts up is meant to show that and to teach him a lesson eventually on how much it means when one loses his life for it. The park bench is worthless after the death of Jerry and Peter realizes that it was nothing but vanity. Edward Albee uses the bench at Central park as a unifying factor between the people in the well to do areas where Peter lives and the Upper West side where Jerry comes from. The two sides of the city are contrasted Jerry’s life made to appear more realist as that of Peter reflects fantasy and illusion, more of expectation that real life situation.