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Abstract： Edward Albee （1928-2016） is a famous and predominant American contemporary playwright and a three-time Pulitzer winner. The author makes a comparative analysis from Edward Albee’s writing background， artistic techniques， thematic significance and George Orwell's masterpiece Animal Farm， finally concluded that the postwar economic development has brought social progress but the material civilization galloping did not improve people's poor spiritual life， social gap between the rich and the poor， loneliness and alienation between people， all these reasons resulting in this tragedy， so that we should think about how to base on the present society.
Keywords： realistic； symbolism； Animal Farm
Edward Albee was born in Washington， D.C. on March 12， 1928. His career as a real dramatist began in 1958， when his first drama The Zoo Story was finished. At that time， people experienced gas chamber， atomic bomb， bacterial warfare and other atrocities against humanity. The story is about a lonely man who begins to talk with another man on a bench which eventually leads him to taking part in murder. It only concerns two characters， Peter and Jerry. Peter is a middle-class publishing executive with his family and pets who lives in ignorance of the world outside his married family while Jerry is an alienated and depressed man who is very troubled and thus desperately eager to have a genuine talk with others. He strikes up a talk with Peter and emits about his life stories and why he comes to the zoo. The end of the play is so stunning when Peter says， “I really must be going home， ...”and then agrees to let Jerry continue his story. When Jerry stars to push him off the bench， Peter is resolved to fight and gets terribly furious. Jerry takes out a knife and then drops it， considering Peter may take it. As Peter takes the knife to defend himself， Jerry spikes himself on it.
The zoo repeated in the play symbolizes human society. This repetitious frequency is not presented coincidentally， but it is the result purposely done by the playwright. At the beginning of the play， though the characters in the play have the tendency of brutality like animals， they cannot harm to each other. With the development of conversation， the zoo symbolized become more and more sparse， and the two characters finally could contact with each other.
George Orwell is one of the most outstanding British political writers in the 20th century. Being set in the world's political landscape in thirties and forties of the 20th century， most of his works portray the tragic life of the exploited under the totalitarian oppression. Animal Farm is such a work. After capturing the farm， animals' expectation for an egalitarian Utopia does not come true. On the contrary， the mass lives a tragic life under Napoleon’s totalitarian control. However， in Animal Farm， animals defeat human beings and become dominators of the farm. At last， they conspire together to oppress the exploited. It is a short prose satire in the form of fable， which tells of a group of farm animals who revolt against the tyranny of the farmer， expel him and take over the running of the farm themselves on equalitarian principles with the slogan that “All animals are equal.” The pigs who are considered more intelligent than rest assume the reins of the new utopia. Things go well for a time. But soon the high ideals of the revolution are forgotten； the principles of democracy are discarded； and the pigs from an oligarchy， advocating that “All animals are equal， but some are more equal than others.” In his subtle and compressed fable， Orwell created a general political satire on the corruption of power， with a specific attack on the consequences of the Russian Revolution. In The Zoo Story， by using such seemingly unrelated analogies between human beings and animals and profound symbolism， Albee reveals the indifference and estrangement between people， aloofness and loneliness of people， and shows people’s persistent hope for real spiritual communication of human beings. Although this hope often evolved into a false fantasy， difficult to escape from the desolation of spiritual life， even only the destruction of the body can achieve spiritual communication， which is the tone of the play filled with sad emotional appeal， telling the people’s spiritual loss and emptiness after social isolation.
Edward Albee’s writing was considered to have a cutthroat delicacy. During several decades’ play writing， he has formed his own unique artistic style of writing. The Zoo Story touched upon Albee’s tentative attempt to connect middle-class and the lower class， as well as man and the natural world， breaking the constraint encaging people and the animals. Albee’s plays are primarily about social and existential illusions. In a fast-changing society， devoted mainly to money and material prosperity， alienation of individuals is almost inescapable. Instead of these， we should try to become makers of our fate.
References
[1]New York： The Overlook Press， 2004.
[2]Esslin， Martin. Absurd Drama [M]. Harmondsworth： Penguin Books， 1965.
[3]Alan Schneider， interview， New York Post， 31 January 1980.
作者簡介：贾诚，1993年7月15日出生，女，汉族，陕西渭南人，现就读于陕西师范大学外国语学院2017级外国语言学及应用语言学专业，硕士研究生，主要研究方向：翻译学。
Keywords： realistic； symbolism； Animal Farm
Edward Albee was born in Washington， D.C. on March 12， 1928. His career as a real dramatist began in 1958， when his first drama The Zoo Story was finished. At that time， people experienced gas chamber， atomic bomb， bacterial warfare and other atrocities against humanity. The story is about a lonely man who begins to talk with another man on a bench which eventually leads him to taking part in murder. It only concerns two characters， Peter and Jerry. Peter is a middle-class publishing executive with his family and pets who lives in ignorance of the world outside his married family while Jerry is an alienated and depressed man who is very troubled and thus desperately eager to have a genuine talk with others. He strikes up a talk with Peter and emits about his life stories and why he comes to the zoo. The end of the play is so stunning when Peter says， “I really must be going home， ...”and then agrees to let Jerry continue his story. When Jerry stars to push him off the bench， Peter is resolved to fight and gets terribly furious. Jerry takes out a knife and then drops it， considering Peter may take it. As Peter takes the knife to defend himself， Jerry spikes himself on it.
The zoo repeated in the play symbolizes human society. This repetitious frequency is not presented coincidentally， but it is the result purposely done by the playwright. At the beginning of the play， though the characters in the play have the tendency of brutality like animals， they cannot harm to each other. With the development of conversation， the zoo symbolized become more and more sparse， and the two characters finally could contact with each other.
George Orwell is one of the most outstanding British political writers in the 20th century. Being set in the world's political landscape in thirties and forties of the 20th century， most of his works portray the tragic life of the exploited under the totalitarian oppression. Animal Farm is such a work. After capturing the farm， animals' expectation for an egalitarian Utopia does not come true. On the contrary， the mass lives a tragic life under Napoleon’s totalitarian control. However， in Animal Farm， animals defeat human beings and become dominators of the farm. At last， they conspire together to oppress the exploited. It is a short prose satire in the form of fable， which tells of a group of farm animals who revolt against the tyranny of the farmer， expel him and take over the running of the farm themselves on equalitarian principles with the slogan that “All animals are equal.” The pigs who are considered more intelligent than rest assume the reins of the new utopia. Things go well for a time. But soon the high ideals of the revolution are forgotten； the principles of democracy are discarded； and the pigs from an oligarchy， advocating that “All animals are equal， but some are more equal than others.” In his subtle and compressed fable， Orwell created a general political satire on the corruption of power， with a specific attack on the consequences of the Russian Revolution. In The Zoo Story， by using such seemingly unrelated analogies between human beings and animals and profound symbolism， Albee reveals the indifference and estrangement between people， aloofness and loneliness of people， and shows people’s persistent hope for real spiritual communication of human beings. Although this hope often evolved into a false fantasy， difficult to escape from the desolation of spiritual life， even only the destruction of the body can achieve spiritual communication， which is the tone of the play filled with sad emotional appeal， telling the people’s spiritual loss and emptiness after social isolation.
Edward Albee’s writing was considered to have a cutthroat delicacy. During several decades’ play writing， he has formed his own unique artistic style of writing. The Zoo Story touched upon Albee’s tentative attempt to connect middle-class and the lower class， as well as man and the natural world， breaking the constraint encaging people and the animals. Albee’s plays are primarily about social and existential illusions. In a fast-changing society， devoted mainly to money and material prosperity， alienation of individuals is almost inescapable. Instead of these， we should try to become makers of our fate.
References
[1]New York： The Overlook Press， 2004.
[2]Esslin， Martin. Absurd Drama [M]. Harmondsworth： Penguin Books， 1965.
[3]Alan Schneider， interview， New York Post， 31 January 1980.
作者簡介：贾诚，1993年7月15日出生，女，汉族，陕西渭南人，现就读于陕西师范大学外国语学院2017级外国语言学及应用语言学专业，硕士研究生，主要研究方向：翻译学。