the zoo story essay questions

Edward Albee Society

Edward albee teaching materials, play information, and our scholarly journal the edward albee review., explore the works of edward albee, the zoo story.

Peter, a publishing executive, is reading on his favorite bench in New York City’s Central Park. Suddenly he is approached by a stranger named Jerry, who makes his entrance with the announcement “I’ve been to the zoo!” Jerry is intent on claiming the bench for himself, and proceeds to probe deep into Peter’s life.

In the preface to one publication of The Zoo Story , Albee recounts the origins of the play, including his work before The Zoo Story and why the play premiered in Berlin:

With the exception of a three-act sex farce I completed when I was twelve – the action of which occurred aboard an ocean liner, the characters of which were, for the most part, English gentry, and the title of which was, for some reason that escapes me now, Aliqueen – with the exception of that, The Zoo Story (1958), The Death of Bessie Smith and The Sandbox (both 1959), are my first three plays. The Zoo Story , written first, received production first – but not in the United States, where one might reasonably expect an American writer to get his first attention. The Zoo Story had its premiere in Berlin, Germany, on September 28, 1959. […] Shortly after The Zoo Story was completed, while it was being read and politely refused by a number of New York producers […], a young composer friend of mine, William Flanagan by name, looked at the play, liked it, and sent it to several friends of his, among them David Diamond, another American composer, resident of Italy; Diamond liked the play and sent it on to a friend of his a Swiss actor, Pinkas Braun; Braun liked the play, made a tape recording of it, playing both its roles, which he sent on to Mrs. Stefani Hunzinger, who heads the drama department of the S. Fischer Verlag, a large publishing house in Frankfurt; she, in turn . . . well, through her it got to Berlin, and to production. From New York to Florence to Zurich to Frankfurt to Berlin. And finally back to New York where, on January 14, 1960, it received American production, off Broadway, at the Provincetown Playhouse, on a double bill with Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape .

Albee, Edward. Preface. The American Dream and The Zoo Story . New York: Penguin, 1997. 7-8.

Type : Short Play

First Performance : 28 September 1959, Schiller Theater, Berlin; 14 January 1960, Provincetown Playhouse, New York

Awards : Berlin Festival Award, 1960. Obie Award, 1960. Vernon Rice Memorial Award, 1960. Drama Desk Award, 1960. Argentine Critics Circle Award, 1961.

In 2004 Edward Albee delved deeper into The Zoo Story by adding a first act, Homelife , which precedes Peter’s fateful meeting with Jerry on the Central Park bench. The double bill was collectively titled Peter & Jerry , until 2009 when it was renamed At Home at the Zoo .

According to the publishing firm Samuel French, “ The Zoo Story may be performed independently. However, Homelife may only be performed as part of the full length play At Home at the Zoo .”

“At Home at the Zoo (Zoo Story).” Samuel French . 2012. 1 May 2014 <http://www.samuelfrench.com/p/7482/at-home-at-the-zoo-zoo-story/>.

For more information on Homelife and the double bill, view our entry on At Home at the Zoo .

Plot Summary and Critical Analysis by Michelle Dodson

“I’ve been to the zoo. I said, I’ve been to the zoo. MISTER, I’VE BEEN TO THE ZOO!” exclaims Jerry, a man in his late thirties who is “carelessly dressed but not poorly,” to Peter, who is at this particular moment sitting alone on a bench in Central Park in New York City, reading a book. Peter is slightly older than Jerry and is described as wearing “tweeds” and “carries horn-rimmed glasses” along with a pipe. [1] In this opening scene of Albee’s first produced play, Jerry begins what turns out to be a long exchange with Peter, who politely acknowledges this total stranger but hopes soon to return to his book.

Jerry asks Peter personal questions about his home life, learning that along with his wife and two daughters, Peter’s household contains “two cats” and “two parakeets.” [2] Jerry questions Peter about where he lives before beginning his own lengthy description of the condition and the surrounding neighbors of his “four-story brownstone rooming house on the Upper West Side.” [3] From Jerry’s description, Peter concludes that “It doesn’t sound like a very nice place to live.” [4] Peter learns that Jerry has no family and his relationships do not last or mean anything, other than a fling he had at fifteen about which he describes himself as having been a “h-o-m-o-s-e-x-u-a-l” for a week and a half. [5] Instead of explaining the “zoo story,” Jerry begins to talk about his rooming house again, specifically about his landlady and her dog. He states that his landlady, whom he describes as “a bag of garbage,” is constantly trying to sleep with him while the dog, a “black monster of a beast,” never lets Jerry past without attempting to attack him. [6]

This begins Jerry’s monologue, which he titles “THE STORY OF JERRY AND THE DOG.” [7] Jerry explains his plan to Peter: “First…kill the dog with kindness, and if that doesn’t work… just kill him.” [8] After a few weeks of buying hamburgers for the dog with no progress, he feeds it poisoned hamburgers. “I’m afraid I must tell you,” Jerry states, “I wanted the dog to live so that I could see what our new relationship might come to.” [9] Jerry interrupts his story to talk about his problem with connecting with people, ultimately stating that “if not [with] people…SOMETHING. Where better to make a beginning…to understand and just possibly be understood…a beginning of an understanding, than with… than with A DOG. Just that; a dog.” [10] The dog does survive the attempted poisoning and Jerry describes their first reencounter as the first moment that he was able to “make contact.” After a moment of silence, Jerry finishes his story, explaining to Peter that now he and the dog “have an understanding” and that he has “learned that neither kindness nor cruelty by themselves, independent of each other, creates any effect beyond themselves”; rather, the “two combined, together, at the same time, are the teaching emotion.” [11]

Peter does not understand why Jerry has told him all of this and tries to leave. Jerry responds by tickling Peter’s ribs, causing him to laugh uncontrollably. Jerry explains he went to the zoo to “find out more about the way people exist with animals, and the way animals exist with each other….” [12] Jerry then suddenly pokes Peter in the arm and tells him to move over on the bench. Jerry continues to poke Peter again and again, harder each time, demanding that he move over. Finally, Peter exclaims that there is nowhere else to move to, so Jerry starts punching Peter in the arm. Jerry tells Peter that he wants the bench to himself and that he will only tell him “what happened at the zoo” if Peter gives up the bench or fights for it. After Peter agrees to fight Jerry for the bench, Jerry pulls out a knife and throws it at Peter’s feet, to make it a more even fight. Peter picks up the knife in a defensive position and Jerry runs towards him, impaling himself on the knife. Jerry staggers backward, the knife still embedded in him, and falls on the bench which the two men had just been fighting over. Realizing that he is dying, Jerry thanks Peter: “I came unto you and you have comforted me. Dear Peter.” [13] Jerry wipes the knife clean of Peter’s fingerprints and tells him to leave, concluding that Peter is “no longer a vegetable,” rather he is now “an animal, too.” [14] The play ends with Peter grabbing his book and rushing offstage screaming, “Oh my god!” while Jerry dies alone on the bench.

Edward Albee wrote The Zoo Story in 1958 and it was first performed in Germany the following year during the Berlin Festival. The Zoo Story then appeared Off-Broadway at the Provincetown Playhouse during the winter of 1960. [15] In The New York Times review, The Zoo Story was said to be “on par” with Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape , which was playing together with The Zoo Story in a double-bill. [16]

The play’s themes of “fragmentation, alienation, and isolation” have led many critics to classify The Zoo Story as an absurdist drama. However, even in The Theatre of the Absurd , the book which first attached the absurd label to Albee, Martin Esslin concludes that Albee’s play does not fall into this category and “ultimately fails as an absurdist drama.” [17] Siefker Bailey agrees with Esslin, saying that the “play does not end on an absurdist note” and that “the characters and the audience are left with a story full of purpose and meaning.” [18] Albee uses his spokesman character to relay the importance of communication since throughout the play Jerry tries to establish contact with Peter by telling him stories. If Jerry can make his stories “real” to Peter or members of the audience then Jerry can escape his feelings of loneliness and isolation. Albee ultimately uses the shock of the violence at the play’s conclusion in order to “instill in his audience the idealistically American call to action to change the world for the better.” [19]

However, many critics still argue that The Zoo Story does in fact fall into the classification of the Theatre of the Absurd. Philip C. Kolin states that Albee uses “techniques and ideas from the ‘absurdist’ plays of European playwrights such as Beckett, Genet, and Ionesco.” Kolin further states that Albee’s ideas are “distinctively American, pressing for American change and reform.” [20] Brian Way expands on this idea of absurdism by referring to The Zoo Story as “belonging to the second level of the Theatre of the Absurd,” which he then goes on to explain as showing “a brilliantly inventive sense of what can be done with the techniques, but stops short of the metaphysic which makes the techniques completely meaningful.” [21] In other words, The Zoo Story tries to somewhat explain the way the world works. However, it never directly provides us with a concrete solution, which helps to define it as an absurdist play. Way then describes the “pseudo- crisis” of an absurd play as occurring when “a similar complex of tensions is brought to a head without resolving anything…emphasizing that complexity and tension are permanent and unresolvable elements of a world of confusion,” while in a dramatic play the crisis serves as a way to advance the story’s action. [22] In this view, by the end of The Zoo Story nothing has truly been resolved between Jerry and Peter; their inability to establish a human connection is insurmountable. The play ends simply because Jerry dies.

The dynamic between Jerry and Peter is another important factor in critics’ discussion of The Zoo Story , as Gilbert Debusscher defines one of the primary themes to be “the virulent criticism of bourgeois complacency, of the hypocrisy of a good conscience, the emptiness of the false values of American life supported by advertising and pseudo-intellectual magazines.” [23] In this regard, Peter is the representative of the bourgeois class and Jerry can be seen as an outsider who ultimately observes and criticizes the norm. As Debusscher states, the “complacency” that accompanies Peter in the beginning of the play, even through his continued discussion with Jerry, remains at the end. Since Jerry does not share this complacency he is instead given a strong sense of “individualism” that is also “voiced in rebellion.” [24] As Jerry dies at the end of the play, Debusscher believes his death to be an act of “escape from an unbearable world.” [25] Jerry has extreme difficulties when it comes to making connections and is ultimately used by Albee to reveal the “social inadequacies” of Jerry as a character. [26]

Jerry’s personality is further examined by Lucina Gabbard; she uses Dr. Kernberg’s evaluation of Jerry having a “borderline personality” that lies somewhere between neurosis and psychosis. [27] The cause of this particular type of personality is the result of Jerry losing his parents and ultimately himself. This in turn leads Jerry to experience a type of “abandonment depression,” in which he cannot escape and ultimately loses his ability to make connections. [28] However, a less tragic interpretation of the action is that Jerry is seen to represent the “Existential hero” because he makes his own decisions and ultimately choses when and where he is going to die. [29]

When specifically examining the final scene of The Zoo Story , some critics note many similarities to the biblical Peter and the relation between Jerry and Jesus. Jerry, like Jesus, embodies an outcast whose sole purpose is to “establish contact.” [30] When Jerry begins to tell the story about the dog, the dog becomes a representation of “Cerberus,” the guardian of the entrance to hell, through Jerry’s description: “all black with flaming eyes.” [31] Jerry’s journey from the zoo to Central Park can also be an allegory for “Christ’s decent into Hell and Resurrection,” both of which must happen before “Redemption” can occur. [32] The simple way in which Jerry talks to Peter is reminiscent of the Gospels, which are also written in colloquial diction. Jerry’s death resembles the death of Jesus, as he seems to be crucified in order to save Peter from a life of complacency. In other words, Jerry dies “to save Peter’s soul from death by spiritual starvation.” [33] However, this idea is not supported by every critic, as Mary Castiglie Anderson states that there is no biblical allusion; rather, the ending of the play signifies Jerry as the guide or “teacher” to Peter’s maturity and autonomy.” [34] Overall, The Zoo Story operates as a vehicle for various levels of human interaction and communication, ultimately showing humanity’s need for contact, as well as the broader sense of the differences between economic classes and the idea of complacency during this period of American history.

[1] Albee 14. [2] Albee 19. [3] Albee 21. [4] Albee 22. [5] Albee 24. [6] Albee 25. [7] Albee 27. [8] Albee 27. [9] Albee 29. [10] Albee 30. [11] Albee 31. [12] Albee 34. [13] Albee 39. [14] Albee 40. [15] Tallmer 1. [16] Tallmer 1. [17] Quoted in Lisa Siefker Bailey 31. [18] Siefker Bailey 32. [19] Siefker Bailey 34. [20] Kolin 17. [21] Way 66. [22] Way 70. [23] Debusscher 75. [24] Amacher 38. [25] Debusscher 75. [26] Debusscher 75. [27] Gabbard 19. [28] Gabbard 20. [29] Amacher 39. [30] Zimbardo 30. [31] Zimbardo 30. [32] Zimbardo 31. [33] Zimbardo 52. [34] Castiglie 93.

Albee, Edward. The Zoo Story , in The Collected Plays of Edward Albee 1958-1965 . New York: Overlook Duckworth, 2007, 11-40. Print.

Amacher, Richard E. Edward Albee . Boston: Twayne, 1982. Print.

Bigsby, C.W.E. Albee . Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1969. Print.

Debusscher, Gilbert. “The Playwright in the Making.” Critical Essays on Edward Albee . Ed. Philip C. Kolin and J. Madison Davis. Boston, MA: G.K. Hall, 1986. 74-80. Print.

Gabbard, Lucina P. “Unity in the Albee Vision.” Edward Albee, Planned Wilderness: Interview, Essays, and Bibliography . Ed. Patricia De La Fuente, Donald E. Fritz, Jan Seale, and Dorey Schmidt. Edinburg, TX: School of Humanities, Pan American U, 1980. 18-31. Print.

Gussow, Mel. Edward Albee: A Singular Journey: A Biography . New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999. Print.

Kolin, Philip C. “Albee’s Early One Act Plays: A New American Playwright from Whom Much Is to Be Expected.” The Cambridge Companion to Edward Albee . Ed. Stephen J. Bottoms. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2005. 16-37. Print.

Kolin, Philip C., and J. Madison Davis. “Introduction.” Critical Essays on Edward Albee . Boston, MA: G.K. Hall, 1986. 8-11. Print.

Siefker Bailey, Lisa M. “Absurdly American: Rediscovering the Representation of Violence in The Zoo Story .” Edward Albee: A Casebook . Ed. Bruce J. Mann. New York: Routledge, 2003. 31-43. Print.

Tallmer, Jerry. “The Voice Reviews Edward Albee’s The Zoo Story and Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape .” Village Voice The Archives . 8 July 2009. Web. 6 May 2016.

Way, Brian. “Albee and the Absurd: The American Dream and The Zoo Story .” Critical Essays on Edward Albee. Ed. Philip C. Kolin. and J. Madison Davis. Boston, MA: G.K. Hall, 1986. 65-73. Print.

Back to Works

The Zoo Story Essay

Organize your thoughts in 6 simple steps, find the perfect quote to float your boat, tired of ads, cite this source, logging out…, logging out....

You've been inactive for a while, logging you out in a few seconds...

W hy's T his F unny?

“The Zoo Story” by Edward Albee Essay

The Zoo Story is a well-known play by Edward Albee which is both simple and deep in its theme and idea with many glimpses on the inner changes inside a morally oppressed man. It was written in the year 1958, but was prohibited in the United States. Thus, the author left America for Europe in order to perform his first pay in Germany, namely at the Schiller Theatre, in Berlin in 1959. (Cody 1517) The play consists of one act and narrates about a meeting of two men in the Central park, New York. The play terrifies by its development and climax which calls multivalued reaction on how to make out the idea of play.

Though, Edward Albee describes two men, Jerry and Peter, who are strange to each other from the very beginning g of their conversation. Peter is older and works as a publisher. He has family, daughters, parakeets in the amount of two. Also he has cats and is just sitting on the bench in the park. Jerry is inclined from the very first words to extract all the information from his talker. Jerry seems to live in scrutiny in the boarding house and, thus, wants to tell his story to Peter. The story contains the facts about his landlady and the dog of hers, everything which makes Jerry annoyed. The monologue of his is too long and comp-rises almost the third part of the play. The author tends to illustrate two types of conditions and circumstances in which two characters live. The final part of the play shows some sort of fight for the “bench domination” which is started by Jerry and when he takes knife out of his pocket and tries to stick it into Peter, the further development of actions turns against Jerry who sticks it unintentionally in his body and, though, makes Peter to go out. When Jerry is broken he shouts: “it’s all right, you’re an animal.” (Albee, 1958)

The drama of these two characters is connected with their different conditions of living, but the same state of existing. “The parallel is drawn between Jerry’s excursion and Peter’s existence in a kind of domestic “zoo.” (Cody 1517) These two men did not even recognize before the world in which they lived and continue living. For Peter it is news, but Jerry is sick and tired with this and has nothing to do, but to search for escape from this madness. “What I mean is: animals are indifferent to me… like people…” (Albee 1958) The terrific anxiety of Jerry makes great impact on Peter who becomes involved into the Jerry’s story.

Peter is a middle-aged publisher who has some successes in editing books. He got accustomed with the routine development of his life. Traditionally he once married and has two daughters as a result of this very marriage. The animals which live in his house and wife with daughters are the sceneries of his territory on which he is able to move, act, speak and think. He is limited and knows about this nothing. Peter seems satisfied with his life, which is full of advantages, and pretends not to disturb somebody by his personal understanding of life. It cannot be said so in case of Jerry. Their opposition to each other urges a spectator to predict the next steps of the characters. “Because of the explicit criticism of the status quo embodied in Peter – and because the play is resonant with allusions to classical mythology, Biblical locutions (however ironical) and the atmosphere of a heroic quest, it is tempting to romanticize or glorify the character of Jerry.” (Stenz, p. 6).

Peter sits plain and shows some insignificant changes on his face due to the energetic play of Jerry on the scene. The author leaves some features of a real truth about Peter somewhere behind the screens and makes possible for a spectator to get to the point of whether the death of Jerry played an important role or not. Peter is outlined to be a narrow-minded person who needs to be put into the picture about what happens with him and where he stays at the moment. Jerry projects in the play the role of a prophet who is able to show the way for Jerry. His prophecy is terrible and not comprehensive for Peter at the beginning. Peter tries to make any attempts to get rid of Jerry’s notations and those stories which he used and told as a sort of Biblical proverb. Furthermore, as the author comments himself “If Peter could be shaken out of his “half-awake, half-asleep, safe attributes” and “average attitudes” only by participating in Jerry’s death, then Jerry has to die.” (Cited in Stenz, p. 6).

Jerry itself seems to be the dominating character within two. He grabs easily attention of Peter and intends him to listen to his stories which lead to the final proof of the fatal lives they live and that they appeared to be animals on the whole. Jerry sees no edge between animals and people in their attitudes. His character is very charismatic and full of the energy and efforts to express what he thinks of this or that thing. Thus, he does not hesitate to illustrate personal attitude towards people which surround him in everyday life. The story-telling manner of Jerry is needful in the play, because “finally, it should be noted that only the completion of Jerry’s story enables the play to resume its course towards a bloody crisis and operatic denouement.” (Ditsky, p. 148).

Jerry creates the intentions of a rather pessimistic outcomes of everybody’s life, so that to underline the nonsense in which people appeared and Peter, in particular. Loneliness of Jerry makes him dull and annoyed with bitter sadness which he experiences in his life. Many critics compare the manner of Jerry’s lifestyle and his mindset with people having made their sub-culture headquartered in San Francisco, namely beat-nick culture. The play was written actually in the end of 1950s when this culture dominated and drew to a head. “The play may be considered a brilliant dramatization of certain tragic and crucial factors which contributed to produce the ‘beat’ generation.” (Cited in Stenz, p. 7).

The problem of Jerry is in his entire desire to gain truth and then to share it with others. The point is that the example of peter demonstrated the opposing reaction on Jerry’s invoking statements. When he tells Peter the story about the dog with a sad voice he admits the phrase which critically proves the position of Jerry towards human beings: “The dog and I have attained a compromise; more of a bargain, really. We neither love nor hurt because we do not try to reach each other. And, was trying to feed the dog an act of love?” (Albee, 1958) Jerry is inclined from the first moment of his meeting with Peter to omit obstacles both inside and outside them in order to exceed the boundaries of his conversation with Peter which changes spontaneously into a bloody scene.

Thus, the play by Edward Albee The Zoo Story is a picturesque manifestation of peoples’ loneliness and madness with which they get accustomed in their lives omitting the reality of things and phenomena accepted in the universe. Two stories of life with opposite coloring are connected in the play under the general theme of loneliness and desperation. The author illustrated through his work the tendency of people living in modern society to ignore morality and values which are at the top of mankind and serve to save peoples’ identity.

Works cited

• Stenz, Anita Maria. Edward Albee: The Poet of Loss. Walter de Gruyter, 1978
• Ditsky, John The onstage Christ: studies in the persistence of a theme. Rowman & Littlefield, 1980
• Cody, Gabrielle H., Sprinchorn, Evert. The Columbia encyclopedia of modern drama. Columbia University Press, 2007
• Albee, Edward. The Zoo Story. 1958.
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2021, November 2). "The Zoo Story" by Edward Albee. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-zoo-story-by-edward-albee/

""The Zoo Story" by Edward Albee." IvyPanda , 2 Nov. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/the-zoo-story-by-edward-albee/.

IvyPanda . (2021) '"The Zoo Story" by Edward Albee'. 2 November.

IvyPanda . 2021. ""The Zoo Story" by Edward Albee." November 2, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-zoo-story-by-edward-albee/.

1. IvyPanda . ""The Zoo Story" by Edward Albee." November 2, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-zoo-story-by-edward-albee/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . ""The Zoo Story" by Edward Albee." November 2, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-zoo-story-by-edward-albee/.

• The American Dream by Edward Albee Play Analysis
• Edward Albee, His Life and Works
• English Play by Edward Albee "Who is Afraid of Virginia Wolf?"
• Theatre of Absurd: Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
• Elder Abuse and Neglect in Edward Albee’s “The Sandbox”
• Vaudeville and Minstrel Shows: Description
• Zoos: Cruel or Educational?
• Should Animals Be Kept in Zoos?
• The Future for Zoos and Aquariums Bibliography
• Setting Up a Safari Zoo in the UAE
• Cullingham’s “Medea” & Hall’s “Choephori”: Comparison of the Plays
• Bertolt Brecht: Life and Works
• Nurse and Friar Laurence in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”
• The American Dream in Arthur Miller's Plays
• Ophelia from Shakespeare's ”Hamlet”

The Zoo Story

Edward albee, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Alienation and Understanding

The Zoo Story is one long conversation between Peter , a middle-class and mild-mannered publishing executive reading on a park bench , and Jerry , a poor and unconventional man who approaches him. As Peter and Jerry discuss family life, Jerry’s troubled relationship with a dog, and a mysterious event at the zoo , they struggle to communicate. Even when they try to bridge the gaps between their different life experiences, they often misunderstand or…

Civilization and Humans vs. Instinct and Animals

In The Zoo Story , two humans—mild-mannered Peter and unconventional Jerry —have a conversation on a park bench . Peter (the one with a stable, middle-class life and an attachment to social norms) embodies the notion that humankind is civilized, and Jerry (with his odd social manner, unpredictable impulses, and his fixation on animals) represents the possibility that humankind might be more animalistic than we think. As the play progresses, it becomes something of a…

Simple Categorization vs. Messy Reality

In The Zoo Story, Peter, a mild-mannered publishing executive reading on a park bench , tries to make sense of Jerry , the unconventional man who approaches him and strikes up a conversation. As they talk, Peter tries to understand and “pigeonhole” Jerry—but Jerry insists that he cannot be put in a box or easily categorized. Over the course of the play, Jerry proves that real life is more complicated than the textbooks Peter edits—in…

Masculinity, Insecurity, and Violence

Peter and Jerry live wildly different lives: Peter is married with daughters while Jerry is single and unsure of his own sexuality. Peter is a middle-class textbook publisher while Jerry is poor and his source of income is never revealed. But as they talk in the park, it becomes clear that they have something in common: insecurities around masculinity and sex. Whenever one of them alludes to the complexities of manhood and male sexuality, the…

Logic vs. Faith

Peter is a rational textbook publisher who spends every Sunday not at church but reading on a bench in the park. He views the world as orderly and rational, and he seems to have no use for inexplicable things like spirituality. By contrast, Jerry behaves erratically, asks unanswerable questions that unnerve Peter, and brings up God and faith at several key moments in the play, gesturing to his belief that the world cannot be rationally…

• study guides
• lesson plans
• homework help

The Zoo Story Lesson Plans for Teachers

Teaching The Zoo Story

The Zoo Story lesson plan contains a variety of teaching materials that cater to all learning styles. Inside you'll find 30 Daily Lessons, 20 Fun Activities, 180 Multiple Choice Questions, 60 Short Essay Questions, 20 Essay Questions, Quizzes/Homework Assignments, Tests, and more. The lessons and activities will help students gain an intimate understanding of the text, while the tests and quizzes will help you evaluate how well the students have grasped the material. View a free sample

Target Grade: 7th-12th (Middle School and High School)

Length of Lesson Plan: Approximately 177 pages. Page count is estimated at 300 words per page. Length will vary depending on format viewed.

Browse The Zoo Story Lesson Plan:

Full Lesson Plan Overview

Completely customizable.

The Zoo Story lesson plan is downloadable in PDF and Word. The Word file is viewable with any PC or Mac and can be further adjusted if you want to mix questions around and/or add your own headers for things like "Name," "Period," and "Date." The Word file offers unlimited customizing options so that you can teach in the most efficient manner possible. Once you download the file, it is yours to keep and print for your classroom. View a FREE sample

Lesson Plan Calendars

The Lesson Plan Calendars provide daily suggestions about what to teach. They include detailed descriptions of when to assign reading, homework, in-class work, fun activities, quizzes, tests and more. Use the entire The Zoo Story calendar, or supplement it with your own curriculum ideas. Calendars cover one, two, four, and eight week units. Determine how long your The Zoo Story unit will be, then use one of the calendars provided to plan out your entire lesson.

Chapter Abstracts

Chapter abstracts are short descriptions of events that occur in each chapter of The Zoo Story . They highlight major plot events and detail the important relationships and characteristics of important characters. The Chapter Abstracts can be used to review what the students have read, or to prepare the students for what they will read. Hand the abstracts out in class as a study guide, or use them as a "key" for a class discussion. They are relatively brief, but can serve to be an excellent refresher of The Zoo Story for either a student or teacher.

Character and Object Descriptions

Character and Object Descriptions provide descriptions of the significant characters as well as objects and places in The Zoo Story . These can be printed out and used as an individual study guide for students, a "key" for leading a class discussion, a summary review prior to exams, or a refresher for an educator. The character and object descriptions are also used in some of the quizzes and tests in this lesson plan. The longest descriptions run about 200 words. They become shorter as the importance of the character or object declines.

Daily Lessons

This section of the lesson plan contains 30 Daily Lessons. Daily Lessons each have a specific objective and offer at least three (often more) ways to teach that objective. Lessons include classroom discussions, group and partner activities, in-class handouts, individual writing assignments, at least one homework assignment, class participation exercises and other ways to teach students about The Zoo Story in a classroom setting. You can combine daily lessons or use the ideas within them to create your own unique curriculum. They vary greatly from day to day and offer an array of creative ideas that provide many options for an educator.

Fun Classroom Activities

Fun Classroom Activities differ from Daily Lessons because they make "fun" a priority. The 20 enjoyable, interactive classroom activities that are included will help students understand The Zoo Story in fun and entertaining ways. Fun Classroom Activities include group projects, games, critical thinking activities, brainstorming sessions, writing poems, drawing or sketching, and countless other creative exercises. Many of the activities encourage students to interact with each other, be creative and think "outside of the box," and ultimately grasp key concepts from the text by "doing" rather than simply studying. Fun activities are a great way to keep students interested and engaged while still providing a deeper understanding of The Zoo Story and its themes.

Essay Questions/Writing Assignments

These 20 Essay Questions/Writing Assignments can be used as essay questions on a test, or as stand-alone essay topics for a take-home or in-class writing assignment on The Zoo Story . Students should have a full understanding of the unit material in order to answer these questions. They often include multiple parts of the work and ask for a thorough analysis of the overall text. They nearly always require a substantial response. Essay responses are typically expected to be one (or more) page(s) and consist of multiple paragraphs, although it is possible to write answers more briefly. These essays are designed to challenge a student's understanding of the broad points in a work, interactions among the characters, and main points and themes of the text. But, they also cover many of the other issues specific to the work and to the world today.

Short Essay Questions

The 60 Short Essay Questions listed in this section require a one to two sentence answer. They ask students to demonstrate a deeper understanding of The Zoo Story by describing what they've read, rather than just recalling it. The short essay questions evaluate not only whether students have read the material, but also how well they understand and can apply it. They require more thought than multiple choice questions, but are shorter than the essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

The 180 Multiple Choice Questions in this lesson plan will test a student's recall and understanding of The Zoo Story . Use these questions for quizzes, homework assignments or tests. The questions are broken out into sections, so they focus on specific chapters within The Zoo Story . This allows you to test and review the book as you proceed through the unit. Typically, there are 5-15 questions per chapter, act or section.

Evaluation Forms

Use the Oral Reading Evaluation Form when students are reading aloud in class. Pass the forms out before you assign reading, so students will know what to expect. You can use the forms to provide general feedback on audibility, pronunciation, articulation, expression and rate of speech. You can use this form to grade students, or simply comment on their progress.

Use the Writing Evaluation Form when you're grading student essays. This will help you establish uniform criteria for grading essays even though students may be writing about different aspects of the material. By following this form you will be able to evaluate the thesis, organization, supporting arguments, paragraph transitions, grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. of each student's essay.

Quizzes/Homework Assignments

The Quizzes/Homework Assignments are worksheets that can be used in a variety of ways. They pull questions from the multiple choice and short essay sections, the character and object descriptions, and the chapter abstracts to create worksheets that can be used for pop quizzes, in-class assignments and homework. Periodic homework assignments and quizzes are a great way to encourage students to stay on top of their assigned reading. They can also help you determine which concepts and ideas your class grasps and which they need more guidance on. By pulling from the different sections of the lesson plan, quizzes and homework assignments offer a comprehensive review of The Zoo Story in manageable increments that are less substantial than a full blown test.

Use the Test Summary page to determine which pre-made test is most relevant to your students' learning styles. This lesson plan provides both full unit tests and mid-unit tests. You can choose from several tests that include differing combinations of multiple choice questions, short answer questions, short essay questions, full essay questions, character and object matching, etc. Some of the tests are designed to be more difficult than others. Some have essay questions, while others are limited to short-response questions, like multiple choice, matching and short answer questions. If you don't find the combination of questions that best suits your class, you can also create your own test on The Zoo Story .

Create Your Own Quiz or Test

You have the option to Create Your Own Quiz or Test. If you want to integrate questions you've developed for your curriculum with the questions in this lesson plan, or you simply want to create a unique test or quiz from the questions this lesson plan offers, it's easy to do. Cut and paste the information from the Create Your Own Quiz or Test page into a Word document to get started. Scroll through the sections of the lesson plan that most interest you and cut and paste the exact questions you want to use into your new, personalized The Zoo Story lesson plan.

(read more)

FOLLOW BOOKRAGS:

S.F. Zoo’s giant pandas: When they might come and what’s the cost

I n the latest chapter of the decades-long “panda diplomacy” between the U.S. and China, San Francisco is set to receive the rare animals for its zoo. 

Mayor London Breed and Chinese authorities announced Thursday that the San Francisco Zoo will be sent giant pandas for the first time since a brief visit in the 1980s. 

Some question whether the zoo is ready for such high-profile inhabitants. In a recent Chronicle investigation, some zoo employees raised concerns about both animal welfare and worker safety at the zoo, which is owned by the city and run by the nonprofit San Francisco Zoological Society. 

But Supervisor Myrna Melgar, whose district includes the zoo, said she would welcome pandas to the neighborhood. “I definitely see the benefits for the zoo and for the city,” Melgar said. “I hope that the zoo puts its best foot forward.”

Here are answers to questions raised by this news:

When might the pandas arrive in San Francisco?

Breed gave no timeline for the arrival; the announcement said it depended on the completion of an enclosure for the animals at the zoo. San Francisco Zoo CEO and Executive Director Tanya Peterson told ABC News in February that it would take at least 18 months before the pandas would go on exhibit. The announcement said that preliminary planning has begun, with engineers from the Beijing Zoo visiting San Francisco this week to discuss the enclosures.

How many pandas will be coming?

The announcement did not specify the number of pandas, but they typically are sent in pairs.

Why do zoos and cities want pandas?

Pandas draw crowds. 

“They’re oversized plush toys,” said Barbara Bodine, a former U.S. ambassador and director of Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. “They’re absolutely adorable.”

Before a panda pair at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., was returned to China in 2023, the Washington Post reported that more than 250,000 people visited during their last six weeks there — a 179% boost compared to the year before. 

Alex Bastian, president and chief executive officer at the Hotel Council of San Francisco, said that adding pandas to the San Francisco Zoo would give tourists another unique experience and confirm San Francisco’s status as an international city — a “gateway to Asia and specifically China.”  

Are there pandas at other U.S. zoos?

Currently there are only four pandas in the United States, and all are at Zoo Atlanta in Georgia. The San Diego Zoo has  reached an agreement with China to receive a pair  as soon as this summer, according to the Associated Press.  

How many pandas are there in the world? How many are in zoos?

As of a 2014 census there were 1,864 giant pandas in the wild, according to the World Wildlife Fund, and it’s a number that China says makes them no longer an endangered species. They live mainly in temperate forests high in the mountains of southwest China and subsist almost entirely on bamboo. As of November, 23 zoos around the world had pandas on loan from China, according to CNN.

When has the San Francisco Zoo hosted pandas before?

In 1984, Yun-Yun and Ying-Xin from the Beijing Zoo visited the San Francisco zoo for about 2½ months, boosting attendance by four times the usual amount, the Chronicle reported at the time. The pandas lived in a temporary spot in one of the zoo’s lion grotto exhibits. Chinese pandas made another brief visit to the zoo in 1985.

How much will it cost to host the pandas?

No details were immediately provided on costs for San Francisco.

U.S. zoos must pay an annual fee to China to have the animals on loan. That cost has generally been $1 million per year, and China is supposed to use those funds on the animals’ conservation efforts, according to a 2022 report by the U.S. Congressional Research Service. Zoos typically have to hire animal care staff, including veterinarians, from China to accompany the pandas. 

How much will it cost to build a panda exhibit?

Building a new facility for pandas at the zoo would cost an estimated  $25 million , ABC News reported in a February interview with Peterson. That estimate came before the pandemic, so construction costs likely have increased.

How long might the pandas be in San Francisco?

China retains ownership of the animals and their offspring and can request they be returned.

Where would the money for construction and leasing the pandas come from? 

Most of the zoo’s budget comes from ticket and retail sales, memberships and fundraising. Otherwise, the zoo receives $4 million per year from the city to help cover operating expenses. Mayor Breed has not announced whether the city would pitch in to cover the cost of the pandas. 

What do zoo employees think about bringing in pandas? 

Travis Shields, who was a zookeeper and assistant curator at the San Francisco Zoo until last year, said he does not know how the zoo can afford to bring in pandas when it faces difficulties maintaining its existing facilities and building new ones. For example, the zoo broke ground on an ambitious new Madagascar Center in 2018 that finally opened to the public last year but is not complete. “Honestly, I don’t know where that money would come from, because they struggle now to build new exhibits and complete them,” said Shields. 

Peterson could not immediately be reached for comment, but representatives of the zoo previously told the Chronicle that the zoo continuously works to update its exhibits.

What about parking and traffic after the pandas go on exhibit? 

Parking and traffic could become more difficult in the neighborhood of the zoo with an increase in visitors. Another element that could be disruptive: The Great Highway along the western border of the zoo, south of Sloat Boulevard, will soon be permanently closed as part of a San Francisco Public Utilities Commission project to protect the coast from sea level rise. Construction is due to begin in late 2025.

Currently visitors enter the zoo’s parking lot from Sloat Boulevard and exit onto the Great Highway. “Part of what I’m working on with SFPUC is to help the zoo reconfigure so people can enter and exit onto Sloat,” Supervisor Melgar said. 

Reach Tara Duggan: [email protected]; X/Twitter: @taraduggan. Reach Julie Johnson: [email protected]; X/Twitter: @juliejohnson

The Zoo Story Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer sections of our study guides are a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss literature.

Ask a question and get answers from your fellow students and educators.

• Browse Questions

The Zoo Story

Summary of zoo city novel 2010, which two sentences best support the authors message taht people often misunderstand others, the zoo story, what are the biblical references found in this play, how is the idea of generation gap or generational divide demonstrated in the zoo story by edward albee, what is a lions mane, what is this story about, the zoo story, significance of the story about jerry and the dog, who is jerry, what is significant about the story the zoo story, what are the symbols in the zoo story, how does this concept relate to philosophical “absurdity” how does jerry’s unorthodox concept of love contribute to his emergence as a specifically modernist character.

Get JTA's Daily Briefing in your inbox

I accept the JTA Privacy Policy .

By submitting the above I agree to the privacy policy and terms of use of JTA.org

Peacock’s ‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz’ tackles a Holocaust love story based on real events

( JTA ) — A Holocaust romance, sparked when a prisoner at Auschwitz-Birkenau is forced to tattoo a number on another prisoner’s arm and they fall in love at first sight, sounds almost implausibly uplifting for a story set in a concentration camp.

But “The Tattooist of Auschwitz,” a new television series , is based on two Slovakian Jewish prisoners — Lali Sokolov and Gita Furman — who really did meet at Auschwitz, survive, marry and move to Australia together after the war. The six-part drama premiering May 2 on Peacock and Sky draws from a 2018 novel of the same name by Heather Morris, who interviewed Sokolov over three years before his death in 2006.

“It’s what drew me in, when I read the book a few years ago — that something like this could happen was so surprising,” Jonah Hauer-King , who plays young Lali at Auschwitz, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “Any kind of love at first sight is surprising, let alone in a context like this.”

Alongside Hauer-King, known for his role as Prince Eric in Disney’s live-action “The Little Mermaid,” Academy Award nominee Harvey Keitel plays Lali’s older counterpart in his late 80s, recounting his experiences to Morris (Melanie Lynskey) from his home in Melbourne shortly after Gita (Anna Próchniak) has died.

Directed by Tali Shalom-Ezer and executive produced by Claire Mundell, the series will also feature an end-title song by the legendary Jewish artist and EGOT holder Barbra Streisand. “Love Will Survive” is Streisand’s first recording for a TV series, set to release on April 25 ahead of the series premiere.

“Because of the rise in antisemitism around the world today, I wanted to sing ‘Love Will Survive’ in the context of this series, as a way of remembering the six-million souls who were lost less than 80 years ago,” Streisand said in her announcement . “And also to say that even in the darkest of times, the power of love can triumph and endure.”

“The Tattooist of Auschwitz” joins a crop of World War II-period TV series inspired by buzzy bestselling novels. Hulu recently launched “We Were the Lucky Ones,” based on Georgia Hunter’s 2017 novel about her Jewish family’s dispersion across the world. And in just the past year, Netflix adapted “All the Light We Cannot See” from Anthony Doerr’s 2014 war novel and aired “Transatlantic ,” about Varian Fry’s mission to rescue Holocaust refugees, based on Julie Orringer’s 2019 book “The Flight Portfolio.”

Harvey Keitel plays the elderly Lali Sokolov, depicted here in his Melbourne apartment, in “The Tattooist of Auschwitz. (Martin Mlaka/Sky UK)

Like the other networks, Peacock has billed its series as “inspired by the real-life story,” with the added interest of a real-life romance “in the most horrific of places.” But preserving the authenticity of Lali’s story in a TV show, based on a novel that fictionalized his testimony 12 years after his death, comes with a new set of challenges — especially when the novel was critiqued for inaccurately portraying life in Auschwitz.

Morris’s “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” raised eyebrows from the Auschwitz Memorial in 2018, which said the book “cannot be recommended as a valuable position for those who wish to understand the history of the camp” and is “almost without any value as a document.”

A report from Wanda Witek-Malicka of the Auschwitz Memorial Research Center said the book’s “based-on-facts” marketing, combined with its international success — selling over 12 million copies with translations into more than 40 languages — raised concern that many readers might treat it as a historical source on the realities of Auschwitz, despite several errors and misleading representations.

These inaccuracies include the number that Lali was forced to tattoo on Gita’s arm in the story’s pivotal scene. In the book, she is branded with the number 34902, but Gita herself said in a testimony to the USC Shoah Foundation that her number was 4562, a claim supported by evidence from the Auschwitz Memorial.

Witek-Malicka also disputed a plot line in which Lali obtains penicillin for Gita’s typhus in January 1943, saying this event was “impossible” because penicillin only became readily available after the war. Elsewhere, the book depicts a revolt by the “Sonderkommando,” predominantly Jewish prisoners who were forced to work in the gas chambers and crematoriums. Though the Sonderkommando did revolt at Auschwitz in 1944 and set fire to one crematorium, the book says they blew up two.

The sexual relationship between an SS commander and a Jewish prisoner in the book also raised questions for Witek-Mailcka, who said the possibility of such a long-term relationship was “non-existent.” She also pointed out that the building where the characters supposedly rendezvoused was only completed in January 1945 and never put into use.

Meanwhile, Lali’s son Gary told the New York Times he was bothered to see his father’s name misspelled “Lale” in the book.

Some of these inaccuracies have been corrected in the TV series, which depicts Gita’s original number and corrects the spelling of Lali’s name. But Shalom-Ezer told JTA that she relied heavily on the judgment of Morris, who worked as a story consultant for the show.

Author Heather Morris and actress Melanie Lynskey attend the Gala Screening of Sky Original “The Tattooist Of Auschwitz” at BAFTA on April 9, 2024 in London. (Dave Benett/Getty Images for Sky)

“Heather devoted her life to this,” Shalom-Ezer told JTA. “I’m not just talking about the last three years of Lali’s life, when she spent three times a week sitting with him for hours, listening to his story — all the 11 years it took her to find a publisher for the book and even later, she just devoted herself to this. So I felt confident enough that I believe her, that she’s trying to tell us the story in the most genuine way she can, as close as possible to his truth.”

Morris herself has said that she did not aim to write an academic historical account, only to share Lali’s memories of his life.

“It is Lali’s story,” she told the New York Times in 2018. “I make mention of history and memory waltzing together and straining to part, it must be accepted after 60 years this can happen but I am confident of Lali’s telling of his story, only he could tell it and others may have a different understanding of that time but that is their understanding, I have written Lali’s.”

In its TV form, “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” nods to the fickle nature of memory, particularly the memory of a traumatized person. Sometimes the viewer sees one version of events — for example, Lali discovering that a younger friend was selected for the gas chamber at random — and then the older Lali remembers a different story, in which his own number was on that selection list, only changed to his friend’s after the Nazis employed Lali as a tattooist.

The character Lali shares some of these revisions with the character Morris. Others come to him after she has left, when he is alone and haunted by the dead who occupy his kitchen at night. The series shows Lali talking to these ghosts, bargaining with his memory and making deals with the guilt of survival.

“I think that this is the nature of trauma, it creates a kind of dissociation from what happened so you cannot really remember it correctly,” said Shalom-Ezer. “So the team and I, we thought that this is the most authentic way to portray a man with a trauma that for the first time is trying to share his story with someone.”

Share this:

Recommended from jta.

These young adult novels are expanding the way literature depicts Jewish teens

Generations of immigrants to the Lower East Side are celebrated in a new picture book

A fifth question this Passover: Why does that Manischewitz matzah box look so different?

New stand-up shows aim to revive the Borscht Belt’s Jewish comedy legacy

Rachel Goldberg-Polin, Alex Edelman among Jews on Time’s 2024 ‘Most Influential’ list

Juliet, one of the oldest known manatees, dies at ZooTampa

• Kirby Wilson Times staff

Juliet, a 1½-ton manatee that was rescued from an embattled Miami aquarium, died early Sunday morning at ZooTampa, the zoo announced on social media .

The manatee was extraordinary both because of her age — she was one of the oldest known manatees at an estimated age of 65, the zoo said — and her final act. In December, Juliet was transported from the Miami Seaquarium, where she had been living since the 1950s, amid online outrage about the conditions at the facility. Juliet was moved around the same time as two other manatees, Romeo and Clarity.

As a Tampa Bay Times story chronicled at the time, transporting a more than 3,000-pound manatee across the state is no small feat .

Juliet was doing well at ZooTampa for much of her more than four-month stay there, the zoo said in a statement. But she began showing symptoms related to her age during a recent health screening. The animal declined abruptly Saturday night, zoo officials said.

“Juliet was a beloved animal, who captured the hearts of many worldwide,” said Cynthia Stringfield, ZooTampa’s senior vice president of animal health, conservation and education, who participated in the transport of the manatees from the Miami facility. “Our thoughts are with the entire manatee community and the teams who for more than six decades have cared for her.”

Kirby Wilson is a politics reporter, covering the leaders of Florida and explaining the political landscape. Reach him at [email protected].

MORE FOR YOU

• Advertisement

ONLY AVAILABLE FOR SUBSCRIBERS

The Tampa Bay Times e-Newspaper is a digital replica of the printed paper seven days a week that is available to read on desktop, mobile, and our app for subscribers only. To enjoy the e-Newspaper every day, please subscribe.

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

NPR defends its journalism after senior editor says it has lost the public's trust

David Folkenflik

NPR is defending its journalism and integrity after a senior editor wrote an essay accusing it of losing the public's trust. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

NPR is defending its journalism and integrity after a senior editor wrote an essay accusing it of losing the public's trust.

NPR's top news executive defended its journalism and its commitment to reflecting a diverse array of views on Tuesday after a senior NPR editor wrote a broad critique of how the network has covered some of the most important stories of the age.

"An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don't have an audience that reflects America," writes Uri Berliner.

A strategic emphasis on diversity and inclusion on the basis of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, promoted by NPR's former CEO, John Lansing, has fed "the absence of viewpoint diversity," Berliner writes.

NPR's chief news executive, Edith Chapin, wrote in a memo to staff Tuesday afternoon that she and the news leadership team strongly reject Berliner's assessment.

"We're proud to stand behind the exceptional work that our desks and shows do to cover a wide range of challenging stories," she wrote. "We believe that inclusion — among our staff, with our sourcing, and in our overall coverage — is critical to telling the nuanced stories of this country and our world."

NPR names tech executive Katherine Maher to lead in turbulent era

She added, "None of our work is above scrutiny or critique. We must have vigorous discussions in the newsroom about how we serve the public as a whole."

A spokesperson for NPR said Chapin, who also serves as the network's chief content officer, would have no further comment.

Praised by NPR's critics

Berliner is a senior editor on NPR's Business Desk. (Disclosure: I, too, am part of the Business Desk, and Berliner has edited many of my past stories. He did not see any version of this article or participate in its preparation before it was posted publicly.)

Berliner's essay , titled "I've Been at NPR for 25 years. Here's How We Lost America's Trust," was published by The Free Press, a website that has welcomed journalists who have concluded that mainstream news outlets have become reflexively liberal.

Berliner writes that as a Subaru-driving, Sarah Lawrence College graduate who "was raised by a lesbian peace activist mother ," he fits the mold of a loyal NPR fan.

Yet Berliner says NPR's news coverage has fallen short on some of the most controversial stories of recent years, from the question of whether former President Donald Trump colluded with Russia in the 2016 election, to the origins of the virus that causes COVID-19, to the significance and provenance of emails leaked from a laptop owned by Hunter Biden weeks before the 2020 election. In addition, he blasted NPR's coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

On each of these stories, Berliner asserts, NPR has suffered from groupthink due to too little diversity of viewpoints in the newsroom.

The essay ricocheted Tuesday around conservative media , with some labeling Berliner a whistleblower . Others picked it up on social media, including Elon Musk, who has lambasted NPR for leaving his social media site, X. (Musk emailed another NPR reporter a link to Berliner's article with a gibe that the reporter was a "quisling" — a World War II reference to someone who collaborates with the enemy.)

When asked for further comment late Tuesday, Berliner declined, saying the essay spoke for itself.

The arguments he raises — and counters — have percolated across U.S. newsrooms in recent years. The #MeToo sexual harassment scandals of 2016 and 2017 forced newsrooms to listen to and heed more junior colleagues. The social justice movement prompted by the killing of George Floyd in 2020 inspired a reckoning in many places. Newsroom leaders often appeared to stand on shaky ground.

Leaders at many newsrooms, including top editors at The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times , lost their jobs. Legendary Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron wrote in his memoir that he feared his bonds with the staff were "frayed beyond repair," especially over the degree of self-expression his journalists expected to exert on social media, before he decided to step down in early 2021.

Since then, Baron and others — including leaders of some of these newsrooms — have suggested that the pendulum has swung too far.

Author Interviews

Legendary editor marty baron describes his 'collision of power' with trump and bezos.

New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger warned last year against journalists embracing a stance of what he calls "one-side-ism": "where journalists are demonstrating that they're on the side of the righteous."

"I really think that that can create blind spots and echo chambers," he said.

Internal arguments at The Times over the strength of its reporting on accusations that Hamas engaged in sexual assaults as part of a strategy for its Oct. 7 attack on Israel erupted publicly . The paper conducted an investigation to determine the source of a leak over a planned episode of the paper's podcast The Daily on the subject, which months later has not been released. The newsroom guild accused the paper of "targeted interrogation" of journalists of Middle Eastern descent.

Heated pushback in NPR's newsroom

Given Berliner's account of private conversations, several NPR journalists question whether they can now trust him with unguarded assessments about stories in real time. Others express frustration that he had not sought out comment in advance of publication. Berliner acknowledged to me that for this story, he did not seek NPR's approval to publish the piece, nor did he give the network advance notice.

Some of Berliner's NPR colleagues are responding heatedly. Fernando Alfonso, a senior supervising editor for digital news, wrote that he wholeheartedly rejected Berliner's critique of the coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict, for which NPR's journalists, like their peers, periodically put themselves at risk.

Alfonso also took issue with Berliner's concern over the focus on diversity at NPR.

"As a person of color who has often worked in newsrooms with little to no people who look like me, the efforts NPR has made to diversify its workforce and its sources are unique and appropriate given the news industry's long-standing lack of diversity," Alfonso says. "These efforts should be celebrated and not denigrated as Uri has done."

After this story was first published, Berliner contested Alfonso's characterization, saying his criticism of NPR is about the lack of diversity of viewpoints, not its diversity itself.

"I never criticized NPR's priority of achieving a more diverse workforce in terms of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. I have not 'denigrated' NPR's newsroom diversity goals," Berliner said. "That's wrong."

Questions of diversity

Under former CEO John Lansing, NPR made increasing diversity, both of its staff and its audience, its "North Star" mission. Berliner says in the essay that NPR failed to consider broader diversity of viewpoint, noting, "In D.C., where NPR is headquartered and many of us live, I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans."

Berliner cited audience estimates that suggested a concurrent falloff in listening by Republicans. (The number of people listening to NPR broadcasts and terrestrial radio broadly has declined since the start of the pandemic.)

Former NPR vice president for news and ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin tweeted , "I know Uri. He's not wrong."

Others questioned Berliner's logic. "This probably gets causality somewhat backward," tweeted Semafor Washington editor Jordan Weissmann . "I'd guess that a lot of NPR listeners who voted for [Mitt] Romney have changed how they identify politically."

Similarly, Nieman Lab founder Joshua Benton suggested the rise of Trump alienated many NPR-appreciating Republicans from the GOP.

In recent years, NPR has greatly enhanced the percentage of people of color in its workforce and its executive ranks. Four out of 10 staffers are people of color; nearly half of NPR's leadership team identifies as Black, Asian or Latino.

"The philosophy is: Do you want to serve all of America and make sure it sounds like all of America, or not?" Lansing, who stepped down last month, says in response to Berliner's piece. "I'd welcome the argument against that."

"On radio, we were really lagging in our representation of an audience that makes us look like what America looks like today," Lansing says. The U.S. looks and sounds a lot different than it did in 1971, when NPR's first show was broadcast, Lansing says.

A network spokesperson says new NPR CEO Katherine Maher supports Chapin and her response to Berliner's critique.

The spokesperson says that Maher "believes that it's a healthy thing for a public service newsroom to engage in rigorous consideration of the needs of our audiences, including where we serve our mission well and where we can serve it better."

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editor Gerry Holmes. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Guest Essay

What Sentencing Could Look Like if Trump Is Found Guilty

By Norman L. Eisen

Mr. Eisen is the author of “Trying Trump: A Guide to His First Election Interference Criminal Trial.”

For all the attention to and debate over the unfolding trial of Donald Trump in Manhattan, there has been surprisingly little of it paid to a key element: its possible outcome and, specifically, the prospect that a former and potentially future president could be sentenced to prison time.

The case — brought by Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, against Mr. Trump — represents the first time in our nation’s history that a former president is a defendant in a criminal trial. As such, it has generated lots of debate about the case’s legal strength and integrity, as well as its potential impact on Mr. Trump’s efforts to win back the White House.

A review of thousands of cases in New York that charged the same felony suggests something striking: If Mr. Trump is found guilty, incarceration is an actual possibility. It’s not certain, of course, but it is plausible.

Jury selection has begun, and it’s not too soon to talk about what the possibility of a sentence, including a prison sentence, would look like for Mr. Trump, for the election and for the country — including what would happen if he is re-elected.

The case focuses on alleged interference in the 2016 election, which consisted of a hush-money payment Michael Cohen, the former president’s fixer at the time, made in 2016 to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump. Mr. Bragg is arguing that the cover-up cheated voters of the chance to fully assess Mr. Trump’s candidacy.

This may be the first criminal trial of a former president in American history, but if convicted, Mr. Trump’s fate is likely to be determined by the same core factors that guide the sentencing of every criminal defendant in New York State Court.

Comparable cases. The first factor is the base line against which judges measure all sentences: how other defendants have been treated for similar offenses. My research encompassed almost 10,000 cases of felony falsifying business records that have been prosecuted across the state of New York since 2015. Over a similar period, the Manhattan D.A. has charged over 400 of these cases . In roughly the first year of Mr. Bragg’s tenure, his team alone filed 166 felony counts for falsifying business records against 34 people or companies.

Contrary to claims that there will be no sentence of incarceration for falsifying business records, when a felony conviction involves serious misconduct, defendants can be sentenced to some prison time. My analysis of the most recent data indicates that approximately one in 10 cases in which the most serious charge at arraignment is falsifying business records in the first degree and in which the court ultimately imposes a sentence, results in a term of imprisonment.

To be clear, these cases generally differ from Mr. Trump’s case in one important respect: They typically involve additional charges besides just falsifying records. That clearly complicates what we might expect if Mr. Trump is convicted.

Nevertheless, there are many previous cases involving falsifying business records along with other charges where the conduct was less serious than is alleged against Mr. Trump and prison time was imposed. For instance, Richard Luthmann was accused of attempting to deceive voters — in his case, impersonating New York political figures on social media in an attempt to influence campaigns. He pleaded guilty to three counts of falsifying business records in the first degree (as well as to other charges). He received a sentence of incarceration on the felony falsification counts (although the sentence was not solely attributable to the plea).

A defendant in another case was accused of stealing in excess of $50,000 from her employer and, like in this case, falsifying one or more invoices as part of the scheme. She was indicted on a single grand larceny charge and ultimately pleaded guilty to one felony count of business record falsification for a false invoice of just under $10,000. She received 364 days in prison.

To be sure, for a typical first-time offender charged only with run-of-the-mill business record falsification, a prison sentence would be unlikely. On the other hand, Mr. Trump is being prosecuted for 34 counts of conduct that might have changed the course of American history.

Seriousness of the crime. Mr. Bragg alleges that Mr. Trump concealed critical information from voters (paying hush money to suppress an extramarital relationship) that could have harmed his campaign, particularly if it came to light after the revelation of another scandal — the “Access Hollywood” tape . If proved, that could be seen not just as unfortunate personal judgment but also, as Justice Juan Merchan has described it, an attempt “to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election.”

History and character. To date, Mr. Trump has been unrepentant about the events alleged in this case. There is every reason to believe that will not change even if he is convicted, and lack of remorse is a negative at sentencing. Justice Merchan’s evaluation of Mr. Trump’s history and character may also be informed by the other judgments against him, including Justice Arthur Engoron’s ruling that Mr. Trump engaged in repeated and persistent business fraud, a jury finding that he sexually abused and defamed E. Jean Carroll and a related defamation verdict by a second jury.

Justice Merchan may also weigh the fact that Mr. Trump has been repeatedly held in contempt , warned , fined and gagged by state and federal judges. That includes for statements he made that exposed witnesses, individuals in the judicial system and their families to danger. More recently, Mr. Trump made personal attacks on Justice Merchan’s daughter, resulting in an extension of the gag order in the case. He now stands accused of violating it again by commenting on witnesses.

What this all suggests is that a term of imprisonment for Mr. Trump, while far from certain for a former president, is not off the table. If he receives a sentence of incarceration, perhaps the likeliest term is six months, although he could face up to four years, particularly if Mr. Trump chooses to testify, as he said he intends to do , and the judge believes he lied on the stand . Probation is also available, as are more flexible approaches like a sentence of spending every weekend in jail for a year.

We will probably know what the judge will do within 30 to 60 days of the end of the trial, which could run into mid-June. If there is a conviction, that would mean a late summer or early fall sentencing.

Justice Merchan would have to wrestle in the middle of an election year with the potential impact of sentencing a former president and current candidate.

If Mr. Trump is sentenced to a period of incarceration, the reaction of the American public will probably be as polarized as our divided electorate itself. Yet as some polls suggest — with the caveat that we should always be cautious of polls early in the race posing hypothetical questions — many key swing state voters said they would not vote for a felon.

If Mr. Trump is convicted and then loses the presidential election, he will probably be granted bail, pending an appeal, which will take about a year. That means if any appeals are unsuccessful, he will most likely have to serve any sentence starting sometime next year. He will be sequestered with his Secret Service protection; if it is less than a year, probably in Rikers Island. His protective detail will probably be his main company, since Mr. Trump will surely be isolated from other inmates for his safety.

If Mr. Trump wins the presidential election, he can’t pardon himself because it is a state case. He will be likely to order the Justice Department to challenge his sentence, and department opinions have concluded that a sitting president could not be imprisoned, since that would prevent the president from fulfilling the constitutional duties of the office. The courts have never had to address the question, but they could well agree with the Justice Department.

So if Mr. Trump is convicted and sentenced to a period of incarceration, its ultimate significance is probably this: When the American people go to the polls in November, they will be voting on whether Mr. Trump should be held accountable for his original election interference.

What questions do you have about Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial so far?

Please submit them below. Our trial experts will respond to a selection of readers in a future piece.

Norman L. Eisen investigated the 2016 voter deception allegations as counsel for the first impeachment and trial of Donald Trump and is the author of “Trying Trump: A Guide to His First Election Interference Criminal Trial.”

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , WhatsApp , X and Threads .