"But if I ran the zoo," said young Gerald McGrew, "I'd make a few changes, that's just what I'd do..."
When Gerald visits the zoo, he thinks it is "pretty good," but immediately thinks of ways that he could improve it. In this passage, Gerald says he would make "a few changes." The line is an understatement, as Gerald proceeds to imagine a zoo that undergoes far more than a "few" changes, instead using his mind to transform the zoo into a place beyond most people's wildest fantasies.
Then people will say, "Now I like that boy heaps. His New Zoo, McGrew Zoo, is growing by leaps."
As Gerald imagines his dream zoo, he also imagines the admiration he will receive from the public who come to see his fantastical creatures. In this passage, Gerald considers one of the many adoring comments he believes he would receive from the public if he ran his own zoo.
I'll bring back a Gusset, a Gherkin, a Gasket and also a Gootch from the wilds of Nantasket. And eight Persian Princes will carry the basket, but what their names are, I don't know. So don't ask it.
In this passage, Gerald suggests that "eight Persian Princes will carry the basket" of animals he would bring to his zoo. He then adds that he doesn't know any of the Persian Princes' names. The verse is accompanied by an illustration of eight men in turbans and pointed shoes dutifully carrying Gerald's catch while he strides ahead of them to his zoo. This passage is significant because it is an example of the cultural insensitivity for which the book has been criticized. Just as Gerald imagines being able to travel the globe and poach animals wherever he likes, he is entitled enough that he believes the human inhabitants of the non-Western world would be servile toward him, even if he does not care enough about them to learn their names.
