The role of interiorized power in sexual repression: a foucauldian reading of Edward Albee's The Zoo story

Abstract

During the post-World War II era, American society went through several socio-cultural changes. With the rise of consumer culture, and rapid changes in society, modern people were gradually losing the value of life. However, during the mid-20th century, American theater welcomed playwrights who acted as social critics and portrayed a materialistic society’s effects in their works. Among them, Edward Albee emerged as a pioneer who brought European Absurdism, a form of plays that reflects on existential philosophy, to American audiences and blended it with American modernism. Although he kept the Absurdist’s style and structure intact, his plays contain a vast range of themes circulating American modern society. Edward Albee’s first and also a one-act play The Zoo Story (1958) is one such literary work that brings out the illusive world produced by contemporary American society. About four decades later in 2002, he wrote the first act of Zoo Story termed ‘Homelife.’ With the three characters of the full play, Jerry, Peter and Peter’s wife Ann, Albee showed an unseen side of modern life. The characters are shown struggling with their own insecure self and constantly trying to fit in the realms of societal constructions. The aim of this paper is to focus on how societal power spreads and engulfs people in the name of civilizing them so that they fit in the socially constructed norms. Moreover, the study will also analyze the play through the ideas of power and sexuality discussed by Michel Foucault. It will mainly focus on Foucault's ideas on interiorization of power discussed in his book Power/Knowledge and the repressive hypothesis discussed in History of Sexuality. The paper will analyze how interiorization of power restricts people from leading a life with their own choices and how it results in repressing their sexuality.