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영어

The purpose of this paper is to interpret the essence of suicide through the various examples of suicide depicted in modern American plays, such as Albee’s The Zoo Story. Although suicide has been a taboo throughout most of history, literature has seriously dealt with suicide as a form of death, the one of eternal propositions about the nature of human existence, even during the periods when suicide was not permitted. As a result, suicide currently has become one of the most prominent interests in literature. Suicide in literature, although fictional, can be described much more freely and more specifically than in reality, encompassing various mechanisms of actual suicide. Even in the 20th century American plays, suicide was portrayed as the most extreme conclusion of the agony of the period, and frustration and despair due to damage to an individual’s value and dignity. Albee also considers a rupture in human relations caused by materialism, unlimited competition, and extreme individualism, the social ills in a modern capitalist society. Through Jerry’s suicide in The Zoo Story, Albee stresses the need for genuine communication and contact between members of society in order to overcome alienation and disconnected human relationships which are the main impulses of suicide in modern society.