To Be a Teenage Boy
The protagonist of the play often speaks his thoughts directly to the audience. Thus we get to penetrate into the thought processing of a teenage boy. Not a lot going on there will be terribly surprising:
“Girls are treated like queens. Maybe that’s what I should have been born—an Italian girl”
Eugene’s Ambition
Eugene’s ambition is to become a major league baseball player. Should that fail—and it seems likely to even to himself that it will fail miserably—he has a backup plan. His metaphorical reference to a sportswriter indicates that baseball is his real love at this point, not writing:
“One day I’m going to put all this in a book or a play. I’m going to be a writer like Ring Lardner or somebody”
Brighton Beach Memories
Fond memories are often portrayed through metaphor in the process of recollection. The passage of time and the nostalgia it endows provides the perfect raw material for figurative language as a means of conveying the memory to others:
“When I was six or seven he always bought me home a little surprise. Like a Hershey or a top. So I’d run to the closet and put my hand in and it felt as big as a tent.”
Liver and Cabbage
Eugene is not exactly a fan of liver and cabbage for dinner. He informs the audience of some rather dubious information he received from a rather dubious source regarding how far the distinct bouquet of cooked cabbage can travel and how fast. His disdain for the meal is put into one concise metaphor:
“A Jewish medieval torture!”
Family Matters
Although Eugene narrates events and is the central character, this is really a play that is truly and fully about family. About extended family and all the various mishegoss that is part and parcel of people sharing blood and living quarters. The relationship of the in-laws livings with the Jerome family is of particular focus for this them:
“I am tired of apologizing. After a while it becomes your life’s work and it doesn’t bring any money into the house.”
