가족의 역기능 : 닐 사이먼의『용커스에서 길을 잃다』

A Dysfunctional Family in Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers

Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers centers on a Jewish family living in Yonkers, New York. Grandma Kurnitz, the owner of a candy store and head of the family, is stern, cool and too calm. Having lost her two children and her husband, she has isolated herself from the world. She seems to be a cheerless, tyrannical unforgiving mother to her four children and she rarely shows signs of affection and love to her children and two grandsons named Jay and Arty. Besides, her four children are either mentally or physically crippled and they all have low self-esteem. Bella, who is in her mid-thirties, is mentally retarded and thus, her mother treats her just like a child. Gert, who is married, has breathing problems and thus, cannot express herself clearly verbally. Louie, who seems to be the strongest of grandma’s four children, is a small time crook. Eddie, the father of Jay and Arty, has a difficulty in overcoming his wife’s death and is a crybaby. The members of the Kurnitz family live unhappy and somewhat miserable and meaningless lives. However, Bella takes an initiative to go out with an usher named Johnny and it leads her to dream of living a life full of hopes, warmth and love. Although she fails in marrying Johnny, she continues to seek for true love and happiness which will lead her to have high self-esteem. Seen through the eyes of the teenagers Jay and Arty, Lost in Yonkers wonderfully deals with the theme of familial love and affection.