The Untold Story

An untold story is a story that not many people know.  Throughout the book, Eugene narrates the play but his family story is told most the time. His story is untold, he is a young boy who is curious and discovering who he is. He asks his older brother Stanley many questions about growing up and responsibilities. He loves and admires his brother. In the story, Eugene always seems to get blamed for everything. He seems to be underappreciated and slowly realizes that life is pretty hard. He has always loved baseball, and wanted to become a baseball player. Eugene: "I guess there comes a time in everybody's life when you say, this very moment is the end of my childhood. When Stanley closed the door, I knew that moment had come to me. I was scared. I was lonely...I even hated Stanley a little because he left me there to grow up all by myself (pg. 108)”.  Eugene’s story is untold because he struggled alot trying to find his place in his family, and within himself. I feel like every family has problems, but you really don’t hear about how difficult it is to fit when you are coming of age, whether it is a girl or a boy. When kids are trying to figure themselves out, their friends and family should be there to support them and answer any questions they have. When we support them, they will feel more secure and loved. Eugene is lucky to have a brother who understands and went through it before him.

Changing Elements

In the play, Blanche’s husband Dave died and that is why they were living with her sister Kate. But what if Dave was still alive?  Kate: “when Dave died, I cried for his loss. I was so angry. Angry at God for taking such a young man (pg. 97)”. I think that if Dave was alive it would greatly impact all of the characters. First off, his wife Blanche would not have to dependent on her sister and her family to help her take care of her two daughters. Blanche’s daughter Nora would not have to ask her uncle for life advice on whether she should join the dance group. “At least your father is still alive and around the house to make decisions. You don’t know when you are well off (pg. 41).” If Dave was alive she might have been able to go with the dance group and ended up on Broadway, just like she wanted. Also, they would all not be stuck in their financial problem and avoided all the big fights they had been through. Another thing that would change everything is that if this story happened in this era. Blanche’s mom would have an easier time being more independent. She could get on her own two feet. Kate’s husband would get better medical care. And Blanche’s daughter Laurie would get better treatment for the “flutter” in her heart. The two families would be more at peace all together. But I'm glad they the play was written that way because they truly understood the value of family.  

Theme

Hi Guys! The play that I picked out to read is called: “Brighton Beach Memoirs”, written by Neil Simon. This is quite an interesting play about Eugene Jerome and his family. This play is very relatable and brings up such touching conversations.There are many themes in this book. The overall theme is Family. It talks about the many struggles they all go through financially and internally within the characters. In the play they are an extended family. Since Eugene’s aunt Blanche is a widow, her two daughters live with Eugene’s family as well.  As you can imagine there were many fights that went down, most of them were all bottled up and then something triggered it and fights broke out. Blanche: “ Nobody cares for this family more than you do. But at least you can be sympathetic to somebody else in trouble. Kate: “Who should I care about? Who’s out there watching over me….How many beatings from momma did I get for things that you did? I was the workhorse and you were the pretty one (pg.101)”. The fight was an eye-opener and revealed what Kate and Blanche really felt about each other deep down. It helped them fix their problems and mend their relationship. I believe communication is so important in a relationship. Whether it is between a husband and a wife, sister to a sister or even a friend to another friend. By communicating effectively we can avoid having to bottle up our feelings. If we all bottled up our emotions then things would get real nasty and people might end up getting really hurt. What do you guys think?