Untold Story of Brighton Beach Memoirs

For a lot of books and movies, often they don't focus on real life situations. When theres a conflict in a movie, book, or show, it often leads up to something more, and doesn't really show very deep and realistic situations. In the play Brighton Beach Memoirs by Neil Simon, it goes really in depth with the untold story of real life. So many people in the world fail to understand that no matter how rich, how happy, or how privileged, people go through hard times, and people struggle. No one is safe from the dark side of life, and many people forget that. In this play, Simon goes into depth with problems like family fights, puberty, and internal issues, as well as world issues. While reading this, I got a very real-life vibe from this play. On page 115, mother and daughter are in the middle of an argument. It seems Blanche's daughter, Nora is growing up and is kind of going on her own and doing her own things, causing her mother to be upset she didn't wait for her to say goodbye before her mom was going to go to her date. While talking, Nora reveals she is jealous of her sister, Laurie because her mother seems to pay more attention to her because of her sickness. This hurts Blanche because she is not aware of Nora having these types of feelings, but comes back with, "I'm not going to let you hurt me, Nora. I am not going to let you tell me that I don't love you, or I haven't tried to give you as much as I gave Laurie...(Simon115)" For me, this mini-speech Blanche gave to her daughter was very real. While reading this play, I didn't imagine some silly movie, or show going on in my mind, I imagined a real family going through real things, and it almost reminded me of conversations I have had with my own mother. At times mothers often feel betrayed because their children are growing up, and sometimes do things that seem selfish and hurtful causing their mother to feel hurt and confused because they have always done everything they could for their child, but all the sudden it seems they don't need them anymore. This is just part of an untold story of life that is portrayed in this play. Another part would be on page 54 when Eugene explains to his brother, Stanley, about his dream he had of Nora, his cousin. Often in life, there is a hidden part that we all go through, but many don't want to talk much about. "...We were really kissing hard and rubbing up against each other...(Simon54)" Young kids going through puberty can often have weird crushes on people they are close to, like relatives, or teachers, and think about them in strange ways. They get new feelings in their bodies that they don't quite understand yet, and where the boundaries of this feeling should be held. Although it is a strange and awkward, we often feel things while going through puberty that we should not, and it is often not talked about in an open way. This play really shows the untold story of the situations in life that should not be untold.