The Zoo Story Family Quotes

Peter has a family that fulfills all the social norms; he's married to the mother of his children. Jerry sneers at his satisfaction, but part of that sneering seems like it's envy, too. We learn later that Jerry only has one-night stands with women, and that his one passionate relationship was with another boy. There's maybe a suggestion that Jerry is romantically interested in Peter, though he probably wouldn't admit it—he won't even tell us what he did at the zoo, after all.

Jerry figures out that Peter wants to have another child (a son) and that his wife doesn't. Peter, too, has suffering depths, though they may not be quite as traumatic as Jerry's. (Everybody has suffering depths in the Theater of the Absurd—and just in art in general. Batman, Spider-Man, Katniss—suffering depths as far as the eye can see.)

Jerry's sad sadness; two empty picture frames. He puts a bold face on it with his I-don't-care-that-my-mommy-is-dead swagger, but come on. No one put a knife to his nose and said, "tell us about your picture frames!" He did that all by himself, just because he wants Shmoop to pity him. And you know what? It totally worked. Sad picture frames. Sad life.