Question

EUGENE (Turns to the audience again) She gets all this special treatment because the doctors say she has kind of a flutter in her heart . . . I got hit with a baseball right in the back of the skull, I saw two of everything for a week and I still had to carry a block of ice home every afternoon . . . Girls are treated like queens. Maybe that’s what I should have been born – an Italian girl. —Brighton Beach Memoirs, Neil Simon What is Eugene’s perspective about boys and girls in this scene? Girls are weaker than boys. Girls get sick more easily. Boys don’t need any care. Boys have it rougher than girls.

Answer 1

Answer:

Boys have it rougher than girls.

Explanation:

The semi-autobiographical play "Brighton Beach Memoirs" by Neil Simon is a story about the coming of age of a young boy Eugene Morris Jerome. The book is also referred to as the first of the "Eugene Trilogy" that follows Eugene and his growing up years, navigating life through the many obstacles.

In the given passage/ excerpt, we see Eugene complaining about how different life is for boys and girls. Laurie has a heart flutter, which makes her incapable of doing work and being treated with special care. On the other hand, Eugene complains that he was made to work, "carry[ing] a block of ice home every afternoon" even after he was "hit with a baseball right in the back of the skull". This, according to him, shows how boys are treated rougher and made to work more than the girls.

Thus, the correct answer is the fourth/ last option.