The Zoo Story: A Search for Social Connectivity in Urban America
Md. Bardul Huda Sohel[1]
[1] Assistant Professor and Chairman, Dept. of English, Ishakha International University, Bangladesh. Email: soheleng83@gmail.com
Abstract
The paper is an attempt to explain how a modern urban outcast in post world war situations in Edward Albee’s The Zoo Story tries to revive and exist through a series of struggles. This also draws a pen picture on how family fragmentation, lack of communication, and, above all, social alienation drags one’s dream of living in an advanced society. With the impact of world war in hand, the paper is also an investigation of a death caused by social detachment as America, after World War II, became the strongest economy devastating many other countries despite, at its very inception, facing financial crisis after the war. In a bid to establish himself as a socially well-connected being, Jerry, the striker of the keynote in the play, is regarded as an instrument of class struggle. A struggle for economic emancipation and an upswing in social communication are among the crucial themes that the researcher tries to explore. Also, it is an attempt to categorically specify the reasons for Jerry’s downfall apparently due to alienation and lack of social connectivity, the factors resulting in abject frustration. The paper sheds light on how contemporary social issues influence lives in both middle and low-income groups showed by Albee where the ‘zoo’ is epitomized as a microcosm of the macrocosm.
Key Words: Social detachment, Family fragmentation, Alienation, Class struggle, Economic emancipation