LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION IN THE ZOO STORY

The play is called The Zoo Story, but Jerry never actually tells you what happens at
the zoo. That's how communication works in this playpoorly. Jerry babbles on and
Peter doesn't understand him, and then there's more babbling and less
understanding, and then there's sadness and screaming, all culminating with blood
on the bench. Part of what's absurd about the Theater of the Absurd is that
language doesn't work right; instead of giving you insight and knowledge, it just
gives you confusion and discomfort.
MLA Style
Works Cited:
Shmoop Editorial Team. "The Zoo Story Theme of Language and Communication."
Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.
In-text Citation
(Shmoop Editorial Team)
http://www.shmoop.com/the-zoo-story/language-communication-theme.html

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! (1)

Right there, first line of the play: Jerry's shouting; Peter isn't noticing; and
miscommunication, unhappiness, absurdity, and capital letters are happening. They
all should have just stopped there; this isn't going anywhere good.
Language and Communication
Quote #2

Iwell, no, not due north, but wecall it north. It's northerly. (14)

Albee throws in a lot of ellipses in his play. Peter here is hesitating, stuttering, trying
to figure out which direction is which and where language is supposed to take him.
Nowhere clear, nowhere fast. Get out Peter! Get out while you can!
Language and Communication

Quote #3

JERRY: Do you mind if we talk?

PETER: (Obviously minding) Whyno, no (30-31)

Peter isn't saying what he means, nor meaning what he says. Social convention gets
the better of him. That's a sign of Peter's character, but it's also a sign of how
language works in the play: as a barrier to honesty and communication rather than
as an aid to them. Hmmhow does that work?

I'll tell you why I do it; I don't talk to many peopleexcept to say like: give me a
beer, or where's the john, or what time does the feature go on, or keep your hands
to yourself, buddy. You knowthings like that. (65)

Jerry is saying he doesn't talk to very many other people, but every so often he
grabs a stranger and talks at them for a long time. He's saying (maybe not
intentionally) that he's lonely.
Language and Communication
Quote #5

I didn't mean to seemah...it's that you don't really carry on a conversation; you
just ask questions and I'mI'm normallyuhreticent. Why do you just stand
there? (84)

Peter is telling Jerry that he doesn't communicate welland then he's saying that
he, Peter, doesn't communicate well either. Neither of them communicates well. No
wonder this play is so confusing.
Language and Communication
Quote #6

JERRY: ...What's your name? Your first name?

PETER: I'm Peter.
JERRY: I'd forgotten to ask you. I'm Jerry.
PETER: (With a slight nervous laugh) Hello, Jerry. (118-121)

Peter and Jerry finally introduce themselves a good long way into the play. They've
gone from strangers to acquaintances, just because they have given each other a
name. That's how language works. But of course they still don't really know each
other that well yet, but that sort of thing takes time.

It's justit's just thatit's just that if you can't deal with people you have to
make a start somewhere. WITH ANIMALS! (163)

Jerry's logic here isn't that clear. But one big difference between humans and
animals is that humans talk. If you're not communicating well with speech, maybe
go look at some animals. You might not understand the ways they communicate (be
it mooing or oinking or neighing), but at least there's nothing to understand. Maybe
that makes Jerry feel more hopeful.
Language and Communication
Quote #8

Whenever the dog and I see each other we both stop where we are. We regard
each other with a mixture of sadness and suspicion, and then we feign indifference.
We walk past each other safely; we have an understanding. It's very sad, but you'll
have to admit that it is an understanding. We had made many attempts at contact
and we had failed. (165)

Again, accepting a failure to communicate is less painful than trying to

communicate and not having it work. At least Jerry isn't poisoning the dog, and the
dog isn't biting him. If he'd used that model with Peter, he could have just walked on
by and they could have never spoken. Which would have been happier, yes, but
would have made for a much shorter play.
Language and Communication
Quote #9

And was trying to feed the dog an act of love? And, perhaps, was the dog's
attempt to bite me not an act of love? If we can be so misunderstood, well, then,
why have we invented the word love in the first place? (165)

Not understanding the dog, trying to kill the dog, and then seeing the violence as an
act of lovethis is not a healthy relationship, Jerry. Jerry doesn't listen to Shmoop,

though. He just does the same thing again with Peter. The moral islisten to
Shmoop, peoplebreak the cycle. Also, don't poison dogs.

http://www.shmoop.com/the-zoo-story/language-communication-quotes-3.html

However, a larger obstacle to communication exists between the two men. The
entire "conversation," from beginning to end, is manipulated by Jerry. Although he
obviously wants to communicate to another human being what he has learned
about love, friendship and understanding, Jerry wants even more to create reactions
and feelings in Peter which will result in Peter's killing Jerry.

From Jerry's point of view, communication is manipulation, in this conversation with

Peter and in all of life. Jerry hates life, or fears life, or has had enough of life in any
case, and he wants to die, but he is not able or willing to kill himself. Therefore, he
decides to use his skills of conversation (or at least what appears to be
conversation) to break down Peter's conservative outlook and emotional selfcontainment to such a point that he has killed Jerry before he even knows what has
happened.

In one sense, then, from Jerry's point of view, the communication is perfect--he
accomplishes precisely what he wants to accomplish. From Peter's point of view, of
course, what has happened to him, how Jerry has manipulated him into murder, will
probably not come clear to him for a long while, if ever. Jerry has achieved what he
wanted from the encounter--death. Peter has no idea what hit him

https://www.collegetermpapers.com/viewpaper/1303616996.html

Failures in communication

In so many ways, Peter and Jerry are unable to bridge their differences to achieve
any real communication. This communication failure occurs on both linguistic and
philosophical levels.

On the linguistic level, the men have trouble conversing because they have different
understandings of words and concepts. An example of this comes early in the play,
when Jerry asks Peter about his family. When Peter tells Jerry that he has two

daughters, Peter assumes this communicates that he is married. However, Jerry

does not make this assumption, and Peter is confused when Jerry continues to task
him about his family. Because the men come from such different socioeconomic
backgrounds, they do not approach issues with the same definitions, and hence is
their ability to achieve any real intimacy hampered.

There is also a deeper failure to communicate on a philosophical level; their

opinions on life and its meaning are so different that the difference impedes their
ability to connect with each other. For example, Peter states on p. 22 that people
should not get everything they want; he believes that a certain amount of
deprivation is essential to the human experience. Jerry, on the other hand, has
experienced real suffering and misfortune, and therefore has a different viewpoint
on the topic. The insensitivity of Peter's remark diminishes the tentative connection
that the men have made. Ultimately, the play's tragedy results from the inevitable
fact that Jerry will never find a way to communicate with a world that considers him
an outsider, and refuses to try and see the world the way he does.

http://www.gradesaver.com/the-zoo-story/study-guide/themes

Edward Albee's play The Zoo Story is a play about communication, or rather, the
lack of communication between people who believe they are communicating. The
play is both comic and tragic, for the same lack of communication which brings
laughter can the next moment bring pathos as the consequences of isolated human
beings (human beings who cannot or will not communicate openly and honestly)
brings death, even murder, or murder by suicide.
http://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1707324.html

Their conversation doesnt get along very well. In one part Peter seemed so
annoyed with Jerry but in other part he is very interesting with it, and vice versa. At
the beginning Peter who has a higher social class than Jerry tried to avoid the
conversation, he answered him shortly and giving indifferent gesture but still used
his politeness in avoiding the conversation.

The lack of communication is not only happened between Jerry and Peter but also
Jerry and his neighbor, Jerry and society, and even Jerry and the dog. The zoo that
always mentioned by Jerry is the representation of the communication he had with
others. Jerry always mentioned that he wants to tell Peter about the zoo but he
doesnt. It because the zoo is a metaphor of a communication system he had.

Jerry wants to describe about the communication he had with his story such as Jerry
and the dog, and Jerry and landlady. The story about the dog trying to bite him in
the stair is similar with how their conversation begins. He surprise Peter with a
statement such as Dog surprise him in the stair. It is also similar with the story
about landlady who attacks him.

Some other things Jerry said that have been related with the communication
problem in this drama is illusion. Jerry said when the landlady attacked him, he gave
her an illusion of love to keep her off. Jerry overcame the landladys lust by giving
her fantasy instead of real experience. It is similar with what Jerry said about a
porno card deck to Peter.

With this drama, Albee wanted to attract our attention in his unique style to get to
know what is behind the masked lives we lead, to the moment that we cannot
identify ourselves in this modern world.

https://luthfihadi.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/communication-failure-and-illusion-inthe-zoo-story/

The Zoo Story is an intensely harrowing expression of estrangement in American

society. The lack of communication between Jerry and his landladys vicious dog is
merely an analogy for the hostility among living beings in a world in which
alienation and lack of sympathy are deep-seated psychological conditions. The story
of the dog leads to Jerrys zoo story, but the roundabout, digressionary mode of
relation is emblematic of Edward Albees style. This drama is one in which a lonely
man on the verge of nervous breakdown desperately attempts to find at least one
individual who will hear him out and come to an understanding of the existential
plight that Jerry sees as a malaise in the world.

http://www.enotes.com/topics/zoo-story/themes

Words are the source of misunderstandings.

Antoine de Saint-Exupry

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/communication

So the whole war is because we can't talk to each other.

Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/communication

"Be amusing: never tell unkind stories; above all, never tell long ones."
Benjamin Disraeli
http://www.leadershipnow.com/communicationquotes.html

By me...
Communication acts like a sticking between people in todays society, it is
the essential element of developing relationships. Without communication we would
act wildly, like animals. If people who were born with the ability of communicating
their thoughts refuse to speak with each other, what would be therefore the
difference between people and animals? Sometimes people seem to be much more
entrapped/caged than some animals are and in some particular situations people
also act wilder than animals, losing conscience and following their instinct.
In The Zoo Story, once could claim that the two characters are living in a
world similar to the zoo, and they also have features resembling those of the
animals living there. People live separately and refuse to communicate, sometimes
glancing at each other in a confusing way. This kind of behaviour is not very
different of that of animals. However, one of the characters is looking for
communication, and he uses this story in order to draw the attention of his
interlocutor. The story he tells before is not understood by his fellow who is more
and more confused.
In this story, the lack of communication leads to violence and finally to death.
The truth is that the two do not communicate very much...their conversation is like
an interview. The questions put by Jerry are too bold. However, Peter answers
whatever is being asked by Jerry. This raises the question: if he is not willing to
communicate, why then does he answer Jerrys questions? Does he want Jerry to
find out how free he sees, and what a good living he enjoys? The questions put by
Jerry to Peter help the readers to understand how big is the border between them.
At a certain point Peter realises the futility of their conversation...
Jerry uses the art of communication as a means of making Peter aware of his
inner state, saying that he is an animal. In the end, his assumption proves to be
correct as long as Jerry manages to make noticeable/evident the hidden animal
living in Peter and in every human being. We were born with features like those of

animals, but we control them. As soon as control is lost, the instinct acts, most of
the times, in a disastrous way.

Edward Albees The Zoo Story reflects the anomaly of the contemporary society
where an individuals soul is distorted and disorientated by imposing different social
norms and regulations. The society tries to use the compartmentalization of souls in
order to put a human soul within a cage to establish its so-called norms and
heterosexual attitude. The patriarchal attitude is so much rotten in the structure of
the society that it tries its every singular opportunity to oppress others choices,
especially, in sexual orientations. Thus, The Zoo Story tries to grab the voice of
Rousseau (2003), man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains. (p.102)
Edward Albees The Zoo Story: Echo/es of Contemporary
Subversive Culture PDF

Rose A. Zimbardo (1962) declares, Once engaged in conversation, [Peter] tries to avoid talking
about any subject that has real relevance, anything that has roots penetrating the carefully
prepared mask which he presents to the world, and even to himself (p.11). Carol A. Sykes
(1973) emphasizes the importance of the stage directions showing that Peterresists
communication with others, or at any rate, with Jerry (p.449). When Jerry asks Peter if he minds
having a small talk, Peter answers: [Obviously minding] why . . . no, no (Albee, 1959, p.2). He
seems to give up his doubt only when Jerry insists on his minding the conversation.

James L. Roberts (1979) declares, In Edward Albees plays, each character is existing in his
own private ego (11). Gabriel Miller (1986) confirms, Isolated from their environments, their
families and themselves, [Edward Albees characters] prefer to live in a vacuum so sterile that
nothing can touch them (p.149) pg.16

Some critics including Peter Wolfe (1965) believe that the class barrier prevents Peter and
Jerryfrom the development of a true personal relationship marked by mutual respect and
dignity (p.250). As Carolyn E. Johnson (1968) argues, [Peter and Jerry] do not say what they
actually mean or are thinking (p.22). Jerry is class conscious and his question about the
dividing line between upper middle-middle-class and lower-upper-middle class perplexes Peter
(p.4). Cynthia Thomiszer (1982) explains that Jerry asks many questions in order to arrive at a
truth about Peters life (56) whereas Ruth Meyer (1968) believes that what is truth for one may
seem illusion to the other (p.69), hence the impossibility of true connection and/or
understanding.

In other words, Jerry suggests that people like Peter are confined in their own private worlds like
animals in a zoo, and are separated by bars from everyone else (Albee, 1959, p.16); the only
way one gets through to them is by means of intruding their cage and making them aware of their
false beliefs. According to Peter Wolfe, the class barrier leads to a breakdown in communication
between Peter and Jerry (p.250). pg.17

Paul Witherington (1970) confirms that the experience with Peter is that last step for Jerry
(p.161). Although Jerry is as alienated as Peter, he tries to become more communicative. Since
he has realized that true communication is of vital importance to the survival of love and
humanity, he tries to find some ways of making contact with people like Peter who escape from
the realization of this need.
Carolyn E. Johnson (1968) argues, [people] must have someone with whom they make contact,
with whom they can talk and be understood (p.23). She affirms, If people do not make contact
with someone, they resort to various per-versions trying to find something with which to
identify (p.23). Jerry expresses the grief he feels over his need communication: Its just that
if you cant deal with people, you have to make a start somewhere. WITH ANIMALS!
He shows an overwhelming desire to communicate: Every once in a while I like to talk to
somebody, really talk (Albee, 1959, p.3).. pg.17
Illusion and Reality in Edward Albees The Zoo Story
Hossein Aliakbari Harehdasht[a],*; Leila Hajjari[a]; Zahra Sheikhi Shahidzadeh[a] PDF

Lisa M. Siefker suggests that Jerry wants to give voice to the people of his stratum whose
bypassed histories seem lost in the fast-paced tumult of society. PAG 3

Jerry describes very accurately his cage in which he lives with no human relations and
understanding for each other. This in fact justifies his eagerness to speak with Peter. Even when
Jerry asks Peter a question, he does not wait for the answer. He just wants to speak no matter
about what. In fact most of the speech in the play is said by him. Peter speaks very little. Jerry
wants to establish communication with Peter, because, as is seen above, he does not talk to any
one. Like the caged animals, he is just watched and his presence is felt, but no one talks to him or
realizes what he wants and what he does not. PAG 6

Jerry wants desperately to communicate with someone, but he fails and he fails not only with
people but with animals as well. This story of the dog is similar to the story of Jerry. Albee
himself comments on the affinity between these two stories in an interview: I suppose the dog
story in The Zoo Story, to a certain extent, is a microcosm of the play by the fact that people are
not communicating, ultimately failing and trying and failing. PAG 9

Al-fatih Journal . No . 40 . June 2009 Dr. Harith Ismaiel Turki

The Caged Soul: A Study of Edward Albees The Zoo Story
Dr. Harith Ismaiel Turki Al-Duleimi, University of Koya, College of Languages, Department of
English.