Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2002. Vol. 8. Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 28)

Studies - Réka Cristian: Edward Albee's Castings

they are alienated figures that seek understanding. Jerry exemplifies the character, which in human relations best exemplifies the love-hate rhetoric and pushes these to the borders of the drives and instincts. As the title shows, the zoo

—with its animals in cages

—depicts the instincts that are repressed in humans by the restrictive laws of society. A similar situation is depicted by Eugene O'Neill in The Hairy Ape where the protagonist of the play, Yank, is an analogous character with that of Jerry from The Zoo Story. The real interlocutor of the play that permits access to the other person, to the repressed Other within, is Jerry, the protagonist of the drama, who represents the ii) world of instincts described by the symbol of the dog" . The allegorical encounter of Jerry and the dog ("an anatomy of love" as Ruby Cohn described it) is the one that best describes Jerry's personality in "The Story of Jerry and the Dog". Jerry here describes his view on the basic human attitudes, stressing that kindness (love) and cruelty (hate) are counterparts and the two combined have effect only: Jerry: I have learned that neither kindness nor cruelty by themselves independent of each other, created any effect beyond themselves; and I have learned that the two combined, together, at the same time, are the teaching emotion. And what is gained is loss... a compromise. We neither love nor hurt, because we do not try to reach each other... If we can so misunderstand, well, then, what have we invested the word love in the first place?

3

0 Peter is described in the presentation of the cast. He is Jerry's counterpart in the process of "teaching emotion". If Jerry represents the world of instincts, Peter is the man of the laws, of the rules, a person that society has perfectly 'domesticated'. His clothing embodies his social position of middle-class person ("tweeds") and suggests even his profession ("horn-rimmed glasses"). Although a middle-aged person, his looks suggest a man younger. This means that 2

9 The 'dog' can also be interpreted as the inversely read 'god' (anagram of 'dog'). The symbolism of the dog is related with death. He is the companion of the dead on their 'Night-Sea Crossing' as the dog is the first sign of Jerry's journey in the underworld.. Cf. J. E. Cirlot A Dictionary of Symbols (trans. Jack Sage), (New York: Philosophical Library, 1983), 84. 0 Edward Albee The Zoo Story. In Absurd Drama (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973), 176. 146