Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

“What if my cage had gotten hit? What if, ka-boom, there’s a big gaping hole in my cage? What do I do then? I’m not gonna go traipsing around the city, like the lions did. […] But I think I’d step out for a bit. Hang around the zoo. Hunt something. Kill all the people, kill everyone. Eat them […] Then I’d sleep a little. And then get up, kill some of the animals. Eat them. Sleep some more. But I guess at that point, I’d probably step out. Into the world. Not like the lions did, but still, have to admit, I’m curious […] The world is probably a fascinating place.” 

The Tiger says this to the audience as Kev and Tom talk to each other in the opening scene, while he is still alive and caged in the zoo. The quote foreshadows the Tiger’s ghostly fate, as he does find himself out in the world (and ultimately becomes disenchanted with it), as well as showcase the destructive, predatory behavior that the Tiger will soon come to reevaluate after his death.

TOM: Atta boy. Get angry. Eat something.

TIGER: (To audience.) This is what I’m talking about. Pure stupidity. I’m a fucking Tiger. (Tom hits Tiger with the Slim Jim.)

TOM: EAT! (The Tiger bites Tom’s hand off.) My hand!

TIGER: Yeah your hand! (Kev shoots the Tiger repeatedly with the gold gun.)

TOM: Oh God, my hand!

KEV: Tommy! Tommy, you okay? (Beat.) I shot him, Tommy! I shot him! (Tom collapses and passes out. The Tiger, now a ghost, stands outside the cage and can watch as Kev walks over to the cage, pointing the gun at the Tiger’s dead body.) 

This moment takes place at the end of the first scene at the Baghdad Zoo. The events of the Tiger biting off Tom’s hand, Kev shooting the Tiger, and the Tiger stepping out as a ghost will ultimately be the catalyst for the rest of the play, determining the characters’ fates and altering how they see the world. “It’s like we fell through a prism that night at the zoo and each part of ourselves just separated,” Kev later says (52). 

“I guess I was always going to die here. I guess that was my fate, from the start. But I would have thought maybe I’d have one good day. A day like the Leos had. A brief foray into the great wide open. And I’m bigger than them. I am bigger than those motherfuckers. (Beat; he looks at his body.) So that’s what I look like. You go your whole life never knowing how you look. And then there you are. You get hungry, you get stupid, you get shot and die. And you get this quick glimpse at how you look, to those around you, to the world. It’s never what you thought. And then it’s over. Curtains. Ka-boom.” 

The Tiger delivers this monologue when he first becomes a ghost after being shot. It serves as a contrast to his ultimate fate and suggests his initial atheism, as he believes his life is now “over.