Lost in Yonkers Analysis and Analysis of Characters

In Lost in Yonkers Louie discusses moxie with Jay and Arty. Moxie is displaying acts of courage. Many people in literature and real life have demonstrated moxie. Bella in Lost in Yonkers, John Quincy Adams, and Susan B. Anthony have exhibited moxie in their lives.

In, the play Lost in Yonkers the character that has exhibited the most moxie is Bella due to her comments and her assertive behavior. When Bella is discussing how Grandma raised her children, Bella makes this very malicious comment to Grandma saying “Thieves and sick little girls. That’s what you have, Momma…only God did not make them that way. You did. We’re alive Momma, but that’s all Aaron and Rose are the lucky ones” (Simon 113). This quote shows that Bella is standing up for the values she believes in and does not care whose feelings might be hurt in the process. The second example of Bella’s moxie is when Grandma says Jay and Arty cannot stay Bella exclaimed “No, Momma. They’re not going. They’re staying. Because if you make them go, I’ll go to…I know I’ve said that a thousand times but this time I mean it…I could go to the home” (Simon 39). This quote represents that Bella is willing to challenge the person she loves in order to stand up for the right values at the end of the day. Therefore, these are the two ways in which Bella shows moxie due to her assertive behavior and comments.

John Quincy Adams has shown moxie by being assertive and defiant. John Quincy Adams was the oldest son of President John Adams and the sixth President of the United States of America (John Quincy Adams). Through his time in the Senate, John Quincy Adams has taken very unpopular views on major topics such as the Louisiana Purchase and President Thomas Jefferson’s Embargo Act, thus making him very unpopular with many other Federalists (“John Quincy Adams”).For example, during John Quincy Adams time as a member of the Senate he showed his defiance by supporting the Louisiana Purchase, whom even his own political Party was against him (the Federalist Party). Another example, of his assertive behavior is when he continued to fully support President Thomas Jefferson’s Embargo Act, when many people of his own party were strictly rejecting his political ideas (John Quincy Adams). In spite of this he continued to stick to his political views no matter what the critics said and