The Zoo Story Sex Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (line number)

Quote #1

And for those eleven days, I met at least twice a day with the park superintendent's son…a Greek boy, whose birthday was the same as mine, except he was a year older. I think I was very much in love…maybe just with sex. But that was the jazz of a very special hotel, wasn't it. And now; oh, do I love the little ladies; really I love them. For about an hour. (124)

Jerry's most intense sexual experience was with a boy; he now has one-night stands with women (the women are possibly prostitutes). So his sexuality is marked as deviant, and he himself seems to see it as deviant. Sex is both something he's wistful for and something that makes him wrong and corrupt. (It's worth noting here that Albee himself is gay.)

Quote #2

JERRY: I would have thought that you would have asked me about those pornographic playing cards.
PETER: (With a knowing smile) Oh, I've seen those cards (130-131)

Jerry owns pornographic playing cards; Peter knows about those cards. They're united in sexy knowledge. Does that mean they're united in sexy interest? If you exchange pornographic playing cards, is that a kind of come-on?

Quote #3

...what I wanted to get at is the value difference between pornographic playing cards when you're a kid, and pornographic playing cards when you're older. It's that when you're a kid you use the cards as a substitute for a real experience, and when you're older you use real experience as a substitute for the fantasy. (138)

Jerry is saying that sex for kids is a fantasy of having a real experience, but once you've had the real experience, you want to get back to the fantasy. In sex, reality and fantasy are all mixed together, kind of like Disneyland.