Jeffrey Jones
Mr. Kuehl
English II
19 March 2008
Neil Simon: The Great American Playwright
Neil Simon, a famous American playwright, is considered by many critics to be the best of his time. Neil Simon has a unique way of adding his own life experiences into his plays and productions. He is easily motivated by high points and also low points to be expressed through his literature and plays. Simon had many life experiences that led to the making of some of his plays. From his childhood all the way to adulthood he added his occurrences to help add more reality and understanding to his plays. Many critics believe that this is why many of his plays are so popular because they aren’t fairy tales.
One of the major influences in Simon’s composition and the plots of some of his plays is the death of his wife, Joan. Many critics say that the death of Joan took a toll on the production of his plays. In his plays, Simon makes many of his women spirited and hopeful fighters. They are faced with many obstacles, sometimes brought on by themselves, that threaten to get in the way of their dreams. In these times of grief, the women nearly always confront their challenges even though it brings them pain and sacrifice. This could possibly be influenced from the way his wife dealt with her challenges of cancer. One of the plays in which Joan influenced the most was Barefoot in the Park. The plot of this play is mainly about two newlyweds that are adjusting to their married life in a small apartment. Simon puts many different characters with different outlooks on life. The main character that Simon made to resemble his first wife is Corie Bratter. Corie has a very free spirited attitude that will not let anything get in her way or bring her down. Simon admits that in this play he used his wife’s actions and customs to help write this play.
After Joan’s death, Neil’s first wife, Simon went in a very low point in the production of plays. The...