The Zoo Story by Edward Albee | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Edward Albee was an American playwright known for his Absurdist dramas. He won Pulitzer prizes for three of his dramas; A Delicate Balance (1967), Seascape (1975), and Three Tall Women (1994). He also won two Tony Awards for his plays 'Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf' (1967) and ‘The Goat, Or Who is Sylvia?’ (2003).

The Zoo Story was his first play that he wrote in 1958 and it was performed in 1959. The play can be understood as a criticism of the American Dream. The American Dream is a belief that any person can become successful in American society regardless of the wealth or economic status they were born into. People in America can always rise to the top of society through hard work and sacrifice and by taking risks rather than just pure chance. Freedom and equality are essential components of the American Dream. Just like Arthur Miller’s ‘The Death of a Salesman’, Albee’s ‘The Zoo Story’ is a strong rebuttal of the American Dream which explores the themes of isolation, loneliness, miscommunication as anathematization, social disparity, and dehumanization in a materialistic world. In addition, the play also highlights the controversy regarding the rights of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer community in America during the 20^th century.

Characters of The Zoo Story:

The Zoo Story is a one-act play that includes only two appearing characters. Peter is a publishing executive and family man in his early forties, Peter is reading in Central Park when he is interrupted by a stranger. Their conversation, which eventually escalates into violence, is the centerpiece of The Zoo Story. Peter embodies convention and propriety and seems to have achieved the American Dream. Jerry eccentric transient in his late thirties, Jerry lives in poverty on the Upper West Side and is profoundly lonely. He lost his parents when he was too young and his only romantic relationship was with a boy of the same age when he was a teenager. This loneliness drives him to seek companionship from strangers; that companionship is ostensibly what he seeks from Peter. Jerry is contemplative and critical of society, and he is eager to share his opinions about life, love, and isolation with Peter.

Summary of The Zoo Story:

It is a One-Act play that takes place on a Sunday afternoon in Central Park of New York City. Peter is an upper-middle-class family man and publishing executive in his mid-forties. He is reading a book quietly on a park bench, as he does every Sunday. He is interrupted by Jerry, a sloppily dressed transient in his late thirties who approaches him and announces that he is coming from the Central Park Zoo. Peter doesn’t know him and despite Peter’s apparent reluctance to chat, Jerry insists on striking up a conversation. Peter doesn’t understand why this stranger has chosen to talk to him, but after trying unsuccessfully to return to his book, he begins to engage. Jerry is lonely and desperate for a connection with another person. Jerry quickly becomes an annoyance, with his boisterous personality and his disruption of Peter’s quiet time. He rambles on, telling Peter that smoking will cause him cancer and suggests that having cats rather than dogs is a sign of being effeminate. Jy continues to bring up the zoo repeatedly, suggesting that something mysterious happened at the zoo.

Peter is still sitting on the bench while Jje is still standing nearby. Jerry predicts that Peter is not satisfied with his personal life. He says that Peter wishes to have sons and dogs. Peter isn’t comfortable with such personal talks with a stranger and when Jerry notices it, he apologizes. Jerry says that he doesn’t talk to a lot of people, but that when he does he likes to “get to know somebody, know all about him.” Jerry continues to ask Peter questions about his life, his job, and his interests. Peter tells Jerry that he works in textbook publishing and lives in a nice apartment on the Upper East Side. Jerry tells Peter that he traveled all over New York City to approach the zoo from the right direction—because “sometimes a person has to go a very long distance out of his way to come back a short distance correctly.” Peter too begins guessing about Jerry and says that he might be living in Greenwich Village. Jerry retorts and says that his guess is wrong. Jerry tells him about his miserable apartment in a flophouse on the Upper West Side. He describes his unsavory neighbors and the junk that comprises his possessions – including two empty picture frames. When Peter asks about the picture frames, Jerry explains that he is alone in life. His parents died when he was young, and his only significant romantic relationship was a short liaison he had with another boy when he was a teenager.

Jerry again begins telling Peter about his trip to the zoo but is sidetracked into telling Peter about his landlady, a drunken woman who constantly propositions him. He says that the landlady drinks too much and often comes on to him. Peter is disgusted and comments that it is “hard to believe that people such as that really are.” Jerry tells him that the landlady recently got a dog. Jerry tried to befriend it, but the dog responded only by attacking him. After repeated and repudiated attempts at friendship, Jerry decided to murder the dog by feeding it a poisoned hamburger patty. Although this sickened the dog, it eventually recovered and began to simply leave him alone.

Peter is shocked by these revelations and wonders why Jerry is telling him all this. Jerry tells him that he uses people’s pets as a way to try to start friendships with other people. Peter tries to leave and says he didn’t comprehend his story about the dog. Jerry accuses Peter of lying, insisting that he must understand because Jerry explained everything as clearly as he could. Peter says that he didn’t mean to offend and begins to get up from the bench and leave. However, Jerry resists him and begins to tickle him. Peter is shocked at this physical touch and falls into hysterics, laughing and saying that he must leave as his “parakeets will be getting dinner ready… the cats are setting the table.” Peter sits back and calms down. Jerry says that he went to the zoo to understand how animals and people live calmly in the zoo. He further says that he was disappointed by noticing that all these animals remain separated by bars from everyone else. He then pokes at Peter’s arm and tells him to move aside on the bench so that he may also sit.

Jerry keeps punching Peter and ordering him to “MOVE OVER!,” even when Peter is crowded on one end of the bench. Peter gets angry and, as Jerry gets more violent, begins to yell for the police. Jerry mocks Peter, calling him a “vegetable.” Peter is aware that Jerry’s conduct is irrational, but for some reason finds himself feeling possessive of the bench that was “his” before Jerry arrived. Jerry pulls out a knife and says that the two of them should fight. Peter is surprised by this and refuses. Jerry then gives the knife to Peter who holds it as if protecting himself. Upon seeing this Jerry runs at Peter and into the knife. Jerry loses control at this point but then becomes calm and he accepts that death is upon him. He thanks Peter and as his life leaves him, he wipes Peter’s fingerprints off the knife handle so that Peter will not be accused of his murder. Before anyone might pass by and see the dying Jerry, Peter retrieves his book and leaves.

Jerry’s death may appear as a sudden accident but it is foreshadowed throughout the play and is the logical result of his personality and behavior. In telling Peter his life story, Jerry reveals that he is poor, socially isolated, and haunted by a traumatic past — three factors that, then as now, put individuals at risk for suicide. He also demonstrates rapid mood swings and a high level of impulsiveness. These qualities are evident most prominently in the dog story, in which Jerry rapidly shifts from liking the dog to wanting to murder it, but they manifest throughout the story, including when he insists that Peter fight him for space on the bench.

There are a variety of possible explanations for Jerry’s choice to involve Peter in his suicide. Social isolation and alienation are the dominant forces of Jerry's life, they might be his prime motivation for wanting to die. And yet, even so, it is interesting that he feels compelled to involve someone else in the act. Certainly, this inclusion could be the result of an unconscious desire, one that he might not have the strength to carry through himself. Jerry’s behavior may appear absurd but it seems far more deliberate than an unconscious impulse would explain, as if he planned his own murder while affirming that Peter remains free of any accusation. While guessing that Peter too isn’t satisfied with his life, Jerry suggests that the American dream isn’t proving true to Peter either, however, Jerry himself is the poster boy of the failure of the American dream.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!

Fire on the Mountain by Anita Desai | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Fire on the Mountain is a women-centric novel by Anita Desai that was published in 1977. This novel is considered one of the best works by Anta Desai that is based upon the themes of loneliness and aging while highlighting the issues related to oppressive patriarchy, gender inequalities, and the importance of taking out social responsibilities. The characters of the novel symbolize the alienation of women under patriarchy and of postcolonial identity in India. In addition, the novel also discusses the perils of motherhood and suggests that motherhood isn’t always a naturally acceptable situation rather it can be something that can be problematic.

Characters of Fire on the Mountain:

Nanda Kaul is an aged, reclusive widow. She is a proud and stern woman who doesn’t like to exhibit her feelings. Her husband was the vice chancellor of Punjab University. He was a reputed, influential but selfish person who never loved his wife. He had an affair with a co-worker, Miss David, a mathematics teacher. Though her husband didn’t love her, he had many children with her and she often found herself solely responsible for caring for her kids. Ila Das is a friend of Nanda Kaul. She has a shrill and loud voice as well as a club foot, which makes her a subject of laughter and jibes wherever she goes. She had been raised in grandeur but was left poverty-stricken after her brothers squandered their family money and died. She is a hard-working welfare officer in a village in Kasauli. Ram Lal is the cook servant of Nanda. Preet Singh is a local man who tries to marry his under-age seven-year-old daughter to an old man and when Ila Das opposes and aborts the marriage, he kills her. Asha is one of Nanda’s daughters. She is a beautiful woman who ruined her life in frivolity and glamour. Tara is Asha’s daughter who was married to a cruel and sadistic man named Rakesh. Rakesh is a reputed diplomat but he is an alcoholic and abusive. Tara is a depressed and anxious woman due to her abusive and philandering husband, and she suffers numerous mental breakdowns. Raka is Tara and Rakesh’s daughter and Nanda's great-granddaughter, Asha decides to leave Raka to live with Nanda after her parents, an abusive father and oppressed mother, move to Geneva while Raka is recovering from typhoid. The Priest of the village is a wicked man who instigates the village people against Ila Das.

Summary of Fire on the Mountain:

The novel is divided into three parts. Nanda Kaul is living a reclusive life in a village in the hilly area of Kasauli. After her husband’s death and the marriage of her children, she is living a lonely life and lets no one intrude on her isolated life. She had spent many years caring for her husband, their children, and many grandchildren. She has become a recluse and stays secluded from everyone including a great-grandchild. Her relationship with her husband was an unhappy one. She led her life as he wanted her to live out of a sense of duty. Her life as a Vice Chancellor’s wife though crowded and full of social activity was meaningless and unsatisfying. Her husband had an extra-marital affair and he never cared for her. Although her busy schedule lacked warmth and understanding, she carried on because of her obligations to her husband and children. Once she discharged her duties she does not want any disturbances. Emotional deprivation is at the root of Nanda Kaul’s disillusionment with human bonds. Her husband did not love her as a wife and treated her as some decorative and useful instrument needed for the efficient running of his household. She enjoyed the comforts and social status of the wife of a dignitary but deep down she felt lonely and neglected. Nanda believes every attachment to be the preface of a new betrayal and all socialization is fake. She lives a lonely life in her clean and spare house on a hilltop in Kasauli.

One day, she notices a postman coming towards her house and she gets annoyed by this. The postman brings a letter for Nanda from Asha, her frivolous and self-centered daughter, who is asking her to keep Raka, Nanda Kaul's great-granddaughter, for some time. Raka has just recovered from typhoid but her depressed mother, Tara, is going to Geneva to try to work things out with her cruel and abusive husband, a diplomat. Raka needs to recover outside of the heat and humidity of Bombay; otherwise, Asha would take her herself. Thus, Raka will be sent to Nanda Kaul. Nanda isn’t happy about this as she believes this will ruin the tranquility of her current life. However, she is worried about Tara as she had been a wife to a stern husband and had spent her life taking care of little children.

When Raka arrives at Kasauli, Nanda realizes the little girl is as reclusive as her. Raka lives in her own type of seclusion as she retreats into a world of inner fantasy where she creates adventures of chasing snakes, animals, and ghosts in the peaceful hills that surround her and her great-grandmother. Nanda feels that the two of them have things in common but that a major difference exists as well. Nanda has chosen to be a recluse while the young girl appears to be sad and reclusive because of the violent relationship between her parents. Gradually Nanda begins trying to be a part of the child’s life and wants to share her world with her. Her attempts, however, appear to be in vain. Ram Lal and Nanda devote themselves to the proper care of Raka. Ram Lal suggests that Raka should have an ayah to bathe her and take her to the club to play with other children. When Nanda asks her if she would like to go to the club, Raka refuses. Nanda asks her why she doesn’t wish to go to the club to which Raka replies that Nanda doesn't go either. Surprised and pleased, Nanda Kaul bursts out that Raka is exactly like she is. Raka is loath to hear this, and both are embarrassed.

Nanda decides to try harder to win the trust and emotions of Raka. She tells Raka of her childhood in Kashmir and describes the lakes, forests, orchards with great fruit trees, and the animals her father would keep. Raka cannot understand why her great-grandmother has become so talkative and wants to get away from her. When Nanda Kaul stops, both are slightly angry at the growing attachment and change of routine. When Raka returns from her expeditions, Nanda Kaul tries to interest her by telling her tales about the animals she had kept. The stories that Nanda conjures serve to pique the interest of the young girl and a connection between the two begins to develop. Nanda continues to talk of the idyllic place in which she was born and offers stories about Kashmir that are significantly embellished with unusual tales of a house that has a private zoo and a back that leads to flooded rivers. As the child, Raka, listens, she begins to wonder about the accuracy of the stories. She asks why Nanda would have left such a wonderful place and why she does not return there. As she realizes the trick the old woman has been playing, she begins to slip back into her private world.

Nanda notices that Raka prefers spending her afternoons in the wild and begins to miss her. She realizes that Raka likes nature more than she likes her neat and clean house; even if Nanda attempts to fill the house with things to interest Raka, she will not stay.

One day, Nanda receives a call from Ila Das, her childhood friend, who asks to meet Raka. Nanda is annoyed by this, but she agrees as she thinks that Ila Das may change the mood of Raka and invites her for tea. Ila Das gets late for the tea which irks Nanda but then she notices her coming towards her house followed by a group of schoolboys teasing her for her attire and voice. They knock her umbrella to the edge of the road, where she is rescued by Ram Lal who makes the boys run away. Nanda greets Ila Das and takes her to the verandah where she meets Raka. Ila greets and kisses a hesitant Raka. The kiss irks Nanda Kaul and makes her smug at the same time, and they conduct the tea party. Ila Das begins to describe their old days, and Raka is weary with their talk. Raka was uncomfortable and out of place. Ila Das mentions Nanda Kaul's house and the comfort she felt there. When she mentions playing badminton with Nanda Kaul’s husband and Miss David, a teacher, she falls silent suddenly. Nanda cracks her knuckles. She asks Raka to fetch Ram Lal to clear the teacups and muses about how well she knows Ila Das. Ila Das had once belonged to a rich family whose fortune was squandered by her brothers till there was nothing left for the two sisters. They had to divide every morsel until Nanda Kaul arranged for a job for Ila Das at the university. Ila reveals that she is finding it difficult to make ends meet but says she is much better off than the villagers who starve if the harvest goes bad and, due to a superstitious and misogynistic priest, does not visit the health clinic. She is also frustrated by the inability to make headway against child marriages. Nanda feels that she should invite Ila to live with her but is reluctant. Ila is rejuvenated after meeting Nanda and Raka and prepares to leave.

In high spirits, Ila decided to walk through the bazaar before heading home. Raka grabs a packet of matches from the kitchen and climbs down to the ravine. Ila Das leaves and Nanda Kaul feels like protecting Ila from any harm that might come to her, as is her natural instinct. Night fell as Ila Das walked home, and she was attacked and murdered by Preet Singh, who was mad at her for trying to dissuade him from marrying off his young daughter. Nanda Kaul received a phone call from the police shortly after asking her to identify the body, and the news shocked her. Nanda Kaul was overcome with despair and the realization that her whole life, everything she told herself about her motivations and her entire constructed sense of self was fabricated as a means to get through life. As this crisis or epiphany takes place, Raka tapped at the window saying “Look, Nani, I have set the forest on fire.” The novel ends as Nanda observes the black smoke engulfing the mountain.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of Indian English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!

Where Shall We Go This Summer? by Anita Desai | Characters, Summary, Analysis

‘Where Shall We Go This Summer?’ is the fourth novel by Anita Desai that was published in 1975. It is considered to be the shortest existentialist novel. Anita Desai is a diaspora writer from India. She has been thrice short-listed for the Booker Prize for her literary excellence. Anita Desai has introduced psychological novels into Indian- English Literature. She has always expressed her deep interest in unfurling women's psyche in her writings basically fiction. Where Shall We Go This Summer? is a woman-oriented novel where the novelist deals with the disturbed psyche of the female protagonist Sita. The story also highlights the increasing gulf between the life of modern-day technopolis and conservative village life. The differences between the two often create a very different culture and breeding grounds for people and affect how they behave and what things they value.

Characters of Where Shall We Go This Summer?

Sita is a 45-year-old married woman, mother of four kids and expecting her fifth child. She is a hyper-sensitive neurotic woman who is fed up with giving birth to children and raising them. Her husband Raman is 10 years older than her. While he is a dedicated family man and an honest husband, he is not as emotionally attached to his family as Sita. Raman is a modern man who devotes most of his time to his business. Raman too doesn’t wish to have another child. When Raman questions her if she wants an abortion Sita says, “I mean I want to keep it-----I don’t want it to be born.” Raman realizes her internal turmoil and the fact that she is irritated with her other four kids. Karan is Sita’s younger son and Menaka is her younger daughter. The family lives in Bombay. While Raman and all their four kids are accustomed to the busy urban life, Sita finds it difficult to adjust to the modern way of living and wishes to return to her island village Manori. Raman is against her wish to move to Manori as he realizes there will not be any nursing or healthcare facility there to aid her delivery. Sita’s father was a freedom fighter and her mother was a housewife who died when she was still a child. Jivan is Sita’s younger brother.

Summary of Where Shall We Go This Summer?

The main character of the novel is Sita, a forty-five-year-old married woman. She lives in the busy city of Bombay with her husband and four children. She spent her childhood in Manori, an island village and she misses the free environment and simplicity of the village life. She was married to Raman when she was 19 years old while Raman was 29 years old at that time. Sita’s father was a businessman and a freedom fighter and Sita was very much inspired by her father. Some people of Manori believed that her father had miraculous curing abilities and he was always ready to help the people of the village. Sita’s younger brother Jivan and she were leading a carefree life when a lethal flood devoured the village in which Sita lost her father and brother. She was rescued by Raman, a 29-year-old young man. Raman was the son of a friend of Sita’s father. He recovered her and took her to his home in Bombay where they married. It was not an arranged marriage, nor it was a love marriage. Sita was nineteen years old then and Raman, who saved her life, felt pity and a surge of lust for her and married her. Sita found it difficult to live with her in-laws and thus, Raman decided to shift to another city and since then, they have been living together in Bombay. Gradually, the family developed and they now have four children. Sita still misses her father and brother. Sita and Raman are the two different poles where there is no attraction but repulsion always. Raman is an ordinary man who has a practical approach to life. But Sita is a woman who gets disturbed easily and fails to adjust to her family and society. Sita wishes special care and pampering from Raman like her father did. Raman who is pragmatic in his approach fails to understand her. He is more busy with his business and financial responsibilities. Sita fails to understand her husband and this leads to a change in her behaviour. She notices that her children too are too materialistic and financially success-oriented and begins disliking her children for being like their father. When she realizes that she is pregnant for the fifth time, some strange feelings strike within her. Now she feels too irritated by her four children and husband and wishes to move away from her family.

When Sita informs Raman about her pregnancy, he gets astonished and somewhat irritated and questions why she didn’t take care and avoided the pregnancy. He asks her if she wants an abortion Sita says, “I mean I want to keep it-----I don’t want it to be born.” Raman realizes that Sita is disturbed and tries to soothe her. But when Sita says that she wishes to go back to Manori, her village, and wishes to give birth to her fifth child there, Raman opposes her and says that she will find it difficult to get proper medical care in the village. This further frustrates Sita as she strongly wishes to go back to Manori, away from her family. Raman asks her if she is expecting some miracle on the island. Sita replies that she is sure of that, on the island of her childhood. Sita recalls from her childhood memories how her father used to treat those people from the mainland. People called his treatments a ‘miracle cure’. Sita remembers how one day a fisherwoman came running and flung at his feet saying that her boils had been cured. Sita recalls how another fisherwoman Phoolmaya conceived and brought so many gifts to her father. Once he had cured a child bitten by a scorpion, the mother of the child said to the villagers that he had done magic. The villagers believed that he knew magic for taking death out of all creatures. All the strange experiences and sensations on the island made Sita think that there was a miracle on the island.

Internally, Sita is disturbed by the materialistic and busy lifestyle of the metropolitan. When Raman insists that delivering the baby in Bombay under proper medical care would be a better choice and going back to Manori would be madness, she tells her husband: "What I am doing is trying to escape from the madness here, escape to a place where it might be possible to be sane again...”. Though she rebels against the birth of the fifth child, she has certain longing in her heart which she misses entirely. She wants to protect her unborn child against the cruel atmosphere in which she is living. In a freak of madness, she aims for an abortion and flies to the Island.

She remembers the days she spent with her husband's parents after marriage. There she felt like a square peg in a round hole. The sub-human atmosphere in the house made her inward-looking and placed her in a suffocating existence. She failed to adapt herself to society. She moved into a small flat and lived alone with her husband and children. Her life there is hardly better, her privacy is disturbed, she finds her existence at stake, and she struggles with the monotony of life.

She is pained to see in the normal life of the household some act of unthinking violence: her boys fighting a duel like their heroes in the films, Menaka wantonly rippling buds off a plant or shedding her paintings, the youngest, Karan, demolishing his toys with Karate blows, Raman stolidly munching his breakfast while she battles with a popgun to frighten away the crows while they are bent upon feasting on a fallen eagle. Each act is more horrible than the other and makes her shrink into herself. It frightens her and appalls her with its cruelty. The violent news in the papers, the endless fights in the block of flats, and the streets outside sicken her and she longs to protect herself and her unborn child from them. There are other incidents which haunt her and she cannot forget those incidents. One of them is the ayahs fighting like cats. While they fight, the children play beside them but these ayahs remain unaware of the crying and frightened children in their midst. Sita describes this scene to her husband and says that all this represents the myriad faces of a mad and violent society.

There is another situation that brings her into contrast with her husband: Sita sees a whole crowd of crows attacking an eagle. The eagle was perhaps wounded or else too young to fly. The crows mock at it and tear it into pieces with their beaks. Sita tries to scare away the crows with her son’s toy gun and keeps a watch over the eagle until the night falls. She identifies herself with the proud and defiant eagle because this situation objectifies the conflict in her own life. The eagle does not survive. Her husband’s reaction to the death of the eagle is in sharp contrast to Sita’s.

Sita begins thinking that her children failed to get the same morals that she got from her father and decides to go back to her village with her younger son Karan and daughter Maneka.

After reaching there, she is sure that Manori will definitely bless her with some miracle. But to her utter surprise, Manori is no longer the island of her childhood. It fails to attract her the way it did earlier. Still, she has not lost hope. Sita tries to adjust to the limited resources and facilities she has found on the island. But her children find it quite impossible and they show their displeasure. The monsoon has made their life much more miserable on the island. The children accuse her of every mishap and misfortune. They are waiting for their mother to realize that life exists in their house in Bombay city and her so-called ‘escape’ to the island that is madness.

Meanwhile, Sita comes to know more about her father from the elder people of the village. Many people believed that he was an honest freedom fighter and a miraculous man, while some doubted him. Some people believed that he was a conman who fooled common people. Sita learns that he mother left her father when she and her brother were too young because she came to know about the extra-marital affairs of Sita’s father. All these rumors further break Sita, yet she maintains that Manori will offer some miracles to her. She feels a better life in Manori where the sea, the palm trees, and the house are her companions. They are so lively that sometimes they speak to her. She assures her unborn child “I’ll keep you safe inside.” Suddenly the news of Raman’s arrival on the island makes Sita feel one violent pulsation of grief inside her. Sita refuses to go back to Bombay first. She has many reasons not to return to the mainland. Finally, she realizes that she can’t escape from the reality and decides to go back with her husband. While packing for their return journey, Sita’s mind is occupied with different thoughts as she begins thinking of rearing her fifth child in a better manner. She realizes that Raman, her husband has saved her life not once, but twice.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of Indian English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!