International Journal of English and Literature (IJEL) ISSN 2249-6912 Vol. 3, Issue 2, Jun 2013, 139-144 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd. A STUDY OF THE ZOO STORY AS AN ABSURD AND SOCIALLY REALISTIC DRAMA SHIPRA MALIK Associate Professor, I.I.M.T Engg. College, Meerut, Uttarpradesh, India ABSTRACT The article is an attempt to bring into light the elements of absurdism and social criticism in the play, The Zoo Story written by Edward Albee. Throughout the play the dramatist has adopted certain absurdist techniques to expose the artificialities and absurdities of the degenerating values of American society. Through the various themes in the work like- the lack of communication, the feeling of isolation, the lack of understanding and the spiritual and social degeneration of the values along with the existential dilemma of life and the lurking materialism etc. Albee tries to present a realistic picture of the contemporary American society. KEYWORDS: Zoo Story an Absurd Drama, "Isolation" as a Principle Theme in Edward Albee Plays, Death-in-Life Existence in The Zoo Story INTRODUCTION Edward Albee is an American playwright whose works rank among the finest in the contemporary theatre. He is the incarnation, almost the living archetype of the angry adolescent who revolts against the bourgeois milieu in which he grew up and the corrupt society with which he refuses to be integrated. Through the various themes in his works like-the lack of communication, the feeling of isolation, the lack of understanding and the spiritual and social degeneration of the values along with the existential dilemma of life and the lurking materialism etc. Albee tries to present a realistic picture of the contemporary American society. "Edward Albee", Rutenberg asserts, "writes reformist plays of social protest which unflinchingly reveal the pustulous sores of a society plagued with social ills." 1 Thus, Albee is mainly a social critic who exposes through his plays the artificial values of American society dealing with power, sex, money, human relationships and institutions such as marriage, death etc. As himself said by Albee in one of his interviews, "Directly or indirectly any playwright is a kind of demonic social critic. I am concerned with altering people's perceptions, altering the status quo. All serious art interests itself in this. The self, the society should be altered by a good play. All my plays try to readjust our vision, to reorder our values.” 2 The dramatic milieu pervading at that time has been very well reflected through his plays. It is the atmosphere in which the playwright works. It comprises the immediate cultural situation, dramatic conventions and traditions, and the heritage of western culture- in effect, all those attitudes, ideals and traditions that determine or affect values, supply strategies and pattern human activities. The milieu appears, not as a sociological or psychological treatise or as a series of rhetorical flourishes, but dramatised in plot and personal. Though Albee's criticism is especially concerned with the present scenario of the American way of life but it can be applied to the other modern societies belonging to this universe. In other words, Albee's theatre reflects the sweep and play of a nation thinking in front of itself, of a culture seeking to locate its identity through the ritualized action implicit in the art of theatre. In his plays, Albee uses the various absurdist techniques to manipulate the themes which in turn stresses on the absurdity of the situation which the present day society is facing.