The real-life counterparts of Peter in The Zoo Story came of age around the time of the 1929 stock market crash and matured during the subsequent years of economic hardship. Their readiness to embrace the "good life" for a change helps explain Albee's characterization of Peter, a man pleased with himself and his prosperity.
Despite a recession in the United States during 1953 and 1954, the country's gross national product (GNP) increased by half during the decade. Confidence in the consumer soared: the amount of consumer credit rose a staggering 800 percent between 1945 and 1957, a result of the widespread use of charge accounts, payment plans, and credit cards. However, the general prosperity often failed to carry over from white males to white females and ethnic minorities, who still encountered job discrimination and earned smaller paychecks than most of their white male competitors.
Even so, the availability of goods like massproduced kitchen appliances and automobiles to unprecedented numbers of consumers was viewed as a phenomenon which-in theory at least-cut across lines of race, gender, and to some extent, class.
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