The Zoo Story Family Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (line number)

Quote #10

You fight, you miserable bastard; fight for that bench; fight for your parakeets; fight for your cats, fight for your two daughters; fight for your wife; fight for your manhood, you pathetic little vegetable. (267)

Jerry links Peter's family to his manhood; being a father and husband in the socially prescribed way makes you a man. But it also makes you ordinary, boring, unadventurous—and therefore not really a man. Family makes you masculine and also makes you not masculine. Masculinity—it'll get you.