Drama 4 "THE ZOO STORY"

by Maila Huda Shofyana

THE ZOO STORY

(Edward Alisee)

1.      Characters

·         Peter
He is in early forty, married, a middle-class publishing executive, embarrassed, childish, serious person.

·         Jerry
He is in late thirties, isolated, unmarried, insecure, handsome, and weary.

2.      Setting

·         Of time: On Sunday afternoon in the summer.

·          Of place: It’s happened  happened in New York's Central Park.

3.      Plot

This one-act play concerns two characters, Peter and Jerry. Peter is a middle-class publishing executive with a wife, two daughters, two cats and two parakeets who lives in ignorance of the world outside his settled life. Jerry is an isolated and disheartened man who lives in a boarding house and is very troubled. These men meet on a park bench in New York City's Central Park. Jerry is desperate to have a meaningful conversation with another human being.

4.      Style

This story is rather simple in structure. It is set in New York's Central Park on Sunday afternoon in the summer. The staging for the play, therefore, consists of two park benches with foliage, trees, and sky behind them. The place never changes and the action of the play unfolds in a linear manner, from beginning to end, in front of the audience. Everything happens in the present, which gives the play its immediacy and makes the events that unfold even more shocking. As an audience member, watching the play makes one feel as if one is witnessing a crime and is directly involved; this sense of involvement is achieved through the structure of the play.

5.      Theme

This story details what happens when one character enters the life of another character and quickly changes it forever. In the play, Jerry confronts Peter while he sits quietly reading on a bench in Central Park; through a quick series of events, Jerry forces Peter into helping him kill himself. Layered throughout this short one-act play are three overriding themes: absurdity versus reality, alienation and loneliness, and wealth and poverty.

6.      Conclusion

From the story that I read, this story is included “Man vs Society”.  Because the play explores themes of isolation, loneliness, miscommunication as anathematization, social disparity and dehumanization in a commercial world.