1972. In
retrospect, the reader often discovers that the first chapter of a novel or the
opening scene of a drama introduces some of the major themes of the work. Write
an essay about the opening scene of a drama or the first chapter of a novel in
which you explain how it functions in this way.
In the first scene of The Brighton Beach Memoirs by Neil Simon the opening act gives away a lot of the major themes for the build up of the play. Eugene gets yelled at by his mother about setting the table and he brings up one of the major themes in the play dependency. Throughout the whole show there is a struggle for being independent or being to dependent for most of the characters. Another theme also brought up by Eugene in the first scene is coming of age, where he finds himself intrigued by the thought of women.
Eugene Brings up the theme Dependency by wondering why Laurie can't set the table of course she cant because she is to sick. But she really is not she is being to coddled by aunt Kate because of aunt Kate's sister, Laurie's mother, Blanche. Blanche lost her husband, Dave, a few years back and she and her two daughters have moved in with her sister Kate and husband and their two kids. Blanche has been so dependent on her sister all these years now because of it. She has no job, no money, she cant support her two girls. This is a major theme in Nora's case also. Nora is the daughter of Blanche and dreams of being a Broadway star but when she gets the chance she is cut off by her mother who refuses to let her do it thinking she is to young to have so much independence.
Eugene finds himself growing up and in love with his cousin Nora. He knows that this will never happen but is still found trying to get a glimpse because he is going through puberty. But during the second half of the show he really steps up and becomes a man. finding himself not in love with Nora because he has now excepted the responsibilities he must because his brother left to join the army and his father had a stroke. His mother and aunt had a fight about money and his aunt left because she went to find some, being to dependent on her sister all her life. All thats going on in the family for him has really hit hard and he is willing to grow up a little to make it work.
~Emily Mackson
Hi Emily,
ReplyDeleteFor one, I would suggest breaking up your thesis from the evidence in the first paragraph. Your example sort of cloud the thesis at first, so If you move all the warrants into its own paragraph it should tidy things up a bit.
And speaking of Evidence, I felt a little bogged down by all the names, and I get that all of these characters are important but introducing SO many people in such a sort time can confuse the reader and pull away from the quality of your thesis in general. Maybe if you split these paragraphs into two or maybe 3 and focus on one single detail of your warrant, it will spread out the cards for the reader.
Good job though, your choice of literature fit the prompt really well!
Erin Donahue
Emily,
ReplyDeleteI agree with Erin that you might want to break up your thesis from the evidence in the beginning. But I really like that you chose this for the prompt, it worked really well. It made me very interested in, The Brighton Beach Memoirs, and although I am also confused by all the names it showed me that you really knew the story well!
Good job!
This article had good focus and themes. However, it has no textual evidence. This would really bring you down on the AP test, so next time, remember to grab your script and cite specific quotes to back up your claims. Otherwise, we are just taking your word for it that this is what the show is about. That reminds me, Break a leg!
ReplyDelete