The Caged Soul: A Study of Edward Albee’s The Zoo Story

Abstract

Edward Albee is one of the world-wide known dramatists. His plays question broad issues that have to do with the dilemmas of the modern man in general. One of these issues is the caged existence of the modern man. He portrays characters who are victims to their gruesome loneness. They live on the margin of their society, and they are estranged almost from their fellow people. Thus, this paper tries to examine Albee’s treatment of the theme of the caged being of man in one of his outstanding plays, The Zoo Story, focusing on the alienated life of Jerry who lives and dies in his zoo, with no recognition or sympathy from the people of his society. It also examines how Jerry seeks redemption through media, which he hopes to give him a name for his nameless existence. Edward Albee (1928-) is one of the prominent American playwrights. His plays received both national and international recognition due to the fact that they deal with the quandary of the human being and his inability to make plausible contacts with other people in his society. Albee’s plays focus on how man’s attempts to lay bridges of understanding with his fellow citizens stagger and reach a close end. Man is portrayed in Albee’s plays as an alienated creature, who is cut loose from the people around him. He lives aloof with no real contacts. Moreover, he is totally neglected and ultimately dehumanized. Albee delineates modern man as a caged animal, who lost his freedom and his identity. Thus, the present study deals with one of Albee’s most famous plays, The Zoo Story, showing how man is treated as a caged soul, estranged from his society, and symbolically treated as an animal in a zoo.