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Theme Of The Zoo Story By Edward Albee

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This paper is concerned on the main theme of the play “The Zoo story” by Edward Albee. In this play we can observe how people are seen as an animal and how this affects their way of living and also how their life is compared to a zoo. The entire play beginning with the title is a metaphor for “a caged animal”. The play was written in 1958 and in the beginning it was named Peter and Jerry. The title can be seen as a metaphor for Peter’s life. Since he met Jerry he was seen as a caged animal because he did not act by instinct and during their conversation tried to be a gentleman with Jerry. Peter’s life is a successful one because he has a family, two daughters, two cats, two parakeets, a wife and a good job “You have everything in the world you want; you've told me about your home, and your family, and your own little zoo. You have everything, and now you want this bench.” (The Zoo Story-page 18) This may be the main reason Jerry saw him as an animal from the zoo, caged and unable to be free. Because of this, we can understand that a caged animal is a man that has everything except the fact that he does not follow his dreams (Peter wanted a son and a dog but instead he has two daughters and two cats), a man who lives in ignorance of what happens outside his comfort zone. Peter’s condition as a caged animal changes in the end of the play when he …show more content…

Peter has opened his eyes, he has seen that the world has more to show and that the has lived he’s life like in a zoo and that all people tend to live like animals unaware of their true condition and of the intensity of their lives. Although it ends with a death, the play has an important message from all the readers: instead of living in our comfort zone, we should free ourselves from the control that people have on us, we should explore ourselves. We need to find our own identity in this big and modern

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