Our Town by Thorton Wilder (1897 1975) Essay Example For Students

Our Town by Thorton Wilder (1897 1975) Essay Our Townby Thorton Wilder (1897 1975)Type of Work:Presentational life dramaSettingGrovers Corners, New Hampshire; 1901to 1913Principal CharactersStage Ma Beer, the plays all-wise narratorDr. and Mrs. Gibbs, an ordinary small-town physician and housewifeGeorge Gibbs, their sonMr. and Mrs. Webb, a news editor and hiswifeEmily Webb, their daughterSimon Stimson , the town drunkard andchurch choir organistA conglomeration of other ordinary peopleliving out ordinary livesStory OverveiwAct 1. Daily Life:The Stage Manager speaks while pointingto different parts of the stage: Up here is Main Street Heres theTown Hall and Post Office combined First automobiles going to comealong in about five years; belonged to Banker Cartwright, our richest citizen lives in the big white house up on the hill. A train whistle is heard,and the early birds of the town start to appear. The newsboy and the milkmanbegin their rounds just as the doctor is finishing his. They stop for abrief exchange of gossip: the school teacher is getting married, the doctorjust delivered twins, and the milkmans horse refuses to adjust to a changein route. Now Mrs. Webb and Mrs. Gibbs are spotlightedin their respective kitchens, preparing breakfast. Mrs. Gibbs calls upto her children, George and Rebecca, and, as they appear, complains toher husband that George isnt helping with the chores. Mrs. Webb remindsher son Wally to wash thoroughly. The Gibbs daughter, Rebecca, doesntwant to wear her blue gingham dress. George negotiates for a raise in hisallowance. Each child is reminded to eat slowly, finish his breakfast,stand up straight The day has begun. Later, coming home from school, Emily Webbpromises to give George Gibbs some help with his algebra. At the CongregationalChurch, choir practice can be heard. In the Gibbs home, George and hisfather have a serious talk about growing up. Returning from choir practice,Mrs. Gibbs prattles on about the drunken choir organist, Simon Stimson. The town constable makes his rounds to ensure that all is well, and theStage Manager calls an end to this typical day in Grovers Corners. Act 2. Love and Marriage:Three years have gone by, muses the StageManager. Yes, the suns come up over a thousand times . . . The dateis now July 7,1904. Its been raining. As Mrs. Gibbs and Mrs. Webb reappearin their kitchens, he continues: Both of those ladies cooked three mealsa day one ofem for twenty years and the other for forty and no summervacation. They brought up two children apiece, washed, cleaned the house and never a nervous breakdown. Its like what one of those Middle Westpoets said: Youve got to love life to have life, and youve got to havelife to love life Its what they call a vicious circle.Howie, the milkman, makes his deliveriesto Mrs. Webb and Mrs. Gibbs, and at each house you hear talk of the sametwo breakfast-table conversation topics: the weather and the upcoming weddingof Emily and George. The chit-chat is typical of things people say beforeweddings. Mrs. Gibbs worries out loud about the inexperience of the brideand groom; the doctor reminisces about being a groom himself. His fearwas that he and his wife would run out of things to talk about which, hechuckles, hasnt been the case at all. When George comes downstairs and is aboutto leave for a visit with Emily, his mother reminds him to put on his overshoes. Maria Mitchell Essay ThesisThe suicidal Simon Stimson appears and offers a poignant yet bitter comment:Life is a time of supreme ignorance, folly and blindness.Unable to endure this vision, Emily hurriesback to her bodys resting place. There she finds George, her husband,weeping by her grave. Too late, she now understands: Our time on earthis an irreplaceable gift, one to be treasured and relished every moment;life is a fragile gift that is delivered to us in pieces, and it only achievesmeaning as we cherish and blend the pieces even the seemingly insignificantpieces into a full, universal whole. CommentaryThornton Wilders Our Town provides theaudience with an informal, intimate and compelling human drama. Wilderwas dissatisfied with the unimaginative, stilted theatrical productionsof his time: They aimed to be soothing. The tragic had no heat; thecomic had no bite; the social criticism failed to indict us with responsibility.Our Town, with its far-reaching theme and unmistakable symbolism, was afar cry from the typical bland depression era play (though, ironically,the magic of the mundane is the plays major theme). Though set during the early Twentieth Century,Grovers Corner is anyplace and all places, anytime and all times. A constantlyshifting verb tense throughout the play reveals that something strangeis happening here with time. Pantomime and conversation simultaneouslyenact lifes continuum of time and place. The principal actor is the Stage Manager,who remains on stage the entire time explaining much of the action. Heis aware of the present, and privy to both the past and the future. Heknows the characters feelings, and alternately takes on the roles of narrator,philosophical druggist, host, master of ceremonies, commentator and friendto the audience. Wilder creates types rather than individualsin 0ur Town. Every audience member can say, Yes, I know someone like that. Hes just like so-and-so, or I know what he is feeling. Ive felt thatway myself. This sense of recollection permeates the play to both thrilland haunt us with reminders of our common and fragile humanity- Byusing the barest of scenery and props, Wilder reinforces that our hopesand despairs and loves begin and end not with things, but in the mind andthe soul, as our lives unfold through one another. This focus on absolutereality allows us to see Emilys simplest pleasures and cares (algebralessons, birthday presents, etc.) through child-like eyes. Her timelessnesshelps the audience understand, just as she herself comes to understand,the seamless relationship between past, present and future. Her commonplaceexperiences (marriage, family ) contrast sharply with her death experience,where she finally comes to appreciate the commonplace. The play motivatesthe audience to treasure everyday life just as it is.