JERRY’S CLASS STRUGGLE

IN EDWARD ALBEE’S THE ZOO STORY

A Thesis Presented to The Graduate Program in English Language Studies

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Magister Humaniora (M.Hum.) in English Language Studies

by

JOHAN KRISTANTO
Student Number: 076332005

The Graduate Program in English Language Studies

Sanata Dharma University
Yogyakarta
2010

i
ii
iii
 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

This is to certify that all the ideas, phrases, and sentences, unless otherwise

stated, are the ideas, phrases, and sentences of the thesis writer. The writer

understands the full consequences including degree cancellation if he took somebody

else‟s idea, phrase, or sentence without a proper reference.

Yogyakarta, August 23, 2010

Johan Kristanto

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 LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI
KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:

Nama : Johan Kristanto

Nomor Mahasiswa : 076332005

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan

Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

JERRY’S CLASS STRUGGLE IN EDWARD ALBEE’S THE ZOO STORY

beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan
kepada perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan
dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data,
mendistribusikan secara terbatas dan mempublikasikannya di media internet atau
media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta izin dari saya maupun
memberi royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.

Dibuat di Yogyakarta

Pada tanggal 23 Agustus 2010

Yang menyatakan

Johan Kristanto

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 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

It is a pleasure for me to thank all those who helped in the process of

completing the thesis. It is my pleasure to name some of them.

I am indebted so much to Prof. Dr. C. Soebakdi Soemanto, S.U. for his

patience, willingness, commitment, guidance, advice, and consolation to discuss this

thesis. He invited me to think more deeply about it by asking challenging and curious

questions. Meeting with him could last hours but it was fun, satisfying, and relieving.

I believed that without him I could not complete my thesis. I am very grateful for

never-ending encouragements he gave to me in finishing the thesis and his invaluable

support especially when I was down. His moral support and continuous guidance

enabled me to finish this thesis. My gratitude goes also to Mrs. Lana Indrayati, his

wife, for her hospitality, advice, and sharing at the dining table. They always received

me warmly and tenderly at their house.

I would like to appreciate and thank Dr. Novita Dewi, M.S., M.A. (Hons.) for

giving me help, great and insightful ideas as well as encouragements.

My thanks go to Dr. J. Bismoko. Several times in several meetings he tapped

my shoulder warmly asking my condition. Sometimes he just tapped my shoulder and

smiled but his attitudes meant a lot to me. I must extend my thanks to the head of the

Graduate Program in English Language Studies Dr. F.X. Mukarto, M.S. for his

support and warmth, Dr. B.B. Dijatmoko, M.A., Prof. Dr. Soepomo Poedjosoedarmo,

M.A., who encouraged me to show my identity by speaking „Banyumasan‟ and to Dr.

vi
Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd., M.A. for his rare smile. I offer my special thanks to Dr. St.

Sunardi and B. Rahmanto, M.Hum. for their effort and critical suggestions.

I should express my gratitude to Dr. Priyono Marwan SJ, Prof. Dr. Melani

Budianta, M.A., Prof. Dr. Anita Lie, M.A., Yunita Linawati, Apt., MSc., Dr. I.

Praptomo Baryadi, M.Hum., Dr. F.X.B. Tulus Wardaya SJ, Prapta Diharja SJ, M.

Hum., Mrs. Maria Caecilia Sri Mahyarati, Mrs. Florentina Haryati, Tony

Cahyawanto, S.T., and Desi Muditamurni, S.E. for their support by letters and

meetings.

My deepest and sincere gratitude goes to my super mother, brothers, sisters,

and sisters-in-law for their unceasing prayers, supportive courage, and understanding.

I wish to express appreciation to C. Sumardhi, S.Pd., and P. Sugeng, S.Pd. for

permitting me to leave my educational work to pursue my degree and to Mgr.

Julianus Sunarka who supports me to continue and to complete my study.

Accordingly my gratitude goes to my fellow graduate students: Charles,

„simpatik‟ Amalia, „Peter Parker‟ Chosa, „Mary Jane‟ Siegfrieda, „supportive and

wise mom‟ Thinneke, ‟Solonese‟ Gracia, Yuniar, Siwi, Meylina, Sriyanti, Nico

Garum, Mariska, ‟Banyumasan‟ Josephine, Amalia, Suyono, Trisnowati, Katarina,

Oh Pan Suk, „Romo Koko‟ Bambang Santoso, Pratitis, Dian, and Manupapami for

their sharing, support, jokes, advice, and prayers. And to many others whose names

are not mentioned here.

Finally, I must thank all those who have taken so much trouble to help bring

this thesis into existence.

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This thesis is dedicated to my grandmothers, my mother,
my brothers and sisters, and
my dear late father who passed away
on March 9, 2009.

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 Day after day O, Lord of my life,
shall I stand before thee face to face.
With folded hands O, Lord of all worlds,
shall I stand before thee face to face.
Under thy great sky in solitude and silence with
humble heart,
shall I stand before thee face to face.
In this laborious world of thine, tumultuous with toil
and with struggle among hurrying crowds,
shall I stand before thee face to face.
And when my work shall be done in this world O,
King of Kings, alone and speechless,
shall I stand before thee face to face.
(Rabindranath Tagore)

Our heart is restless until it repose in Thee.

(Augustine of Hippo)

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE .................................................................................. i

APPROVAL PAGE ........................................................................ ii
DEFENSE APPROVAL PAGE ..................................................... iii
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY .............................................. iv
PUBLICATION APPROVAL PAGE ........................................... v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................ vi
DEDICATION PAGE ..................................................................... viii
POEM ............................................................................................... ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................ x
ABSTRACT ..................................................................................... xii
ABSTRAK ....................................................................................... xiii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study ............................................................................. 1
B. Problem Limitation ...................................................................................... 6
C. Problem Formulation ................................................................................... 7
D. Objectives of the Study ................................................................................ 7
E. Research Method ......................................................................................... 8
F. Benefits of the Study .................................................................................... 9

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW

A. Review on Related Studies .......................................................................... 10
B. Review on Related Theories ........................................................................ 30
1. Marxism in Literature .............................................................................. 31
2. Sociological Approach ............................................................................ 34
3. Class ........................................................................................................ 36
C. Theoretical Framework ............................................................................... 37

CHAPTER III: SOCIAL CONDITON IN THE ZOO STORY

A. Class Distinction .......................................................................................... 41
B. Characters .................................................................................................... 43

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CHAPTER IV: CHARACTER BEHAVIOUR TO OVERCOME
THE SOCIAL CONDITION
A. Jerry‟s Attempt to Oppose the System ......................................................... 51
B. Peter‟s Action to Keep His Position ............................................................ 56

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ...................................................... 60

BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................... 64

APPENDICES
Appendix 1 ......................................................................................................... 68
Appendix 2 ......................................................................................................... 72
Appendix 3 ......................................................................................................... 75
Appendix 4 ......................................................................................................... 77

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 ABSTRACT

Johan Kristanto. 2010. Jerry’s Class Struggle in Edward Albee’s The Zoo Story.
Yogyakarta: English Language Studies. Graduate Program. Sanata Dharma
University.

The Zoo Story was the first theatre of the absurd that was made and performed
by an American. Its appearance is inspired by the successful appearance of En
attendant Godot or Waiting for Godot in France. For the first time, American public
does not welcome the appearance of the play because of the unusual format: there are
two benches only, unclear topics because they always jump into another one, and the
awkward setting where there are two benches only and foliages on the vast stage. The
success appearance of Waiting for Godot in France and some European countries
makes the Americans want to know further about the play. This study, therefore, is to
answer two questions. First, what kind of social conditions in capitalist society is
depicted in the The Zoo Story? Second, how do the characters behave to overcome
the social conditions?
As this study is a qualitative research, close reading is required to analyze the
social conditions in the play and how the characters behave. This thesis employs
Marxist theory and sociological approach to examine class struggle.
This study also discusses that there will be always neglected people in society,
how the working class struggles to achieve their dreams, and how the established
people behave to other classes. It makes sense that the established people will
maintain their position but it would be better if they have a little compassion to
others. In this sense, The Zoo Story plays its role as a literary critic toward economy,
political, and social life. It is hoped that the play can inspire society to the
improvement in every aspect of life.
There are findings after conducting the analysis. The first finding is that the
social disparity cannot be separated from our lives. Social disparity makes people loss
the spirit of compassion. In The Zoo Story the disparity between upper class and
lower class is too wide. The upper class who owns a lot of wealth is getting richer but
lack of empathy towards the lower class. In this thesis, the writer concludes that Jerry,
who comes from a lower class, tries to get Peter‟s attention because he wants to be
equal to him. In the other words, Jerry wants to eliminate class distinction in the
society and to let him free from his alienation. Jerry is successful to achieve his
dream but it must be redeemed by his own life. Second finding is that Peter, who
comes from upper class, tends to maintain his position. By answering Jerry‟s
questions reluctantly, he shows his position is different from him. His reluctance to
share the bench symbolizes his willing to keep his social status.

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 ABSTRAK

Johan Kristanto. 2010. Jerry’s Class Struggle in Edward Albee’s The Zoo Story.
Yogyakarta: Kajian Bahasa Inggris. Program Pascasarjana. Universitas Sanata
Dharma.

The Zoo Story merupakan drama absurd pertama yang dibuat dan dipentaskan
oleh orang Amerika. Kemunculannya diilhami oleh keberhasilan En attendant Godot
atau Waiting for Godot di Prancis. Pada mulanya drama ini tidak diterima oleh
masyarakat Amerika karena bentuknya yang aneh: pemainnya hanya ada dua,
topiknya tidak jelas karena meloncat dari satu topik ke topik lainnya, dan setting
panggungnya tidak seperti setting panggung pada umumnya, hanya ada dua bangku
dan pohon yang meranggas padahal panggungnya sangat luas. Keberhasilan
pementasan Waiting for Godot di Prancis dan beberapa negara lain di Eropa membuat
orang Amerika ingin tahu lebih jauh seperti apakah lakon itu sebenarnya. Studi ini
berusaha menjawab dua pertanyaan. Pertama, seperti apakah situasi masyarakat
kapitalis seperti yang digambarkan dalam drama The Zoo Story? Yang kedua,
bagaimana para pelaku bersikap dalam menghadapi situasi yang seperti itu?
Karena studi ini merupakan sebuah penelitian kualitatif membaca dengan teliti
diperlukan untuk menganalisa bagaimana situasi saat itu dan bagaimana para pelaku
bertindak. Tesis ini menerapkan teori Marxist dan pendekatan sosial dalam
menganalisa perjuangan kelas.
Studi ini juga mendiskusikan bahwa selalu ada kelompok yang tertinggal
dalam masyarakat, bagaimana kelompok yang tertinggal berusaha meraih impian, dan
bagaimana sikap kelompok yang sudah berhasil terhadap kelompok yang lain. Adalah
wajar bila kelompok yang sudah mapan berusaha mempertahankan kedudukannya
tetapi ada baiknya kalau ia pun berbela rasa pada kelompok yang lain. Di sinilah The
Zoo Story memainkan perannya sebagai kritik sosial terhadap kehidupan ekonomi,
politik, dan sosial. Diharapkan karya sastra ini memberikan inspirasi untuk perbaikan
pada tiap aspek kehidupan dalam masyarakat.
Ada dua penemuan setelah melakukan analisis pada The Zoo Story. Penemuan
pertama adalah bahwa ketimpangan sosial tidak bisa dipisahkan dari kehidupan hidup
bermasyarakat. Perbedaan sosial status yang sangat tinggi menyebabkan orang
kehilangan bela rasa terhadap orang lain. Dalam The Zoo Story perbedaaan sosial itu
sangat lebar. Yang penting adalah sikap dan tindakan kita dalam menghadapinya.
Dalam The Zoo Story tokoh Jerry yang berasal dari kelas bawah berusaha
mendapatkan perhatian dari Peter yang berasal dari kelas atas karena ia ingin sejajar
dengannya. Dengan kata lain Jerry ingin meniadakan perbedaan kelas yang ada dalam
masyarakat Amerika saat itu. Apa yang dilakukan Jerry memang berhasil tetapi
keberhasilannya itu harus ditebus dengan harga yang sangat mahal yaitu hidupnya
sendiri. Penemuan kedua adalah bahwa Peter yang berasal dari kelas atas cenderung

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mempertahankan posisinya sbagai warga kelas atas. Keseganannya menjawab
pertanyaan-pertanyaan Jerry menunjukkan hal itu. Keenganannya berbagi kursi
dengan Jerry menunjukkan kalau dirinya ingin tetap mempertahankan status sosialnya

xiv
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A .Background of the Study

The present writer was very startled when he read articles in Kompas

published on April 19, 2010 and May 5, 2010. The first article told us about an old

woman who was caught out of stealing a pine log and was punished ten years. The

second article told us about a corruptor who had been sentenced five years only. In

the writer‟s perspective, the sentences were unjust. How much did it cost for a pine

log and how much money did the corruptor had been corrupted? The comparison

between them was really unbalanced and ridiculous. It was hard to understand those

facts of absurdity happened in daily life.

Drama is a product of art. It is a literary work designed for the theatre where

actors take the roles of characters, perform the prescribed script, and utter the

dialogue. From sociological perspective, as a social product of art, a literary work is a

mirror of its society. Literature has a strong relation with society. A writer lives in a

society and becomes a member of it. He/she experiences and feels pillars of a society:

economy, politics, and culture. There is interconnecting relation among political

condition, economic fluctuation, and social turbulence behind a literary work.

Sometimes the three pillars cannot go hand-in-hand. The three pillars are conducted

by a government but sometimes there is difference opinion in implementing the

1
pillars between the government and the society. The government thinks that he is

doing for the goodness of the society but the society thinks the other way. As a result,

there is a tension between the government and the society. The tension makes a

disharmonious relation between them which can lead into unbalanced society order.

The author experiences all of those turbulences and pours them into a literary

work in order to be known so that the society can take an action to fix it or at least

support a movement of change. The present writer takes The Zoo Story for an

example. After the great depression, President Theodore Roosevelt launched an

economic programme named New Deal. The general goal of the programme was to

improve the economy sector. The programme was successful. The Americans

afforded their economy booming. It could not only raise the number of rich people

but also it increased the number of unlucky people-poverty. It was an ironic situation

where the Americans should have lived in an established economy after the economy

booming but unfortunately not all of the people could achieve it. There must be

something wrong with the society. It is the task of an author to voice it. Sharpened

by his sensitivity and compassion he writes a literary work as a voice of the voiceless.

That is why literature cannot be separated from its society. So, it can be concluded

that literature is the result of society as stated by Lucien Goldmann that literature

represents the world view of a particular group (Goldmann, 1975: 168). Georges

Gurvitch in his essay “The Sociology of the Theatre” as compiled by Elizabeth and

Tom Burns‟s Sociology of Literature and Drama also has similar idea.

2
 To begin with, it is necessary to demonstrate the affinity between society and
theatre, taking the theatre as starting point. Is not the theatre itself a social
phenomenon? It is undeniable that it represents a social situation, a social
gathering; it constitutes a certain social framework in its own right, within
which the actors are integral parts (1973: 73).

Many novels and plays that we have are the reflection of certain messages or

values which the society holds and we can know that messages or values by reading

the literary work that is written by the author. Here the author, as a member of a

society, who lives in society and involves himself in social life, delivers what he sees,

what he thinks, and what he judges in literary work. The author who lives in the

society witnesses the social and economic injustice, poverty, war, development and

demolition, and finally giving suggestion for the goodness of the society. From the

sociological perspective the main source of his writing is the social context where he

is raised not the author himself. He writes a play or a novel not from his sharp and

brilliant thinking but from the turbulence he witnesses from the society in which he

becomes a member of it. Generated by all those facts he writes his novels or plays.

The author here functions as a loud speaker or a messenger to be the witness

mouthpiece as Georg Lukács said that literature is able to penetrate the surface of

society, highlighting hidden connections and identifying the underlying trends which

may lead to its revolutionary transformation (Lukács 1990: 98). In line with Georg

Lukács, Albee takes his role as a transformer to voice a wind of change to the

American society.

3
 In this thesis the present writer will analyze The Zoo Story, a play written by

Edward Albee. The Zoo Story was written in New York, 1958 when he was thirty and

he finished writing it in three weeks only. After being passed from colleague to

colleague, publisher to publisher, director to director and no one was interested in the

play, Albee thought that the play was really bad – it did not match with people‟s taste.

There was no one interested in the play because at that time this kind of play was

unusual. People were used to have a clear story like other stories that had existed

before; stories that were written according to the rules or conventions. Usually, the

play had a vivid plot, message, and goal but The Zoo Story seem did not have one of

the criteria. And the second reason was about money. At that time Broadway and

Hollywood dominated the world of theatre in America and they considered that a

good play must produce much money (Amacher, 1982: 13). So if a play seemed

produce less money, they would reject it albeit it had good quality. Finally it was

produced at the Schiller Theatre Werkstatt in Berlin on September 28, 1959 in

German version entitled Die Zoo Geschichte and won the Berlin Festival Award in

1959. The reason why Waiting for Godot was easily received in France and then in

German because European people were familiar with that kind of play. Winning the

award made it easy to be performed in Broadway, New York on January 14, 1960.

The award triggered people‟s curiosity about the play. They thought that there was

something special about it.

Like Waiting for Godot, The Zoo Story belongs to the theatre of the absurd.

Theatre of the absurd is a kind of term spoken out by Martin Esslin. Theatre of the
4
absurd is a kind of drama which presents the absurdity of human condition by

abandoning rational devices and the use of non-realistic form. It does not portray a

series incidents but a pattern of images presenting people as alienated things in the

universe.

Edward Albee never calls himself as a writer of absurd plays. The term

Theatre of the Absurd is given by Martin Esslin and Albee never likes the term

because it sounds offensive.

Well, let me come at it obliquely. When I was told, about a year ago, that I
was considered a member in good standing of The Theatre of the Absurd I
was deeply offended. I was deeply offended because I had never heard the
term before and I immediately assumed that it applied to the theatre uptown-
Broadway (Goldstone, 1986: 771).

…I was less offended, but still a little dubious. Simply I don‟t like labels: they
can be facile and can lead to nonthink on the part on the public….unless this
is understood, then the labelling itself will be more absurd than the label
(Goldstone, 1986: 772).

He also does not agree with the definition of the Theatre of the Absurd giving by

Martin Esslin. Here is his definition on the Theatre of the Absurd:

I would submit that The Theatre of the Absurd, in the sense that it is truly the
contemporary theatre, facing as it does man‟s condition as it is, is Realistic
theatre of our time; and that the supposed Realistic theatre-the term used here
to mean most of what is done on Broadway-in the sense that it panders to the
public need for self-congratulation and reassurance and presents a false
picture of ourselves to ourselves, is , with an occasional very lovely
exception, really and truly The Theatre of the Absurd (Goldstone, 1986: 774).

B. Problem Limitation

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 The social aspects in The Zoo Story will unveil the social situation at that

time. The reading will be focused on the behaviours and dialogues of the characters.

What they do and say reflect their society because they are members of a society.

Albeit they do not represent the whole society but at least their conducts are

influenced by a certain society.

The analysis will be concentrated on the social aspects shown by Peter and

Jerry. In order to make this writing focus on the main problem, issues of social status

The Zoo Story are covered. Then, the writer also depicts class distinction and interest

as portrayed by the main characters through dialogues and attitude. Besides analyzing

those aspects, the writer will also tries to explain the cultural background behind the

play using the Marxist perspectives. The study also tries to describe the cultural

background of the play besides the biographical data of the playwright. Albeit the

conversations in the play indicate their local colour, that linguistic feature won‟t be

analyzed as an independent aspect since it belongs to certain class of society, and it

will be included in the analysis of cultural aspects.

C. Problem Formulation

Based on the assumption that society can influence a literary work, this study

will deal with society at that time and characters‟ behaviour. This study is to answer

the following questions:

6
 1. What kind of social condition in capitalist society is depicted in The Zoo

Story?

2. How do the characters behave to overcome the social condition?

To answer question number one, the writer will apply a sociological approach

because the writer wants to know the society described in the play with the real

society at the time the play was written. The writer believes that the society described

in the novel is more or less similar to the real society at that time and the people will

do a certain action to face the society either take it for granted or do something to

resist it. As the main point of Marxism is a class struggle so that to answer question

number one the writer will apply the Marxist theory.

D. Objectives of the Study

Based on the problem formulation presented above, this study surely has two

objectives. First is to dig out the society background at that time that influences

characters‟ behaviour either in their dialogue and attitude. The writer believes that

society holds a central point in forming human being attitude. In other words, human

conduct must be influenced by society, norms, or values that apply at that time.

Secondly is to know the response of the characters in facing that kind of social

condition. In facing the society, a human being can do two things. He can accept the

society where he lives in or he chooses to reject it. This hypothesis arises from a

belief that every literary work, in this case The Zoo Story, is a social document which

reflects the society and social condition when a literary work is written. From The
7
Zoo Story we know the social condition, zeitgeist, and people‟s struggle in order to

survive.

E. Research Method

The material object of the study is Edward Albee‟s The Zoo Story published

by Plume Publisher in 1997. The discussion of the study will be focused on the

society and characters‟ responses or conduct toward it. The writer will use a

sociological approach in order to find the answer of social condition at that time. This

approach is used because there is a relationship between society and literary works.

Every society produces its own literary works and by learning them we may know

what kind of society it is behind the works. To sum up, every era will produce literary

works which reflects the real society.

The analysis basically deals with the main characters and its society in the

play. To do the research, the writer conducts library research meaning that the data

are derived from many sources such as books and websites. Particularly those books

and websites deal with comments, critics, or questions about the play, the author, or

the society.

In order to conduct the research, the writer applies three steps. They are

explication, interpretation, and description. In explication the writer has to understand

and to comprehend the main material object in detailed, that is the play itself. By

doing explication the writer reads the text thoroughly. Explication demands the reader

to fully pay attention to the words or dictions not to the context. After understanding
8
and comprehending the main material object, the writer steps to the second step, that

is interpretation. The writer has to discover the hidden meaning from the material

object. In order to discover the hidden meaning, the writer must fetch the supportive

items from other sources. The last step is, the writer has to identify the correlation of

the play with today‟s life.

F. Benefits of the Study

This study is expected to have some benefits. Theoretically, this study is to

show the social condition in America as described in the play and to find the

characters‟ reaction toward the society at that time. A different class of society might

lead into a different perspective and attitude. Further it is to prove that there is a

strong correlation between society and human behaviour or conduct. There must be

something why the characters as a mirror of the society does or thinks likewise or

perhaps against it. This study also makes a contribution to class analysis studies.

As long as human being is still alive there must be always a class struggle

where men are trying to compete to be equal as others either in economic, social,

politic, law, and the like. This study hopefully may help people to understand other‟s

struggle in order to obtain a better life and help them by working hand-in-hand to

promote togetherness. This study also encourages us to strengthen our social

sensitivity and compassion because togetherness can be built on these principles.

9
 CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

Literary works are forms of perception of seeing the society-the world. It is a

process of interweaving between certain value or norm and human being as a member

of the society. Human being as a Homo sapiens uses his ability to think and to adapt

in order to be alive. Because they live in society, the society has a certain value or

norm that must be applied towards its member in order to achieve a certain goal.

Most of the Marxists believe that economic and social conditions, play an important

role in a society. They determine religion, law, and cultural framework. In this place

literature is expected to reveal this condition clearly and more even it is expected to

improve them for the sake of common prosperity.

A. Review on Related Studies

The Zoo Story was written in 1958 in America when Americans were racing

to obtain what was called the American Dreams. The background of the dream was

the result of World War II. World War II left America and its allies in a horror

condition. A great number of dead people, ruined buildings, diseases, collapsed

economic, broken social structure, broken hearted people, and poverty were the most

10
common scenes at that time. It was difficult to get proper food and shelters. The

situation in most European and Asian countries was really hopeless but not in

America. It was true that the USA was the head of the allies but we had notice that

most of the war happened in Asia and Europe continents. The USA did not undergo

the damage at all. They saw how big the damage was and the cost to restore it. They

saw that there were no ways out to overcome this situation but they were really aware

that they had to continue their lives.

In the early 1960s a new movement for art and religion rose up. This

movement was led by youth. The goal of this movement was to invite Americans to

the tradition such as equality. The pioneer of this movement was an African-

American, Martin Luther King. The suffering of the impact of World War II

triggered the Americans to get better lives either in democracy, politic, social and

prosperity. From all the aspects of the dreams, prosperity was the most interesting to

them. They raced with their country men to afford much wealth so that they can get a

higher social status. The more prosper they were the more respect they got

(Sammons, 1977: 58).

The Zoo Story was a social commentary effects that loneliness and ignorance

are attacking American society. Albee realized this danger to the society thus as a

member of society he had moral obligation to make everything in proper. Albeit he

was adopted by the multi-million dollar fortune of American theatre manager Edward

Franklin Albee, he did not loose his attention, compassion, and social awareness to

11
his society (Mc Carthy, 1987: 67). His anxiety about society made him writing the

play and he had a moral education to educate and repair the society (1987: 88).

American people were familiar with conventional drama or traditional drama

which was first created by Aristotle (384-322 BC) from Sophocles‟ works (495-406

BC). At that time the Americans was familiar with Eugene O‟Neill‟s Desire under

the Elms (1924), Mourning becomes Electra (1931), The Iceman Cometh (1939),

Arthur Miller‟s Death of a Salesman (1949), and Tennessee Williams‟ Streetcar

Named Desire (1947). All of the plays above employed traditional drama or

conventional drama. Americans accepted those literary works because they followed

the conventional drama model, but when Albee introduced The Zoo Story to the

American, they rejected it. They rejected the play because it did not follow the

conventional drama model which has been adopted by them for years. If a producer

insisted to perform the play, he would have financial loss. Sometimes a producer had

to follow the society taste in order to get much profit. It is in line with Vasquez:

The artist or the producer is subject to the tastes, preference, ideas, and
aesthetic notions of those who influence the market. Inasmuch as he produces
works of art destined for a market that absorbs them, the artist cannot fail to
heed the exigencies of this market: they often affect the content a well as the
form of a work of art, thus placing limitations on the artist, stifling his creative
potential, his individuality (1973: 84).

All of the plays above have introduction or exposition, rising action, climax,

anti-climax, and resolution or ending. People at that time were used to the kind of

plays and believe that a play should have those characteristics. The sum of the

characters was considered more than three. The more character the play would be
12
better because it would make the problem in a play or novel developed and clear. The

introduction should be long and explain the characters and the plot. In other words,

the introduction helped people to understand the whole story or the play. The last, the

ending of the play should be happy ending or sad ending (Hayman, 1971: 178). So

for them a good play must follow the rules above otherwise it will be considered as

an awkward play and would not be accepted by people. Because of the reasons the

appearance of The Zoo Story in America did not have a warm welcome. The play did

not have the characteristics of the conventional drama: the character was only two,

the language used was farce, the origin of the characters was not clear, the

introduction was very limited, the conversation in the whole play did not have

objection, the problem discussed in the play was different from the usual play, the

decorations of the stage was very minimum because there were only two benches one

toward either side of the stage, foliage, and trees (Kernan, 1967: 89).

Before The Zoo Story, the problems discussed in a play were similar to the

problems that the society was facing, like romance, war, revenge, love affair, social

justice, social protest, power, and the like but in The Zoo Story the problems were not

like them. The problem in the play was not clear and strange. People considered if

The Zoo Story was really a play or not. Besides those elements discussed above, the

genre of the play was not clear either.

People were familiar with the genre, like biography, autobiography, essay,

novel, tragedy, poetry, history, drama and the like but The Zoo Story was not one of

13
them. Because The Zoo Story could not be included to the underlying genre, people

refused it.

The acceptance of The Zoo Story as a play of the absurd in Europe can be

traced back in France. Theatre of the Absurd began in France in 1940s based on a

post-existentialist movement led by Albert Camus and Jean Paul Sartre. Some people

who can be included into absurdist are Samuel Beckett (American) with his work En

attendant Godot (1952) and translated into English Waiting for Godot, Eugene

Ionesco (French) with his work Les Chaises (1952) and La Leçon (1951), Arthur

Adamov (French) with his work Le Ping-pong (1955) and Le Professeur Tarrane

(1953), Harold Pinter (English) with his work The Caretaker (1960), and Jack Gelber

(American) with his work The Connection (published in 1969 and performed in

1959).

In The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), Albert Camus suggested that human situation

was essentially absurd. It implied a pessimistic vision of humanity struggling vainly

to find a purpose and control his destiny. In the theatre of the absurd, humankind was

viewed hopeless, bewildered, and anxious. He viewed human being as an isolated

being who is cast into an alien universe. The essence of the theatre of the absurd was

that human being‟s position in the universe is no sense.

In a universe that is suddenly deprived of illusions and of light, man feels a

stranger. His is an irremediable exile…. This divorce between man and his
life, the actor and his setting, truly constitutes the feeling of Absurdity
(Abrams, 1981: 1).

In his essay on Franz Kafka, Eugène Ionesco strengthens Camus‟s statements:

14
 Cut off from his religious, metaphysical, and transcendental roots, man is lost;
all his actions becomes senseless, absurd, useless (Abrams 1981: 1).

Theatre of the Absurd is a term coined by Martin Esslin to describe particular

plays written in the mid 20th century. Theatre of the Absurd has several

characteristics, such as nonsense dialogue, repetitive or meaningless action, non-

realistic plots or cyclical plots, and freedom of using the language.

The term absurd can be seen from the elements that construct a play. In The

Zoo Story, the plot is eliminated and timeless. From the coming of Jerry to the

Central Park, dialogues between Peter and him, and his death is done in a day. The

characters which are two only just spend the day by talking unclear topics. The

second, the term absurd is applied to a play that has no vivid goal. Another example

is taken from Ionesco‟s Rhinoceros. All the people in a French Village are turned into

rhinos except Berenger. The play ends when Berenger, although deciding that all

rhinos are far more attractive than human being, he decides to fight against them.

Every literary work is made because the author has something to be delivered

to the society and the goal is vividly delivered through the dialogue among the

character but it is not with The Zoo Story. The topics of the dialogue jump from one

topic into another topic which has no relation at all. So, here the theatre of the absurd

want to break through the established of the world theatre at the time especially one

in America. That is why Theatre of the Absurd was welcome in Europe but it had

resistance in the America. When the Europeans accepted The Zoo Story and people

15
there welcomed it enthusiastically, the Americans began to think of accepting it

before finally performed the play to be seen by the public of America.

The absurdist need to break through the established of the world theatre

because the problem of human being is not only about love, war, power, revenge, and

social injustice but there is another problem in society and sometimes the traditional

drama or conventional drama cannot accommodate it. When The Zoo Story was

written, America underwent an economic booming as the result of Roosevelt‟s New

Deal. The America economy which was smack down by the great depression was in

booming. By the economic booming the citizens should have lived prosperously but

unfortunately not all of them. The character of Jerry shows the economic anomaly in

the USA at that time.

Theatre of the Absurd is often called as a reaction to the realism movement in

theatre. The absurdists seek to provide an unmistakably unreal experience rather than

try to conform as closely as possible the concept of real life. In the Theatre of the

Absurd, time and setting are generally ambiguous, if they are even defined at all.

Edward Albee‟s debut in American literature was awesome. He won Pulitzer

Prize three times for A Delicate Balance (1966), Seascape (1975), and Three Tall

Women (1994). The Zoo Story itself won Village Voice Obie Award for the best play

in 1960. It is true that a literary work does not need many awards to be considered

good and excellent. Let people who enjoy the literary work appreciate and judge it

because a literary work can be considered good if it can influence the readers either in

action or way of thinking. A literary work is good if it can trigger people to do

16
something good for themselves and for others. An award is merely an official

recognition from public.

The Zoo Story, like Waiting for Godot, belongs to the literature of the absurd

because it criticized to what was called „the American optimism‟ (Esslin, 1976: 225).

And the appearance of The Zoo Story in 1958 in the USA was the response of the

appearance of En Attendant Godot in 1957 in France. Samuel Beckett, the author,

translated it into English speaking community Waiting for Godot. Many plays project

the irrationalism and absurdity of life, in dramatic forms that reject realistic settings,

logical reasoning, and evolving plot. Literature of the absurd is a term that is applied

in contemporary literature to the sense that human beings are cut off from their

original religious roots. It places human beings in meaningless isolation in an alien

universe (Abrams, 1981: 1). The absurdity of the play seems vividly in the alienated

characters, confusing dialogues where we do not know the points, cyclical plot where

it looks like going nowhere and have no progress, and hopeless atmosphere. Once

again Esslin stresses the meaning of theatre of the absurd.

„Absurd‟ originally means „out of harmony‟ in a musical context. Hence its

dictionary definition: „out of harmony with reason or propriety; incongruous,
unreasonable, illogical.‟ In common usage, „absurd‟ may imply mean
„ridiculous‟ but this is not the sense in which Camus use the word, and in
which it is used when we speak of the Theatre of the Absurd. In an essay on
Kafka, Ionesco defined his understanding of the term as follows:‟ Absurd is
that which is devoid of purpose….Cut off from his religious, metaphysical,
and transcendental roots, man is lost; all his actions become senseless, absurd,
useless.‟ (Esslin, 1968: 23)

17
Another definition on the theatre of the absurd is given by James F. Miller. He

divides the word absurd into surd and absurd as follows:

Surd in its root meaning is irrational without reason. In the quest of surd the
irrationality lies predominantly in the seeker, in the quest of absurd, the
irrationality lies predominantly in the world where he wanders (1965: viii).

During that time the USA was ghosted by three things: the great depression,

American dream, World War II, and Cold War. At that time the America‟s economy

was starting to climb up after the great depression and World War II and Americans

were obsessed about „American Dream‟. American Dream was traditional ideals of

the American people such as equality, democracy, and material prosperity. In brief,

American Dream is Americans ideals that emphasize on individualism, hard-working,

and capitalism. Many Americans pursued merchandise which could raise their social

status but unfortunately more Americans were still in poverty. The comparison

between the rich and the poor was too sharp. The rich became richer while the poor

became poorer. Faced by the situation people attempted to be consumptive (Current,

1965: 845). They bought things that became luxurious at that time such as televisions.

Television was invented by a Scottish, John Logie Baird in 1926 but expanded

rapidly across the world in post-war years in the late 1950s and 1960s.

The Great Depression was a hard situation in the United States of America

during Herbert Hoover‟s presidency. It was a condition when business was very hard

and many people were loss their jobs. The Great Depression or better known as Black

Tuesday happened in October 29, 1929 and lasted until 1939 when stock market
18
dropped suddenly and rapidly. Stock market prices fell without hope of recovery.

People were panic. They tried to sell their stock but no one would like to buy because

money became a rare thing to grasp. Many investors lost much money and most of

them came to bankruptcy. The Great Depression led into unemployment, low-

business activity, closing of banks, stores, and factories. The closing of banks, stores,

and factories made millions of Americans jobless, homeless, and broke. They

depended on the government to provide them with food (Wood, 2004: 291-293).

It was the longest and the most severe economic slump in western world.

Albeit USA was the most miserable country affected by the great depression but

actually European countries (especially the member of the Allies) also got the impact.

The USA as the major creditor and financier of World War I economically was

weakened by the war itself. And as the loser, Germany had to pay war reparations and

this obligation caused the rise of unemployment. United Kingdom as the member of

the Allies also stroke by unemployment.

In 1932 Franklin Delano Roosevelt won the USA general election for USA

presidency. Soon he described a number of changes, known as New Deal in

American economy. This plan was based on increased government regulation and

massive public-works project to promote a recovery and promulgation of Social

Security Act (SCA) in 1935. This social security act created insurance for elderly,

jobless, and handicapped people based on the contribution of the employers and

employees themselves. But it seemed to be failed because in some years the

programme did not show up its progress. In 1934 the unemployment was still 60 per
19
cent and became 15 per cent in 1939. Unemployment dropped rapidly when

American factories accepted orders from overseas for ammunition for World War II.

But the Great Depression was truly ended after USA joined World War II in 1941

(Wood, 2004: 386-287).

American Dream was first expressed by James Truslow Adams in his book

Epic of America in 1931.

The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better
and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to
ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to
interpret adequately and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and
mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor, cars and high wages merely but a
dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to
attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable and be
recognized by others for what they are regardless of the fortuitous
circumstances of birth or position (1969: 73).

In another page of his book he also writes statements that clarifies the goal of

American Dream.

The American Dream has lured tens of millions of all nations to our shores in
the past century has not been a dream of material plenty, though that has
doubtlessly counted heavily. It has been a dream of being able to grow to
fullest development as a man and a woman, unhampered by the barriers which
had slowly been erected in the older civilizations, unrepressed by social orders
which had developed for the benefit of classless rather than for the simple
human being of any and every class (1969: 86).

In brief, he said that all citizens of every rank must feel that they can achieve a better,

richer, and happier life. He took the source of his idea of American dream from the

second sentence of the Declaration of Independence saying that “all men are created

20
equal and that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights

including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.

The idea of American dream is the long-impact of World War I (1914-1918).

It was a war between the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey)

against the Allies (France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, Japan, and USA). The war

ended with the victory of the Allies. This victory made the fall of some imperial

countries such as Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Turkey and also Bolshevik

Revolution in Russia (Wood, 2004: 301). Albeit USA won the war, she lost a lot of

money. Unstable economic led people into a panic situation. People were busy to

arrange their own lives. They became unaware of others.

World War II began in the range 1939 to 1945. German‟s invasion on Poland

was the trigger. Before the invasion Poland had signed agreement with French and

British military for a back up if Poland was attacked by Germany. Knowing that

Poland was attacked, France and Great Britain asked for help from the other member

of Allies. World War II was the biggest, the most horrible, and the most destructive

war in twentieth century. There were two main powers: the Axis power (Germany,

Italy, and Japan) and the Allies power (France, Great Britain, the USA, and the Soviet

Union). But later each country from each power tried to look for countries to become

their colonies. For example the Soviet Union annexed Poland and Manchuria; Great

Britain occupied India, Singapore, Malay, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, some

African countries, and the like; the Netherlands colonized Indonesia; Japan occupied

China, Korea, the Philippines, and Malaysia; the rise of totalitarian in Italy by Benito
21
Mussolini and in German by Adolf Hitler (Wood, 2004: 346). It was the most

horrible war because of the amount of the war victims and the ruthless of the troops.

Approximately there were 40.000.000-50.000.000 people lost their lives including the

victims of Auschwitz, Belzec, Chelmo, Majdanek, Sobibor, and Treblinka

concentration camps. It was also the most destructive war because of the use of

massive atomic bomb and the damages (Hayes, 1957: 811-830). Albeit the USA

played an important role in World War II, the USA did not get the damage of the

war at all. Much of the damages were undergone by Asia and Europe.

The result of World War II left people hopeless in some years to come. They

began to think if there would a hope to make the world into a better one at least into a

condition before the war. Experienced the war, the loss of relatives and the loved

ones, diseases, and great shock made people become pessimistic (Paolucci, 2005:

132). People saw everything that had been built has come into ruins. It was

impossible to build them again as before because everything including money was

disappeared. Hopeless and restless were occupied every people‟s head. They became

greedy. They became selfish. What they want is to fulfil their own needs in the most

difficult times without paying attention to the need of others (Hayes, 1957: 825-829).

People were uncomfortable, uprooted, restless, displaced, curious and started to

question many things. This condition was similar to Job when God let Satan to tempt

him. Job lost all his sons and daughters and all of his belongings. Like Job‟s question

people at that time only had one question: “Why me?” or Why did it happen?” It is a

simple question but the answer is not too easy even it does not have any answer at all.
22
 World War II influenced not only political and economic aspects but also art

and literature. The horrible condition influenced the way of thinking people at that

time. People were hopeless and sceptical. People started asking themselves if there

would be a hope or a helper to restore the condition. The sadness, hopeless, and

scepticism people at that time, was Beckett‟s sadness, hopeless, and scepticism also.

That situation inspired Samuel Beckett to write En attendant Godot or Waiting for

Godot. Waiting for Godot tells situation of waiting but the characters do not know

what they are waiting for and whom they are waiting for. While they are waiting, they

build conversations among them but the topics are not clear because the topics always

jump to another one. The success of Waiting for Godot in France made it easy to be

known. It inspired Edward Albee to write The Zoo Story.

Soon after the end of World War II, the world was faced by Cold War. It was

a war between communist nations led by the Soviet Union and western nations led by

the United States. The United States and western nations have interest to reduce the

expansion of communism in Europe because they thought that communism was a

threat to democracy.

The Zoo Story deals with relationship between alienation, struggle, and

loneliness in commercial world. Albee tackles these subject matters in telling the

story of two young Americans men, Peter and Jerry. Peter is a respectable citizen. He

is married and has two daughters, cats, and two parakeets as pets. Physically, he is a

solid successful man. He is in his early forties. He is not fat nor homely. He wears

horn-rimmed glasses which are a sign of intellectuality. He smokes a pipe. He is

23
maybe a member of upper- middle class. Jerry on the other hand is apparently a less

successful man. He is in his thirties but seems already beaten up by life. He is not

poorly dressed but carelessly. It seems that there is a social gap between two men

who come from different class. Like most of literary works of the absurd, it is a

satiric play. It satirizes on social injustice and lonely souls.

Albee points out how poverty and loneliness can create division in society.

The scene is in Central Park, New York on Sunday afternoon in summer. Central

Park is a place where every person from every different background can meet

together. It is situated in Manhattan, New York. It is 340 hectares and more than 4,

km. It is opened for public in 1876 and it is one of the greatest achievements in

artificial landscaping. This park is equipped with a zoo, an ice skating rink, three

small lakes, an open theatre, a band shell, many athletic playing fields, children‟s

playgrounds, several fountains monuments, a police station, footpaths, and bicycle

paths.

Albee shows vividly that the difference classes of the society tend to hinder

them to get socialized with people from different classes. People tend to get along

with other people who come from the same class because they have similar taste and

way of life. The way Jerry forces Peter to listen to his order is an evidence that he

comes from the lower class that is indicated by his being impolite, demanding, bad

tempered and ignorant. The opposite side is shown by Peter who is polite,

understanding, self- controlled, and attentive but tends to be ignorant. By showing all

of these Albee wants to speak out the important issue at that time that is the
24
difference classes divide people to get involve and to know other people. Every

person is busy with their own business. And it is very danger for the society because

society is built by togetherness (Kusumandaru, 2003: 60).

In pursuing a social status by collecting many things, people became unaware

of the importance of building relationship with others. People became more selfish

and more severe. They just care about their own business. To them fulfilling the

desire of consumptive instinct was a great satisfaction. They blamed others for failing

to achieve such things. There were not practising solidarity and compassion anymore.

Solidarity was a rare thing to find at that time and desire of achieving much wealth

was rooted in their way of lives (Wood, 2004: 295).

If we take a look at the American history at a glance, we knew that a large

number of immigrants came to America. They came from Germany, Ireland,

Scotland, England, and France. And it seemed that England was the biggest in

number. They left their country for various reasons. For example, Germans left their

country to avoid war, Irish and Scottish left their country to avoid poverty and

absentee-landlordism. The non-English immigrants adapted themselves to the culture

of the original settlers but this did not mean that all immigrants transformed

themselves into English. It was true that they adopted the English language and

English custom but they modified them to the conditions in America.

The writer is convinced that The Zoo Story was written not only for the

society at that time where the author lived but also it can be applied to the next

generation to come because as long as human being are still alive the problem they
25
are facing are similar, such as economic contestation among people to be richer and

richer, war, corruption, natural disaster, political competition, and the like. By reading

the absurd play, people are invited to realize that absurdity cannot be separated in

their lives. Sometimes we are faced by such absurdity, for example a person who was

very upset because he has been working like a horse but still cannot get enough food

and money for his family or a situation where the richer getting richer while the

poorer is getting poorer.

The more established person tends to neglect anybody else‟s need. They think

that they have become what they are now because of their own effort not from the

help of others. So they underestimate people who are not from the same class. In the

play that indication is shown by Peter who kept reading albeit Jerry was trying to

invite him to the conversation. Peter‟s attitude makes Jerry angry and leading him to

speak out a fight as men. What is done by Jerry is a kind of a class struggle in which

he is trying to be acknowledged or to be reckoned as the same level as Peter or

perhaps it is Jerry‟s peak depression of the circumstances he is facing. That is why he

is trying to get Peter‟s attention by making a set of conversation and to get Peter‟s

bench in Central Park. Here, Jerry is described as a man who is always left behind in

everything.

It is apparently clear that The Zoo Story is a satire. It is a play that satirizes the

common practice in society. By writing the play Albee criticizes his own society

where the gap between the rich and the poor or neglected people is getting wider and

wider. He started to realize that this phenomenon was dangerous and was not good
26
for the continuing society in the future. He saw that people began to concentrate on

their business only without paying attention to the need of other. People tried to

ignore other people although they lived in the same community. People became aliens

to others even for themselves because what they afforded was physical needs only

that could raise their status. This phenomenon is in line with Fromm‟s Marx’s

Concept of Man.

Alienation is apparent not only in the fact that my means of life belong to
someone else, that my desires are unattainable possession of someone else, but
that everything is something different from itself, that my activity is something
else, and finally (and this is also the case for the capitalist) that an inhuman
power rules over everything (1963: 151).

The objective of Marxism is to build a classless society based on the common

ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange. So it tries to

abolish the private ownership right because everything belongs to the state. Marxism

attempts to explain things without assuming the existence of a world or forces around

the society. It just looks for concrete and logical explanation. It does not need

„metaphysical‟ explanation such as religious opinion because it is not concrete and

illogic. Because the Marxism goal is to create a society in which man can overcome

alienation from his product, from his work, from his friend, from himself and from

nature and grasp the world with his own power so Marxism tries to change the world

through the struggle for power between different social classes (Barry, 1995: 157).

Albee‟s The Zoo Story describes the social condition in America after World

War II where the country was busy with rehabilitation in every sector and gaining

27
what was called „American Dream‟ (Roudane, 1987: 77). The play that consists of

one act only indicates that the author wants this peculiar situation ends soon. The sick

society is no need to be prolonged because it will creates more aliens that will destroy

human civilization. As an artist he was really aware that it was his duty to improve

his society and he was fully aware that it can be exercised if he was fully involved in

society gathering. His opinion was based that an artist was a member of the society, a

product of the society, and for the society (Mc Carthy, 1987: 87).

The conflict between Jerry and Peter which leads into violence is a mirror of a

sick society. There must be something wrong that is not in line with human being and

the whole human being as a society. We know that a society is built from many

persons or human beings. It means that there are many ideologies, interests, and ideas

in it. All the ideologies, interest and ideas struggle to become the prominent

representative of the society and the winner usually rules the people but we know

better that not every value that holds by a certain society is good. In the play that

phenomenon is very clear. It is common in that society that pursuing „American

Dream‟ is normal besides the society urges people to gain them but the society does

not know that not all people have same ability and power to achieve that. People who

have power and ability will become the winner but those who cannot achieve the

dreams will become the losers and will be regarded as the burden of the society. The

winners will always maintain their status and do not want to know the difficulty

undergo by people who fail to achieve the „American Dream‟. People become

28
strangers for others even for their neighbour and this phenomenon will continue into

alienation.

The title of the play is The Zoo Story. It is not a story about the animals. It is a

story about Homo sapiens, about human being. After reading the story the writer

interpret that it is a story where human being is inside the cage like the one in a zoo.

The cage here is not the real cage that is made from concrete but our ignorance, gap

between the rich and poor, ideology, loneliness and obstinacy. So, human being here

is like animal in a zoo that is kept in a cage. There is no interest among animals and

every single animal is a stranger to other.

The situation is similar to the society background in the play. There is a

border or even a wall between Jerry and Peter and all of them are trying very hard to

make the border existed because they think that they have maintain their secure

condition or their established living.

The play shows us that conflict between classes where the loser class is trying

to set him free from exploitation and poverty can lead into explosion. A person who

has lived under difficult situation for a long time or under oppression can produce

shocking attitude that can be very dangerous. I agree that it is an absurd play where

two people who do not know each other are involved in a forced conversation. One

character insists the other character to response his utterance while the other character

does not want to be involved in it.

The Marx‟s theory does not assume that the primary motive of man is

material gain. The main idea of his theory is to liberate man from the pressure of
29
economic needs so that he can be fully human (Fromm, 1963: 5). Marx also stresses

with the emancipation of man as an individual, overcoming the alienation, and a

balance between man and his nature. From those explanations we can get a

conclusion that Marx‟s theory is a critique of capitalism because capitalism tends to

make society fall down into classes.

B. Review of Related Theories

In discussing the theories related to the thesis, the present writer will discuss

Marxism in literature, sociological approach, and class. Marxism is used because it

can help the present writer to analyze social changes and class struggle in a literary

work. A Sociological approach will be used to see the society depicted in the play

while theory of class is used to see the structure of a class and how they react toward

a certain phenomenon. The three aspects will be used to find the answer to the

problem formulation stated in chapter one.

1. Marxism in Literature

Marxism is not a stream of literature. It is a school of thought established by Karl

Marx, a German philosopher and Friederich Engels, a German sociologist. The

objection of this school is to create a classless society based on the common

ownership of production, distribution, and exchange (Barry, 1995: 156). The founder

of Marxism, Karl Marx is known for his social, economical, and political writings
30
rather than literary works. He does not produce literary works at all but it is used as

an approach to analyze literary works. His works Manifest der Kommunistischen

Partei (1848), commonly known as The Communist Manifesto, Das Kapital

Ökonomisch-philosophische Manuskripte aus dem Jahre 1844, commonly known as

Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 [1959]), Die heilige Familie or The

Holy Family(1845), and Die deutsche Ideologie (The German Ideology) mostly talks

about class struggle. So Marx and his friend Engels do not create any theories of

literature albeit as cultured and educated people they give great reverence for great art

and literature.

Eagleton in Marxism and Literary Criticism quoted what Engels said that:

According to the materialist conception of history, the determining element in

history is ultimately the production and reproduction in real life. More than
this neither Marx nor I have ever asserted. If therefore somebody twists this
into the statement that the economic element is the only determining one, he
transforms it into a meaningless, abstract and absurd phrase. The economic
situation is the basis but the various elements of the superstructure-political
forms of the class struggle and its consequences, constitutions established by
the victorious class after a successful battle, forms a law and then even the
reflexes of all these actual struggles in the brains of the combatants: political,
legal, and philosophical theories, religious ideas and their further development
into system of dogma-also exercise their influence upon the course of the
historical struggles and in many cases preponderate in determining their form
(1976: 9).

From those quotations we know that art is not a simple thing. It has a more

complex relationship to ideology rather than law and political theory because law and

political theory can be easily bent according to the interest of the ruling class. Those

31
quotations also affirm that literature is a part of the superstructure but literature itself

is not a passive reflection of the economic turbulence.

Louis Althusser views society as decentered, having no overall structure. He

says that levels exist but in complex relationship of inner conflict and mutual

antagonism. To him art is something between ideology and science, the latter being „a

representation of the imaginary relationship of individuals to the real conditions of

their existence‟ (http://www.textetc.com/althusser.html., accessed on March 23,

2010).

English Marxist Terry Eagleton says that literary criticism should become a

science but he rejects the hope that literature could distance itself from ideology.

Literature is a reworking among aesthetic, religious, judicial, and other

representations that shape people‟s mental picture of lived experience.

American Marxist Fredric Jameson regards ideology as strategies of

containment which allow societies to explain themselves by repressing the underlying

contradictions of history. He suggests people for not regarding literary work as a text

only because there are many aspects and representations behind the text itself.

The use of Marxist criticism departs from a strong conviction that it is still

appropriate to analyze social problems in literary works, especially those dealing with

social changes and class struggle.

The Marxist critic analyzes literary works to show how, wittingly or

unwittingly, they support the dominant social class, or how they, in some way,
contribute to the struggle against oppression and exploitation. And since
Marxist critic views literature as just one among the variety of human
activities that reflect power relations and class divisions, he or she is likely to
32
 be more interested in what a work says than in its formal structure (1998:
1373).

Class struggle is originally comes from Marx‟ concept of classless society. It

is a concept that is based on the common ownership of the means of production and

distribution. Marx realizes that the conflict in society happens by the exploitation of

the powerful class to the other class (Draper, 1978: 510).

In capitalist society, there are two classes namely the capitalist and the

working class or proletarian. The capitalist has capital and means for production

while the working class does not have capital and means for production but they use

their labour power to work to the capitalist. The working class has no choice because

they have no capital and means to product something but they must continue their

lives. In order to get money and food they have to work to the capitalist even though

they are paid in a low salary. That is the strategy of the capitalist. They are really

aware that the working class need money so they offer them a job with low salary and

the working class cannot refuse the low payment because they really need money.

Here, the capitalists try to afford much profit by exploiting the working class

(Dahrendorf, 1966: 108).

The exploitation and segregation of the class brings big impacts. The capitalist

who exploits the working class feels satisfied and prefers the situation stays like that.

They also feel satisfied with their alienation. They are alienated from the society. In

the other hand, the working class feels destroyed, exploited, and isolated from human

existence (Day, 2001: 78).

33
 Basically, Albee supports the idea of class struggle taught by Marx but there

is a difference between them about class struggle. Marx suggests a revolutionary

movement done by working class to set up a classless society but Albee does not. He

prefers a gentle way by writing what is happening in society – evolutionary

movement.

2. Sociological Approach

The sociological approach is used to analyze literary works based on the

social forces and turbulence that create power relationship between classes in society.

That explanation is in line if we assume that literature is the representation of the

world-view of particular class in society (Goldmann, 1981: 58). This approach will

analyze literary works in the social, economic, and political framework. This

approach believes that literature can not stand by itself but it is built by many aspect

of life. A literary work must represent the zeitgeist of a society as it is said:

Art is not created in a vacuum. It is the work not simply of a person but of an
author fixed in time and space, answering a community of which he is an
important because he articulates its part (Kennedy, 1999: 86).

This approach analyzes a literary work not only the text as the material object

but also with social aspects. Thus it will analyze how and why the characters behave.

There must be something behind the conduct of each character because what the

characters do, speak, and think are influenced by its surroundings-the society.

It is believed there is a strong relationship between society and literature. Each

aspect is interwoven and makes a story that is written using plot and characterization.
34
When a writer writes a story or a play, he tries to describe what is happening in his

society through the story or play.

Works of art are not closed, self-contained and transcendent entities, but are
the product of specific historical practices on the part of identifiable social
groups in given conditions, and therefore bear the imprint of the ideas, values
and conditions of existence of those groups, and their representatives in
particular artist (Wolff, 1989: 49).

He uses his literary work as a medium to express his thought, critique, suggestion, or

even his anger toward what has happened. When he does this, the writer becomes the

loudspeaker of the society. He voices the voice of the people who are voiceless,

oppressed, under pressure, and want an immediate improvement.

If we notice, the conversation between Peter and Jerry seems to be forced. In

the one side Peter is reluctant to get involved in conversation but in the other side,

Jerry is too energetic to attract Peter‟s attention by asking many questions. From Jerry

and Peter relationship, the reader will know soon that there is something wrong with

this kind of relationship. If the relationship among people is not good there must be

something wrong with the society where they live in because people reflects their

society. Because literature is influenced by many factors so it permits people to

analyze it using any kind of approaches.

The sociological approach analyzes the relationship between a certain literary

work and its social, historical, and cultural context. So, it is very important to know

when and where a literary work is made, to know the life of the author, and to know

the zeitgeist of the society that is portrayed in a literary work.

35
 The term of zeitgeist comes from German. It comes from the word zeit and

geist. Zeit means time while geist means spirit. Zeitgeist is a kind of literary theory

saying that every literary work has its own spirit or nuance. The zeitgeist of this play

is a description of situation of a world in facing the World War II, Hitler‟s ruthless,

the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and the Cold War. Facing the damage of the

war and ruthless made people lost of hope. They thought that it would be impossible

to build this world into the situation like before.

3. Class

Raymond Williams said that class could be dated in its most important

modern sense from about 1740. Before 1740 the word class is used for a group of

schools and colleges. At the end of the eighteenth century the modern structure of

class in its social sense begins to be built up. Then the word class is used in

taxonomy. Marx and Engels use this word to divide humankind under capitalism into

two classes: wage labourers and capitalists. The bourgeoisie and proletariat are each

with its own consciousness and organization (1961: 20).

Garry Days described class to show the divisions in society in medieval; class

is based on hereditary. People who come from a noble society have more privileges in

a society then it is followed by clergy and commoners as the lowest class. As the age

changes class is not depends on hereditary but on social achievements.

36
 In The Zoo Story, the division of class follows the division of Marx and

Engels, namely capitalists and wage labourers or working class.

C. Theoretical Framework

Since this study goal is to analyze the society depicted in the play and

characters attitude, this study employs a sociological approach and the Marxist

criticism. The approach will be employed with other study of Anne Paolucci, a

sociologist, Erich Fromm, a sociologist and expert in Marxism, Hal Draper, and

Bottomore. The last two names are sociologist. Those studies talk about social

conditions and the people attitude in a capitalist society. Sociologists believe that a

literary work is a mirror of the society because it reflects the society and the life of

people in a certain place and time.

To support the studies, the present writer provides the socio-political context

when The Zoo Story was written. It is necessary to know that Edward Albee‟s The

Zoo Story is an evidence of his concern to the social conditions. He does not only

write literary woks but he also gives lectures. This occasion is used to deliver his

messages and ideas to reconstruct the American society. This fact is an interesting

aspect to notify because it creates certain meaning in every literary work written by

him. So, the presentation of the socioeconomical context of American society in the

time when The Zoo Story was written will be very helpful in completing this research.

To analyze the background of the reaction shown by Peter and Jerry to fight

the existing social conditions which are marked by poverty, alienation, and class
37
distinction, the present writer employs Marxist criticism. The social problems faced

by the characters are assumed as the result of the practice of capitalist system. In the

capitalist system, human value is ignored but capital is very highly appreciated. In the

play we see Jerry‟s struggle to become as equal as Peter and his desire to be free from

the oppression of the capitalist. The theory of a class struggle is employed as the main

instrument of Marxist criticism to analyze the reaction of Peter and Jerry to fight the

social problem they undergo.

The dialogues between Peter and Jerry will be the main analysis. From the

dialogues between the characters the present writer of the thesis will make his

interpretation and also description on the social condition and the class struggle of the

characters.

Besides those studies the writer also applies theories taken from Elizabeth and

Tom Burns‟ Sociology of Literature and Drama (1973), Janet Wolff‟s The Social

Production of Art (1989). Additional information is taken from Alvin Hansen‟s The

American Economy, Henry Mayo‟s Introduction to Marxist Theory (1960), Richard

N. Current‟s American History: A Survey (1965) Those theories are used to get more

understanding of the concept of Marxism and all its applications.

38
 CHAPTER III

SOCIAL CONDITION IN THE ZOO STORY

Nooryan Bahari in his book Kritik Seni: Wacana Apresiasi dan Kreasi says

that the function of a play is to strengthen solidarity among the societies and

understanding human lives.

[Melalui peristiwa teater, pemain dan penonton dapat meningkatkan

pemahaman dan penyadaran individu pada diri sendiri dan kehidupannya
(2008: 58)].

[My translation: By attending a theatre performance, the actors, actress, and

audience can achieve their understanding and awareness toward themselves
and their lives (2008: 58)].

Albee fully realized that the society was not in balanced. The gap between the

richer and the poorer, between the developed people and the undeveloped ones was

too wide. The Zoo Story was written in 1958 when the American economy beginning

to rise after the great malaise and it was the beginning of capitalism in America.

39
Capitalism was characterized with the unbalanced relationship between the owner of

the capital and the labour as workers. The owner of capital will acquire all economic

sectors as long as his money can afford it while the worker will be the workers albeit

they work like a horse. The owner will keep the situation like this because it will give

them chance to spread his production. This situation will create a vivid distinction

between the owner of the capital and the worker. This distinction will give the owner

of the capital a great chance to exploit the worker. This situation, of course, will give

the owner much profit but misery for the worker. Finally, men become alienated from

others, stressed, lonely, and frustrated. According to Matthew Roudane who quoted

an interview with Albee his Understanding Edward Albee, he said that he got the idea

of The Zoo Story while working for Western Union. At Western Union Albee worked

as a telegram sender. By writing The Zoo Story he criticized issues of human

isolation, loneliness, class difference and the danger of inaction within American

society (Goldstone, 1986: 773). By his play he suggested the need for people to

acknowledge and understand people‟s differences.

The American society in the beginning of 1960s was cradling into recovery.

The effect of Great Depression in 1929 still could be seen in 1960s. When Roosevelt

launched New Deal to recover the economy in 1933 it could change the face of US

economy indeed but unfortunately there were still poverty there. The recovery did not

touch every citizen. The capitalists still became the pillars of the society (Wood,

2004: 209).

40
 The capitalists raced to enrich themselves while the working classes had to

work hard by themselves to feed their families. Although they worked very hard, the

payment they got did not enough for them. The capitalists regarded the working

classes as a means too satisfy their passion of profit (Draper, 1978: 161).

A. Class Distinction

Day, in his book Class: The New Critical Idiom describes class as divisions in

society. In medieval society, class is based on heredity. Heredity is very important to

group people in society. The structure of society at that time becomes the nobility,

clergy, and commoner. But the division is used in medieval and is not common in

present time. Today, social class is valued by hard work and effort. By hard work

only people can change their position and achieve a higher status or position. The

hard work has made them a capitalist society then in turn they will oppose another

class. From the first page of the play we can get a vivid description of the characters.

Peter is described as a man in his forties, neither fat nor gaunt, neither
handsome nor homely. He wears tweeds, smokes a pipe, carries horn-rimmed
glass. Although he is moving into middle age, his dress and his manner would
suggest a man younger. While Jerry is a man in his late thirties, not poorly
dressed,, but carelessly. What was once a trim and lightly muscled body has
begun to go to fat; and while he is no longer handsome, it is evident that he
once was. His fall from physical grace should not suggest debauchery; he has,
to come closest to it. A great weariness (Albee, 1967: 1).

From the description above we can conclude that they come from different

class so that they conduct different attitude, clothing, and manner. By describing the

41
characters vividly Albee wants to show us the American society in general. It is hard

for a member of different class to mingle with another class. Take Jerry for example,

if he wants to enter Peter‟s society he has to change everything on him. He has to

change his clothing, his way of speaking, his way of thinking, his manner and

everything that he has. And even though Jerry has changed everything the other class

will not easily receive him because of his origin.

The Zoo Story describes class distinction. It tells us how attitude, behaviour,

dress, and way of speaking can be marks of the origin of a person. In The Zoo Story,

Edward Albee portrays the problem in the American society. It is the poverty and the

unwillingness of the capitalist class to give compassion to the lower class (Goldstone,

1986: 774).

B. Characters

E. M. Forster helps us to understand the two poles of dualism in characters of

a literary work. In Aspects of the Novels he explains that there are two kinds of

character presented in a literary work. They are:

a. Flat Character

This is a kind of character with no changes of his personality from the

beginning to the end of the story. The character is built upon one single idea.

b. Round Character

This character has certain development. There are some changes of

personality along the story.

42
 Regarding these two different kinds of character, typical judgment toward a

character could be made by considering a detailed description of the character. A flat

character will have the similar personality in the whole story while a flat character

will develop his character related to events happened in his life.

A flat character is a minor character in a work of fiction who does not undergo

substantial change in the course of a story (Forster, 1979: 188). It supports the role of

the main character who is supposed to be round and never surprise the readers.

Although Jerry plays as a flat character, he plays a vital role in the story of how Peter

and he get along but still his character stays unchanged. From the beginning until the

end of the play, Jerry‟s attitude remains the same: rough, impolite, and ferocious.

Edward Albee‟s The Zoo Story consists of one act only and the characters are

a few, only two characters. The differences between the two characters are very sharp

in economy status, marital status, character, taste, and in the way they speak (Albee:

11-28). Peter, who came from an established community was seemingly very proud

of his origin. He was married and had two daughters and his daughters had two

parakeets. He never met Jerry before. His meeting with Jerry in Central Park was the

first one. Peter was reading when Jerry came to him and greeted him. At first he

ignored Jerry‟s remark because he did not know him but when Jerry raised his voice

he was surprised and answered Jerry‟s greeting stammeringly. Actually he did not

want to be involved in conversation with Jerry because he did not know him and he

would like to continue reading but he forced him to be involved.

43
 JERRY : I‟ve been to the zoo. (Peter doesn‟t notice). I said, I‟ve been to the
zoo. MISTER, I‟VE BEEN TO THE ZOO!
PETER : Hm?...What?... I‟m sorry, were you talking to me?
JERRY : I went to the zoo, and I walked until I came here. Have I been
walking north?
PETER : (puzzled) North? Why...I...I think so. Let me see.
JERRY : (pointing past the audience) Is that Fifth Avenue?
PETER : Why ya; yes, it is.
JERRY : And what is that cross street there; that one, to the right?
PETER : That? Oh, that‟s Seventy-fourth Street.
JERRY : And the zoo is around Sixty-5fth Street; so I‟ve been walking north.
PETER : (anxious to get back to his reading) Yes; it would seem so. (Albee,
1967: 751)

If we read thoroughly the conversation we know that Jerry was very upset

because Peter was reluctant in responding his conversation albeit he wanted Peter to

be involved in the conversation. Actually Jerry wanted to be polite to Peter but Peter

seemed hesitant. His hesitancy made Jerry mad and threatened Peter with a knife. In

writer‟s opinion Jerry who was depressed by his social condition was very lonely. He

lived in a boring society. That was why he needed someone to talk to but

unfortunately the one he found did not have sense of affection.

Jerry‟s utterance suddenly surprised Peter and the skipped topics really

annoyed him but he kept getting along with him.

JERRY: (Mysteriously) Peter, do you want to know what happened at the

zoo?
PETER: Ah, ha, ha, ha. The what? Oh, yes; the zoo. Oh, ho, ho. Well, I had
many own zoo there for moment with…hee, hee, the parakeets
getting dinner ready and the…ha…, ha, whatever it was, the…
JERRY: (Calmly) Yes, that was funny, Peter. I wouldn‟t have expected it. But
do you want to hear about what happened at the zoo or not?
PETER: Yes. Yes, by all means; tell me what happened at the zoo. Oh, my. I
don‟t know what happened to me.
44
 JERRY: Now I‟ll let you in on what happened at the zoo; but first, I should
tell you why I went to the zoo. I went to the zoo to find out more
about the way people exist with animals and the way animals exist
with each other and with people too. It probably wasn‟t a fair test,
what with everyone separated by bars from everyone else, the
animals for the most part from each other, and always the people
from the animals. But, it‟s a zoo, that‟s the way it is. (He pokes
PETER on the arm) Move over.
PETER: (Friendly) I‟m sorry, haven‟t you enough room? (He shifts a little)
JERRY: (Smiling slightly) Well, all the animals are there, all the people are
there and it‟s Sunday and all the children are there. (He pokes
PETER again) Move over.
PETER: (Patiently, still friendly) All right. (He moves some more, and
JERRY has all the room he might need).
JERRY: And it‟s a hot day, so all the ice-cream seller and all the seals are
barking and all the birds are screaming. (Pokes PETER harder)
Move over!
PETER: (Beginning to be annoyed) Look here, you have more than enough
room! (But he moves more and is now fairly cramped at one end of
the bench).
JERRY: And I am there and it‟s feeding time at the lion‟s house and the lion
keeper comes into the lion cage, one of the lion cages to feed one of
the lions. (Punches PETER on the arm, hard) MOVE OVER!
(1976: 765-766)

When Peter answered “Ah, ha, ha, ha. The what? …ha…ha…”, he indicated his

reluctance to get along with Jerry. This situation is normal in big cities moreover to

the strangers. Peter‟s response shows from what kind of neighbourhood he might be,

that is why he is trying to be polite by answering Jerry‟s question. In Peter‟s case

perhaps he accepts the idiom „mind your business‟.

From the conversation above we know what Jerry has done toward Peter and

how it has been done. At first Jerry threatens Peter through his remarks. Jerry‟s

attempt to attract Peter by keep talking to him is already a threat and this threat is

more powerful when there is a body contact that is done by Jerry to Peter. From the

45
conversation above we notice that Jerry pokes Peter‟s arm four times and it is

followed by giving him commands to move over from the bench until Peter comes to

the end of the bench. The last command is followed by a high pitch of scolding and a

harder punch to Peter‟s arm.

Albeit Peter is very mad on Jerry‟s attitude, he tries to be calm and polite. He

tries to control his emotion because his society teaches so but finally he cannot

control his emotion anymore and it bursts up. What makes Peter angry is Jerry‟s

attitude whose punches him several times.

PETER: (Very annoyed) I can‟t move anymore, and stop hitting me. What‟s
the matter with you?
JERRY: Do you want to hear the story? (Punches Peter’s arm again)
PETER: (Flabbergasted) I‟m not sure! I certainly don‟t want to be punched
in the arm.
JERRY: (Punches Peter’s arm again) Like that?
PETER: Stop it. What‟s the matter with you?
….
PETER: POLICE! I warn you, I‟ll have you arrested. POLICE! (Pause) I
said POLICE! (Pause) I feel ridiculous.
….
PETER: (Furious) Look, you; get off my bench. I don‟t care if it makes any
sense or not. I want this bench to myself, I want you OFF IT!
JERRY: (Mocking): Aw…look who‟s mad.
PETER: GET OUT!
JERRY: No.
PETER: I WARN YOU!
JERRY: Do you know how ridiculous you look now?
PETER: (His fury and self-consciousness have possessed him) It doesn‟t
matter. (He is almost crying) GET AWAY FROM MY BENCH!
(1976: 766-767)

From the conversation we know that Jerry is trying to tempt (in the sense of to

tease) Peter. He does this because he is longing of attention-affection. He has no one

to talk to and when he finds Peter at the Central Park alone, he tries to get along with
46
him. Jerry‟s unceasing attempts to approach Peter implicitly shows us that he is

lonely. He needs someone to talk to, to hear, and to interact with. In brief, Jerry needs

a friend. He needs to build a friendship with Peter, a man that is sitting on the bench

at the Central Park but in other side we also know that Peter does not want to. He

feels that he is enough with himself. Jerry does not realize that sincerity is needed to

build a friendship. Building a friendship is not only about talking face to face but also

politeness and those two factors are not available in Jerry‟s personality.

If we read the play, we can find at least five-long monologues done by Jerry.

First, on page 755 Jerry tries to describe his flat and his neighbourhood. In answering

Peter‟s question, Jerry tells the details each of his neighbour including their habits.

Second, on page 756 Jerry answers Peter‟s question on his family life, like parents

and girl friend. Jerry tells Peter that his parents are already dead and in turn he lives

with his aunt but unfortunately he cannot live longer with her because she was found

dead on the stairs on the afternoon of his school graduation. Third up to five it is

about Jerry‟s monologue on his neighbour who has a dog, his hatred to the dog, and

his plan to kill the dog. The long monologue is the result of Jerry‟s observation to his

neighbourhood. He has no activity to do and it makes him bored so to kill the time he

observes his neighbours‟ lives. The monologue is meant to attrack Peter‟s attention to

him. By telling long monologue, Jerry hopes Peter will welcome his „invitation‟ to

get along.

Jerry‟s ability to pay attention to his neighbour‟s custom shows us that the

relationship between him and his neighbour is quite good. In American society at that
47
time, where the disparity between the richer and poorer are so vivid people tend to be

busy with their own business. They tend to group with other people who come from

the same class. There is no point to pay attention to the others especially ones from

different classes but in Jerry we see something interesting. Poor people tend to care

each other. The solidarity among them is strong.

Jerry‟s ability to pay attention to his neighbour‟s custom can be a result of his

observation in killing his time because Jerry‟s life is so boring. The play does not tell

us what Jerry is. Perhaps he is a.

Jerry‟s long monologues can be his attempt to open a way in order to get

closer to him. Because Peter and Jerry are from different class, Jerry realizes that the

only way to catch Peter‟s attention is by building conversation but it seems that he

will be failed because Peter is hesitant to respond his greeting. Jerry does not care

about that. He keeps talking and punches Peter‟s arm. Finally the conversation is built

between them but it is a dry conversation. The atmosphere is awkward and so tense.

The topics are not clear because they always jump into different topics and the topics

are about simple things which are not significant at all (Kernan, 1967: 98).

The topic finally is about bench. The bench does not belong to anyone

because it is on the Central Park. Because his attempt to get Peter‟s attention does not

succeed, Jerry tries to approach him by asking him to move a little from the bench he

is sitting on. At the beginning Peter moves a little but when Jerry asked him the same

thing several times with bad manners, Peter was really mad. The fight between Peter

and Jerry starts here. They struggle about a bench. Bench is a symbol of position that
48
Jerry wants to afford and in other hand, Peter does not want to leave his bench and

give it to Jerry. Jerry‟s struggle for a bench is a description of the oppressed people to

regain their rights and the persistence of the rich people to keep his established

position (Kernan, 1967: 197).

49
 CHAPTER IV

PETER’S AND JERRRY’S BEHAVIOUR TO OVERCOME

THE SOCIAL CONDITION

In this chapter, the writer will discuss the reaction of the main character Peter

and Jerry, Jerry‟s struggle to be recognized by Peter, and Peter‟s resistance to his own

pride. The writer believes that Jerry‟s attitude is as a struggle in order to get

recognition from other classes. In other words, Jerry who comes from a lower class

(working class), wants to lift up his position as equal as the upper class (capitalist). It

is believed that the gap or disparity between the lower classes and the upper classes or

between the capitalists and the working classes is the cause of conflicts in society. We

cannot deny that the gap causes jealousy in society and if there is no awareness and

improvement to this condition it will lead into social riot. Our history has shown it.

In chapter one the writer has discussed that the Americans are infatuated by

American dream. The great depression that happened between 1929 - 1939 had made

them infatuated by affording many things. They wanted to redeem the economic

hardship that made them suffered for a long time. In this situation people who were

50
strong in economy, the capitalist, would be survived but ones who were weak in

economy, lower class or working class, will be left behind. The successful ones will

defend their established status while the failure ones will struggle to obtain better

lives. The failure ones can only change with a help from the successful ones but in the

same time the successful ones will not let them to change. They do not want

competitors in this sector. So there always be a class struggle between the classes and

sometimes it can be very fierce.

The Zoo Story points out the class conflict between the upper classes and the

lower classes. It satirizes the social ignorance of the upper classes to the lower class.

It also satirizes the economic system that is failed to create economic and social

harmony. It is true that the economy at that time is better than before but not everyone

has a good change to obtain that. There always be left-behind sides in society who

cannot afford the development.

In The Zoo Story, Jerry is the example of a person who always left behind in

economy progress while Peter is the successful or established one. It is clear that

Jerry wants to be equal or at least he gets Peter‟s attention but unfortunately Peter

does not want to get along with him. For Peter, the saying “mind your business”

becomes his motto.

A. Jerry’s Attempt to Oppose the System

In previous chapters we have discussed that class differentiation, poverty, and

alienation can cause conflicts. Those factors make the lower class ill-feel. This ill-feel
51
leads the lower classes to initiate the struggle. In the struggle, the lower classes want

to obtain social welfare that can only be dreamt before while the upper classes try to

defend their positions or even making their positions stronger albeit it means that they

have to sacrifice other sides.

The conflict between the upper and lower classes can be hindered if the strong

and powerful classes have willingness to share and compassionate attention with

lower classes. What is to be shared? The upper classes can give their times to talk

and listen to the lower classes - giving them attention because for lower classes the

situation of being low, left – behind, neglected, and poor has been very painful. They

do not ask much. They just need attention, a kind of social need.

JERRY: I‟ve been to the zoo. (Peter doesn’t notice) I said, I‟ve been to the
zoo. MISTER, I‟VE BEEN TO THE ZOO!
PETER: Hm? … What?...I‟m sorry, were you talking to me?
….
PETER: (Anxious to get back to his reading) Yes; it would seem so. (1976:
751)

And about social needs, Draper says:

The working class move toward class struggle insofar as capitalism fails to
satisfy its economic and social needs and aspirations, not insofar as it is told
about struggle by Marxists. There is no evidence that workers like to struggle
anymore than anyone else; the evidence is that capitalism compels and
accustom them to do so (1978: 42).

The quotation above tells us that the upper classes fail to maintain relationship

with the lower classes. Those failures are: the upper classes pay a small amount of

salary to the working classes, the upper classes give no time and space to get

socialized to the lower classes, and the third, upper classes do not want to hear what

52
is needed by the lower classes. The upper classes pay mall amount of salary to the

lower classes because they want to get much benefit from business they have by

exploiting them while the lower classes do not have choice except to receive it. The

situation makes them to undergo the economy injustice.

The upper classes who gain a lot of benefit from their business become the

established classes. Because of the established situation they treat the lower classes as

means to gain and to strengthen their social status. The unbalanced economy really

makes a gap that is taken for granted by the society. The society feels nothing wrong

with the gap. This gap becomes deeper when the upper classes feel that they do not

need to get along with the lower. They believe that the phenomenon is usual, that

there is a working class and upper class. They believe that it is the duty of the lower

to serve the upper classes. They feel no guilt at all because they pay the salary. Yes,

they pay the salary but the amount is improper and the lower classes have no choice.

They have mouths to feed at home. They have to accept the situation otherwise they

will be vagabonds and being vagabonds is more miserable. The stuck of social and

aspiration make the lower classes frustrated.

The character of Peter is described as a man who comes from middle-upper

class while Jerry comes from lower class. Peter accepts the social status for granted

and he is really a perfect picture of the middle-upper class of America. The

description of him in the introduction shows the fact.

PETER: A man in his early forties, neither fat nor gaunt, neither handsome
nor homely. He wears tweeds, smokes a pipe, carries horn-rimmed

53
 glasses. Although he is moving into middle age, his dress and his
manner would suggest a man younger. (1976: 751)

And in the dialogues it becomes clear that he comes from upper class. His habit of

reading, having an established family and pets, his residence near the Central Park,

and his hospitality-his willingness to talk to the stranger are characteristics of an

educated person and an educated person must come from the capitalist. Only a person

who has capital can enjoy a good education and enjoy his spare time well without

thinking about what to eat for tomorrow or how to earn money for his life.

PETER: (anxious to get back to his reading). Yes; it would seem so.
….
JERRY: … You have TV, haven‟t you?
PETER: Why yes, we have two; one for children.
JERRY: You‟re married!
PETER: (with pleased emphasis) Why, certainly.
….
JERRY: And you have a wife.
PETER: (bewildered by the seeming lack of communication) Yes!
JERRY: And you have children
PETER: Yes; two
….
PETER: (he has to clear his throat) There are… there are two parakeets.
One… uh… one for each of my daughters. (1976: 751-753)

If Peter comes from middle-upper class, Jerry comes from lower class. His

appearance, dialogues, and attitude prove it. But it seems that his attitude toward

Peter is caused by his depression on the situation he is facing, that is loneliness and a

circumstance of being alienated.

JERRY: A man in his late thirties, not poorly dressed, but carelessly. What
was once a trim and lightly muscled body has begun to go to fat; and
while he is no longer handsome, it is evident that he once was. His

54
 fall from physical grace should not suggest debauchery; he has, to
come closest to it. A great weariness. (1976: 751)

According to social norm, if we greet someone we do not know before we must be

polite and use proper intonation not scolding or yelling but not with Jerry. He uses

high voice to get Peter‟s attention.

JERRY: I‟ve been to the zoo. (Peter doesn‟t notice). I said, I‟ve been to the
zoo. MISTER, I’VE BEEN TO THE ZOO! (1976: 751)

In the whole of the play Jerry forces Peter to get involved in the conversation

although Peter is hesitant to join in it. It seems that Peter also has no choice except

make peace with the situation where Jerry controls it. What is done by Jerry is an

attempt to acquire or to catch Peter‟s attention because he is so lonely. He needs

someone to pay attention to him. It can be said also that his attitude is an attempt to

lift up his low position. He is really lonely because as a lower class he gets no access

to build a social relationship with upper class besides the upper class does not want to

get engaged with the lower. So Jerry was very happy when he could catch Peter‟s

attention although in order to afford it he must lose his life.

JERRY: (sighs heavily) So be it!

(With a rush he charges Peter and impales himself on the knife. Tableau: For
just a moment, complete silence, JERRY impaled on the knife at the
end of Peter‟s still firm arm. Then PETER screams, pulls away,
leaving the knife in JERRY. JERRY is motionless, on point. Then
he, too, screams, and it must be the sound of an infuriated and fatally
wounded animal. With the knife in him, he stumbles back to the
bench that Peter had. He crumbles there, sitting, facing Peter, his
eyes wide in agony, his mouth open).
….
55
 JERRY: Thank you, Peter. I mean that, now; thank you very much.
(Peter‟s mouth drops open. He cannot move; he is transfixed). Oh,
Peter, I was so afraid I’d drive you away. (He laughs as he can).
You don’t know how afraid I was you’d go away and leave me.
… and you have comforted me. Dear Peter. (1976: 769)

But Jerry‟s struggle is not supported by Peter or by his compatriots. In other

words Jerry is a single fighter in an attempt to get recognition from the upper classes.

His struggle to be free from loneliness and alienation seems to be successful but

pitiful. Garry Day in his book Class says:

Everything is produced by the working class. In return for their labour that are
given money, and the things they have made become the property of the
people who do nothing. Then, as the money is of no use, the workers go to the
shops and give it away in exchange for the thing they have made. They spend
– or give back – all their wages; but as the money they got as wages is not
equal in value to the things they produced, they find that they are only able to
buy back a very small part. So you see that these little discs of metal – this
money – is a device for enabling those who do not work to rob the workers of
the grater part of the fruits of their toil (2001: 160).

From the quotation above we know that the lower classes become alienated

people. They are aliens to their product and to their society. If people become aliens

to their surroundings it means that they are not free anymore. There is something that

oppresses them. The wage they have received is not enough for their lives. They

become milking cows to the upper class. In this circumstances Jerry is existed. He

wants to wake up our social responsibility to the society.

B. Peter’s Action to Keep His Position

56
 Peter as a representation of the upper class is trying to keep his position on the

track of upper class. He is apathetic to the society. He does not need to interfere

others interest as long as his need is accomplished. Peter is a typical of self-centered

person and he is lack of social responsibility. We can notice when Jerry is trying to

get along with him by saying that he has been to the zoo, Peter does not give any

responses. Another attitude is shown when Jerry yelled at him informing that he has

been to the zoo but he seemed reluctant to give any responses. During the awkward

conversation between Jerry and him, he always responds it hesitantly and even asking

permission to leave Jerry because the conversation is not interesting and always

jumps into another topic. But as usual Jerry forces him to stay and talk. Peter feels

annoyed when Jerry pinched his rib several times. Perhaps it is Jerry‟s way in order to

get along with him or perhaps Jerry is trying to tease him or perhaps Jerry is so

fascinated that he can talk with the member upper class. But Peter is not used to this

manner so that he is angry. He judges that Jerry‟s action is not proper.

(JERRY is animated, but PETER is disturbed).

Oh, come on now, Peter; tell me what you think.
PETER: (numb) I… I don‟t understand what … I don‟t think I …(Now almost
tearfully) Why did you tell me all of this?
JERRY: Why not?
PETER: I DON‟T UNDERSTAND!
JERRY: (furious, but whispering) That‟s a lie.
PETER: No. No, it‟s not.
JERRY: (quietly) I tried to explain it to you as I went along. I went slowly; it
all has to do with…
PETER: I DON‟T WANT TO HEAR ANYMORE. I don‟t understand you,
or your landlady, or her dog….
….

57
In those conversations above, Jerry‟s conversations irritate Peter. He does not want to

hear Jerry‟s conversations but he does not want to leave his bench also. The bench

seems very important to him and it is clear that Jerry wants the same bench also. He

begins scolding at Jerry in order to stop his conversation and leave him but it fails.

Apparently, Jerry‟s action to get Peter‟s attention is successful and he wants to

maintain this situation by talking and talking to him.

PETER: (consulting his watch) Well, you may not be, but I must be getting
home soon.
JERRY: Oh, come on; stay a while longer.
PETER: I really should get home; you see….
JERRY: (tickles Peter‟s ribs with his fingers) Oh, come on.
PETER: (he is very ticklish; as Jerry continues to tickle him his voice
becomes falsetto) No, I…OHHHH! Don‟t do that. Stop, Stop. Ohhh,
no, no.
JERRY: Oh, come on.
….
JERRY:…(He pokes Peter on the arm) Move over.
PETER: (friendly) I‟m sorry, haven‟t you enough room? (He shifts a little)
JERRY: (smiling slightly)….(He pokes Peter again) Move over.
PETER: (patiently, still friendly) All right. (He moves some more, and Jerry
has all the room he might need).
JERRY: ….(Pokes Peter harder) Move over.
PETER: (beginning to be annoyed) Look here, you have more than enough
room! (But he moves more and now is fairly cramped at the end of
the bench)
JERRY: ….(Punches Peter on the arm, hard) MOVE OVER! (And he
continues punches Peter‟s arm)
….
PETER: You are mad! You‟re stark raving mad! YOU‟RE GOING TO KILL
ME! (But before Peter has time to think what to do, JERRY tosses
the knife at Peter‟s feet)
….
JERRY: (sighs heavily) So be it! (With a rush he charges Peter and impales
himself on the knife). (1976: 764-769)

58
 The next conversations in the three last pages are still about Jerry‟s attempt to

occupy Peter‟s bench. We can see that Jerry pokes Peter‟s arm six times. Those

attitudes tell us how persistent Jerry is in order to get the bench. Suddenly, the bench

becomes important here. Both sides are targeting the same bench although there are

two benches in the park. Bench symbolizes class – a position in the society. Peter

defends his chair because he wants to maintain his established position in society

while Jerry wants to achieve a higher position like Peter‟s. Jerry fully realizes that if

he wants to get a higher position in a society, he has to take over the bench on which

Peter sits on it. He, as the oppressed, wants to feels how to be the oppressor by taking

over Peter‟s bench.

The present writer notices that Jerry‟s „successful‟ in taking the bench has two

implications. First, Jerry succeeds in taking the bench because he makes Peter stand

up and leave the bench to accept Jerry‟s challenge. Second, the present writer

believes that Jerry does not enjoy the fruit of his class struggle because he died in his

struggle. He just gets Peter‟s attention to him and he is very happy for it.

The vivid absurdity of the play lies on the scene when Jerry thanks Peter

because he has comforted him and does not drive him away. How come a dying

person thank to the killer? It does not make sense. The other scene is when Jerry

orders Peter to go from the Central Park because he does not want Peter to be caught

by police. Jerry also cleans the knife handle from Peter‟s fingerprints.

59
 CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

The present writer chooses class struggle to be the focus of interest of the

thesis because in every industrial country there will be always the established people

or rich people and left-behind people or neglected people. The established people will

always look for ways on how to maintain their position while the left-behind people

will always look for ways on how to be free from this oppressed condition. The

conflict between them happens if the interests of the classes do not fit each other,

such as unjust payment, show-off of the rich people, and unjust working hours.

Neglected people are already sick and the rich people behaviour makes them more ill.

60
 In order to be free from the situation, the neglected people do a class struggle.

In doing a class struggle, they pursue just payment, just working hours, and the

improvement of rich people attitude. They demand compassion from them.

The Zoo Story portrays the social conditions in the United States of America

after the Great Depression and World War II and reflects a class struggle as the

people‟s reaction to the condition. The Zoo Story tells how Jerry is trying to build a

relation with Peter who comes from the established class. Peter initiates the

conversation by telling him that he has been to the zoo but Peter ignores him because

he does not know Jerry besides he comes from a neglected class. Peter replies Jerry‟s

conversation because he has no choice and he has no intention to leave his bench.

Another reason is that Jerry forces Peter to get involve in the conversation.

The Zoo Story can be considered as an allegory from Edward Albee to the

capitalist society which is failed to build harmony between classes. Development in

every aspect of life should bring prosperity or mutual relation among people. The fact

that there are neglected people must be known as indication that there is something

wrong with the development.

Edward Albee symbolizes the human relation between Peter and Jerry as the

zoo because there is imagery cage or wall that distracts them to get along. Albee

chooses animal as a symbol because animal has no mind or intellect. Animal acts

because of instinct but human is not an animal. He acts based on mind or intellect and

common sense. In the play, the characters stay on their stand point. For example,

Peter‟s reluctance to move from his bench is similar to an animal which tries to
61
defend its territory and Jerry‟s action to force Peter leaves his bench is similar to an

animal which tries to take over other‟s territory.

The Zoo Story brings to the audience a new inspiration to initiate his class

struggle regarding to any oppression he faces. It also encourages the audience to

question every injustice in society and support the movement to help the neglected

people free from the oppression.

Marxist critics have a duty towards the world. It has responsibility not only

see the world and describe it but also to change the world into a better place to live

for human beings. In The Zoo Story, brings a new way of thinking and enlightenment

to its readers about the necessity for a class struggle to achieve better life. It also

encourages people to act against injustice phenomena, especially social injustice.

62
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67
 APPENDIX 1

BIOGRAPHY OF EDWARD ALBEE

Edward Albee was born on March 12, 1928 in Washington DC. He was

adopted by Reed and Francis Albee so that his name became Edward Franklin Albee

III. Reed and Francis Albee were the heirs to the multi million dollar fortune of

American theatre named Keith-Albee Circuit. When he was twelve, he attempted to

write his first play, a three-act sex farce but he soon turned back to poetry and even

attempted to write novels and plays in the late of 1950s.

Edward Albee had a joyful childhood. His parents provided him with nanny,

servants, home schooling, riding a horse practicing, and cruising to many interesting

places. But he was very grieved when seeing that his mother was so dominant to his

father.

He studied at Choate School (graduated in 1946) and at Trinity College in

Hartford, Connecticut (1946-1947) but he did not finish it. He was expelled in 1947

for skipping classes and refusing to attend compulsory chapel. And in response to his

expulsion he wrote Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. The play was believed to be

based on his experience at the Trinity College. After he left the college, he decided to

take the trust fund his grandmother had left him and move to Greenwich Village. He

was able to live off of this fund by supplementing it with small jobs that allowing him

to focus on his writing career. But soon he knew that he could not make a living with

68
this kind of job so he took a job as a messenger in Western Union from 1955 to 1958.

It was while working as a telegram messenger that he came up with the idea for The

Zoo Story. The idea of the story was taken when he encountered real life counterparts

for Jerry and the other residents of the boarding house that he described in the play.

When he was thirty, he quit his job at Western Union and wrote The Zoo Story

in 1958. His first significant play The Zoo Story was inspired by the works of Samuel

Beckett, Bertoit Brecht, Jean Genet, and Tennessee Williams. He learned psychology

of the characters from Tennessee Williams‟ work. It was easy to learn it because he

remembered and experienced what his mother had done to his father. He was really

sorry for his mother‟s attitude toward his father. From Samuel Beckett‟s works he

learned the alienated and eliminated people.

One day he sat alone in his room and he started to know that his family was

an example of the theatre of the absurd because they were alienated to each other.

Their marriage was just to fulfil the formality of law. The play made him as the

pioneer of the theatre of the absurd in America. After being passed around from

colleague to colleague, it was finally produced at the Schiller Theatre Werstatt in

Berlin, Germany on September 28, 1959. When the play performed in German the

title changed into Die Zoo-Geschichte. Die Zoo-Geschichte was performed together

with Samuel Beckett‟s Krapp’s Last Tape or in Geman it became Das Letzte Band.

The play won the Berlin Festival Award in 1959. The award made its way back to the

United States where it was performed at the Off-Broadway at the Provincetown

Playhouse in New York on January 14, 1960.

69
 What made The Zoo Story waiting for two years to be performed in the US

because The Zoo Story was an experimental play that was not known by people.

People at that time were accustomed to a play that had many characters, vivid plot,

climax, anti climax, and resolution but they could not find them in the play. Second

reason was about money. At that time Broadway Theatre was dominated in the US

and all of the play performed there must produce much money because the producer

performed the play according to the taste of the people.

The Zoo Story won another award again that was the Village Voice Obie

Award for the best play in 1960. Edward Albee went on to win the Pulitzer three

times for A Delicate Balance (1967), Seascape (1975), and Three Tall Women

(1994). The other play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf got a great success when it

performed in Broadway Theatre. The play had a great success because the Broadway

Theatre was in vacuum. At that Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams had retreat

from the theatre and the point of view Americans were changed. They started

questioning „American Dream‟ and the performance of Who’s Afraid of Virginia

Woolf was one of the triggers.

In 1962 the theatre in America was completely changed. The capitalist who

usually financed the Broadway Theatre could not forbid which play that should be

performed. The theatre was freedom to perform any kind of play. Many playwrights

who has the same stream with Albee rose up like Arthur Kopét, Jack Gelber , and

Kenneth Brown. Edward Albee was the pioneer of the theatre of the absurd in

America who changed the convention of the American theatre. Albeit he did not
70
finish his study at Trinity College, he got an honorary doctorate from Emerson

College in Boston. He dedicated his time to promote American university theatre. He

spoke from campus to campus frequently and he also served as a distinguished

professor at the University of Houston from 1985 to 2003. (retrieved from

www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Edward_Albee>, May 26,2010)

71
 APPENDIX 2

THE SUMMARY OF THE ZOO STORY

The Zoo Story is a one-act play with two characters only in which nothing

happens except conversations until the violent ending.

A man named Peter, a publishing executive of middle age and upper-middle

income, is reading a book on his favourite bench at Central Park, New York. It is a

sunny afternoon. Then, comes Jerry, an aggressive, seedy, and an erratic loner who

keeps telling him that he has been to the zoo in high tones. Actually Peter does not

want to hear and involve with Jerry‟s announcement about the zoo but Jerry forced

him to be involved.

With pushy questions, Jerry learns that Peter lives on the fashionable east side

of the Central Park, a place for middle and upper classes. He also learns that the firm

where Peter works publishes textbooks and learns also that Peter‟s household is

female dominated such as one wife, two daughters, two cats, and two parakeets. Jerry

guesses that Peter would rather have a dog than cats and that he wishes he had a son.

And all the guesses are true.

Without any questions from Peter, Jerry describes his living flat that consists

of a tiny room in a rooming house, a few clothes, a can opener and hotplate, eating

utensils, empty picture frames, a few books, a slot of pornographic cards. Jerry also

reveals the loss of his parents. He criticizes his own mother as a whore and drunkard

72
and his father as a drunkard. He also tells him that he has a homosexual tendency

albeit he has sexual orientation to a woman.

Jerry is trying to make Peter understand something about loneliness and

suffering. He wants Peter knows the suffering people in his flat, animals that are in

the cages, and more about his own loneliness and suffering. The story jumps to

another topic. Jerry asks Peter to tell him about his two parakeets. Peter is so angry

because Jerry disturbs his reading. He suggests Jerry not to marry because marriage

brings much responsibility and many men who are married become burdens to their

wives.

The story jumps into Jerry and the dog. Jerry hates the flat owner‟s dog very

much. He tells that the black dog of the flat‟s owner is very fierce. Its eyes are truly

red and also its right claw. Its fangs are grey-yellow-white. He intends to poison it but

fails. Peter does not understand why Jerry tells him the story and he asks why. But

Jerry answers back and said,” Why not.” Peter answers back yelling,” I don‟t

understand,” and he forces Jerry not to tell other stories because he does not want to

hear that.

Knowing that Peter is getting angry, Jerry starts telling him that he is a

permanent transient and his flat is so small, smelly and uncomfortable. Peter becomes

inconvenience and asking permission to leave but Jerry holds him. He even tells

about the animals in the cages that are separated from each other and become aliens

to the others. While he tells about the animals at the zoo he also tickles Peter‟s rib

with his finger asking him to move aside. Jerry does this frequently until Peter comes
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to the end of the bench where there is no space anymore. Jerry admits that he wants

the bench and asking Peter to give it to him. They argue about the bench until Jerry

threatens Peter with his knife. He drops the knife to the ground and asks Peter to take

it and fight like a man. Peter does not want to fight but Jerry keeps mocking on him

and pitting on his face so he takes the knife and points it to Jerry saying, ”I‟ll give

you one last chance; get out of here and leave me alone.”

But suddenly Jerry impales himself on the knife. He does not blame Peter but

he is grateful for what has been done. He suggests Peter to go, to clean his finger

prints on the knife with his own handkerchief, and to take his book. Jerry thanks Peter

because he has made him happy by giving him attention-affectionate feeling. And

after the accident Peter could only say, “Oh, my God. Oh, my God.”

JERRY: …Peter…Peter? ... Peter… thank you. I came unto you (He laughs,
so faintly) and you have comforted me. Dear Peter.
JERRY: You‟d better go now somebody might come by, and you don‟t want
to be here hen anyone comes.
JERRY: …Hurry, you‟d better go… see? (Jerry takes a handkerchief and with
great effort and pain wipes the knife- handle clean of fingerprint)….
Wait… wait, Peter. Take your book… book… Come…take your
book. Right here… beside me… on your bench… my bench, rather.
Come… take your book.
Jerry passed away after thanking him. And he died in peace indeed. (retrieved

from <www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Edward_Albee>, May 26,2010)

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 APPENDIX 3

PLAYS BY EDWARD ALBEE

1 . The Zoo Story (1958)

2 . The Death of Bessie Smith (1959)

3 . The Sandbox (1959)

4 . Fam and Yam (1959)

5 . The American Dream (1960)

6 . Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1961-1962)

7 . The Ballad of the Sad Café (1963)

8 . Tiny Alice (1964)

9 . Malcolm (1965)

10. A Delicate Balance (1966)

11. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1966)

12. Everything in the Garden (1967)

13. Box (1968)

14. All Over (1971)

15. Seascape (1974)

16. Listening (1975)

17. Counting the Ways (1976)

18. The Lady from Dubuque (1977-1979)

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20. Lolita (1981)

21. The Man Who Had Three Arms (1981)

22. Finding the Sun (1982)

23. Marriage Play (1986-1987)

24. Three Tall Women (1990-1991)

25. The Lorca Play (1992)

26. Fragments (1993)

27. The Play about the Baby (1996)

28. The Goat or who is Sylvia (2002)

29. Occupant (2001)

30. Knock! Knock! Who’s There!? (2003)

31. Peter & Jerry retitled in 2009 as At Home at the Zoo

32. Me, Myself and I (2007)

33. At Home at the Zoo (2009)

Taken from <www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Edward_Albee>, and

<www.curtainup.com/albee.html>, on May 26, 2010.

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 APPENDIX 4

AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS

Awards

1960 Drama Desk Award Vernon Rice Award - The Zoo Story

1963 Tony Award for Best Play - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

1967 Pulitzer Prize for Drama - A Delicate Balance

1975 Pulitzer Prize for Drama - Seascape

1994 Pulitzer Prize for Drama - Three Tall Women

1996 National Medal of Arts

2002 Drama Desk Award Outstanding New Play - The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?

2002 Tony Award for Best Play - The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?

2005 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement

2008 Drama Desk Award Special Award

Nominations

1964 Tony Award for Best Play - The Ballad of the Sad Cafe

1965 Tony Award for Best Author of a Play - Tiny Alice

1965 Tony Award for Best Play - Tiny Alice

1967 Tony Award for Best Play - A Delicate Balance

1975 Drama Desk Award Outstanding New Play - Seascape

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1975 Tony Award for Best Play - Seascape

1976 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Director of a Play - Who's Afraid of Virginia

Woolf?

1994 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Play - Three Tall Women

2001 Pulitzer Prize for Drama - The Play About the Baby

2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama - The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?

2005 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Taken from <www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Edward_Albee>, May 26, 2010.

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