The Zoo Story takes place on a Sunday afternoon in New York City’s Central Park. Peter, a middle-class man of some means, is reading quietly on a park bench, as he does every Sunday. His reading is interrupted by Jerry, who is somewhat younger and looks a bit shabby, and who stands near the bench and announces (out of the blue) that he has “been to the zoo.” 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 again brings up the zoo, and mysteriously hints that something “happened” there.
Peter (still sitting) and Jerry (still standing) begin to discuss Peter’s family: Peter is married and has two daughters, two cats and two parakeets. Jerry correctly assumes that Peter is not fully satisfied with his domestic life—Peter wanted sons and dogs. Peter is upset that Jerry has asked about such private information, and Jerry apologizes. He explains 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.” Peter says these questions make him feel like a “guinea pig,” but he continues to answer them, telling Jerry that he works in textbook publishing and lives in a nice apartment on the Upper East Side.
Jerry begins to pace as he explains to Peter that he traveled all over New York City in order to approach the zoo from the right direction—because “sometimes a person has to go a very long distance out of his way in order to come back a short distance correctly.” Peter guesses that Jerry lives in Greenwich Village, but Jerry accuses Peter of trying to “pigeonhole” him and reveals that he lives on the Upper West Side in a run-down boarding house. Jerry describes the other tenants in his boarding-house, his minimal list of possessions, and his sordid family backstory. He also tells Peter that he’s never had sex with anybody more than once, except for a teenage fling with another boy.
After some more discussion of the zoo, Jerry, still pacing, launches into a long monologue about the boarding-house landlady and her dog. Jerry describes his disgust with the landlady, who drinks heavily and often comes on to Jerry. Peter is horrifiedand comments that it’s “hard to believe that people such as that really are,” because such characters should only be for “reading about.” Jerry, though, focuses on the landlady’s dog, who tries to attack Jerry every time he comes into the entry hall. Jerry tells Peter that he had tried to befriend the dog, feeding it hamburger meat every day for a week. But the landlady’s dog would eat the meat and then still attack Jerry, so Jerry formulated a new plan—to murder the dog with poisoned meat. Peter is shocked by this confession, but Jerry explains that his attempt to kill the dog was also unsuccessful.
Jerry then explains that after failing at both befriending and murdering the dog, he was curious about what his “new relationship [with the dog] might come to.” He says that he felt that if he couldn’t “make a start” with a dog, he may not be able to find connection or understanding anywhere—maybe not even with god, who Jerry fears “turned his back on the whole thing some time ago.”
Suddenly exhausted, Jerry describes his first post-poisoning encounter with the landlady’s dog. After meeting the dog met in the entry hall, Jerry looked at him until they “made contact”—and then he and the dog wordlessly agreed to leave each other alone. This new indifference saddens Jerry, who tells Peter that he and the dog now “neither love nor hurt because we do not try to reach each other.” Jerry concludes his monologue and sits down, for the first time in the entire play.
Peter, upset, tells Jerry he doesn’t “understand” the story. Jerry accuses Peter of lying, insisting that he must understand because Jerry explained everything as clearly as he could. Peter apologizes for upsetting Jerry, and begins to get up from the bench. Before Peter can leave, however, Jerry starts to tickle Peter, and Peter falls into hysterics, laughing that his “parakeets will be getting dinner ready… the cats are setting the table.” Once Peter calms down, Jerry explains that he went to the zoo to learn about how people and animals “exist with each other,” but “it probably wasn’t a fair test, what with everyone separated by bars from everyone else.” Jerry pokes Peter on the arm, and tells him to “move over” on the bench.
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.” The argument escalates, and Jerry warns Peter that if he wants the bench back, he will have to “fight for it…like a man.” As Peter gets ready to fight, Jerry pulls out a switchblade—but instead of using it himself, he tosses it at Peter’s feet.
Peter is reluctant to pick up the switchblade, but as soon he picks up the knife, Jerry runs onto it and screams like a “fatally wounded animal.” Peter panics, repeating “oh my god” over and over again. Jerry reveals “what happened at the zoo:” he decided he would find someone (like Peter) to talk to, suggesting that maybe he had somehow planned this whole interaction. Jerry then thanks Peter for “comforting” him, and tells Peter that he’s not “really a vegetable…you’re an animal too.” Jerry wipes Peter’s fingerprints off of the switchblade, and advises Peter to run. Peter lets out a “pitiful howl” and runs offstage. As Jerry dies, he whispers “oh my god”—and the play ends.
