The Analysis of The Zoo Story

The Zoo Story shows the personalities of the two characters, Jerry and Peter. Jerry showed that he did not have a good background when it comes to his family and the way he lives his life. He sees Peter as a man that has not seen the harsh realities of life.

Jerry views his family as something that is not worth remembering as he spoke to Peter. His words,  “I have no feeling about any of it that I care to admit to myself.

Perhaps you can see, though, why good old Mom and good old Pop are frameless.” shows that he does not want to remember anything about his family. Jerry had commented that he had never been with a woman twice, this only show that Jerry has no plans of sharing his life with anybody. He is and wants to stay a loner.

            The title shows that the world is like a zoo. The play shows that each person has his or her own cage in a certain way.

Jerry is seen as an isolated animal who does not mingle or talk much to other people. As he had said in the play, “I don’t talk to many people-except to say like: give me a beer, or where’s the john, or what time does the feature go on, or keep your hands to yourself, buddy. You know-things like that.” Jerry had also described the other people who had been in the rooms on where he was staying.

Each person in each room has their own cages, the Puerto Rican family, the lady who cries all the time, his landlady and the other tenants of the rooming house. Peter can also be classified as living in a metaphorical zoo. As Jerry analyzes Peter’s situation, he had assessed that Peter is caged and tied down with his responsibilities as a father. Even though Peter does not like the situation or the pets that they keep inside the house, he has no choice but to put up with it because that is what his family wants. As Jerry says “That’s the way the cookie crumbles”.

            Comparing Peter and Jerry, each represent a part of society. Peter symbolizes the idealistic part of modern society. The typical family man who would spend most of his time together with his family and friends. On the other hand, Jerry represents the life of living in your own. Based on the way Peter and Jerry had described their lives, both have different backgrounds and family life. Jerry had been brought in a part of a society who represents poverty and broken home.

Peter is living the life of an ideal family with a good background with a family and has a good job. Jerry shows indifference towards the way he lives his life while Peter on the other hand shows his enthusiasm with Jerry. However, when it comes to pride and honor, a person is urged to lose control. As shown by Peter, Jerry was taunting him about satisfaction, his family and the bench where he seats on. Peter had lost control of his anger and had succumbed to Jerry’s taunting. This only show that whatever your background is if taunted and tested to the limits, people surrender to their own animalistic violence.

            Towards the end of the play, it seems that Jerry had all planned on Peter as someone who would give him the freedom to die. I believe that Jerry has planned everything ever since he saw Peter sitting on the bench. It seems that he had reached the end of it and wanted nothing more out of life that is why he taunted Peter into killing him.

When Jerry had asked Peter to use the knife and then when he was killed and wiped the knife off, this is pure evidence that he just wanted freedom from his cage. The dialogue that Jerry gave to Peter show that he is very tired and empty and does not wanted or expects anything more from life. Maybe Jerry does not want to end his own life that is why he taunted Peter and thus forced Peter to take the step to end his life and free him in his own hell.

Works Cited:  The Zoo Story