Neil Simon is masterful in implementing his immense knowledge of American History when he wrote the play “Brighton Beach Memoirs”. In order for the reader to fully understand what Mr. Simon is writing, they should become educated in the history of the era of the United States when this play takes place. “The Great Depression in the United States is generally dated as beginning in 1929 and ending in 1941, give or take a year.”( ) The uneducated reader may interpret this time frame as a time where there was gradual improvement in the economy of the country. However this ignorance “…has led many… to pass quickly over the serious depression that began in 1937…” ( )
This information is crucial for the reader to understand exactly what Mr. Simon was trying to portray in the play. The play is set in the year 1937, just as the Second World War was advancing, and the economy was in the midst of yet another downward cycle.
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The Jerome’s; Jack, Kate, Stanley and Eugene are the original residents After the death of Blanche Morton’s husband, Jack and Kate Jerome opened, not only their door to Blanche (Kate’s sister) and her two daughter Nora and Laurie, but their lives. There is evidence the living arraignments or not ideal, when Simon had the character Eugene address the audience and say “So they broke up our room into two small rooms, and me and my brother Stan live on this side, and Laurie and her sister Nora live on the other side.”(10) Ideal or not this was the way of Life during this era in the United States as millions of families struggled to survive, and many others did not survive this