Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Act II begins with another monologue from the Tiger, who says Baghdad is “lousy with ghosts” (40). He recounts seeing a little girl who dies in the middle of the street. When she sees the Tiger, she starts crying, so the Tiger takes her to the topiary garden. He describes it to her as “God’s garden”—which he feels is “bullshitting”—but when they get there, the Tiger unexpectedly “feels this swell of hope” (40-41). The little girl asks the Tiger when God will get to the garden, and the Tiger asks God what he’s supposed to tell her “because if You don’t [answer], I’m going to have to watch [the girl] cry again […] Speak through me, or through her, or through someone, but speak, God, speak!” (41).

In Scene 8, Tom is in a back room at an office building with a young Iraqi prostitute when Kev’s ghost appears, talking to Tom about the loss of Tom’s hand and his death. Kev exits and Musa enters, translating to the girl that Tom wants her to “stand behind me and whack me off with her right hand” (45).