Our Town Essay, Research Paper

Our Town

1. Thorton Wilder was one of the most widely distributed and sophisticated of American authors. Born in the Midwest on April 17, 1897, he was educated in China, in Germany linguistic communication schools, in America, and in Rome. He was exhaustively familiar with classical literature. In 1938 he wrote Our Town. In this drama Wilder gained esteem for his serious philosophical concerns and usage of theatrical techniques. When reading Our Town it is hard to happen one major struggle. The thoughts imbedded behind the scenes trade with the importance of love, the continuity of human life, the beauty of life, and the significance of life. The subject of love is seen many times throughout the drama. All the characters are brought together by love nevertheless, each relationship and each love is different. Throughout the drama it is really easy to detect the different loves. In act one love is centered on the household, the chief characters seem to demo unconditioned love for one another. In the 2nd act the word of love alterations to woo, as Emily and George autumn in love. In act three love is shown in the most unconditioned manner. Unselfish love that expects no return. As the drama moved frontward we work invariably reminded that like this one uninterrupted rhythm. The drama itself begins with birth and ends in decease. The phase director besides insinuates this thought by comparing coevalss. The strongest subject in Our Town is the beauty of life. This subject helps demo us the fantastic occurrences of mundane being that most people will disregard and is merely sometimes grasped by poets and saints. 2. After a short analysation of Our Town the secret plan reveals itself really easy. It has been said that Our Town has no secret plan at all, in that the phase director tells a few narratives about life in Grover & # 8217 ; s Corners and sends the audience on their manner. The simpleness behind the secret plan is what brought excellence to the drama. Wilder tries throughout the drama to demo the importance of thoughts non personalities, and allow each single audience member addition something different from the drama. The drama begins while people are still come ining the theatre and being seated. A character known merely as the phase director enters a bare, partially illuminated phase. He begins rummaging about on phase playing as a stage technician puting up for the first act. The phase director begins by stating you that you are in Grover & # 8217 ; s Corners, New Hampshire, in 1901. The first action seen on phase is mundane activity between the Webbs and the Gibbses. Dr. Gibbs comes place from the infirmary and the married womans catch up on chitchats while they work. The phase director interrupts with some more information and the kids come place from school. Time passes really rapidly. The phase director tells you that act two will be love and

marriage. George and Emily by the end of the act will be wed. In the middle of this act they take you back to a scene from George and Emily’s courtship. Act three opens in the graveyard; the stage manager tells you that nine years have passed. Emily has died and her grave is being prepared. Night comes to Grover’s corners, and the stage manager wishes the audience a good night. 3. In Our Town, the actors have plenty of room for their own influences to fit in, because Wilder depicts types rather than individuals. All the people in Grover?s Corners are individualistic. By doing this Wilder left room for each audience member to connect with each character in their own way. Emily Webb is the daughter of the editor of the town paper. She marries George Gibbs and dies giving birth to their second child. She is the girl who grows up during the play. Her speeches at the end of the play are very important George Gibbs, the son of Dr. Gibbs, is the boy next door who marries Emily. Both George and Emily represent typical American children. He is nice and polite, but not very bright. Throughout his whole life he was always lagging behind in maturity. Doctor Frank Gibbs is the loving father and husband every man wants to be. He is at total peace with his living conditions and life. Mr. Charles Webb is the editor of the local newspaper and enjoys studying Napoleon. As presented before the parents of George and Emily are also typical and alike. Julia Hersey Gibbs is Doc Gibbs?s wife and the mother of George and Rebecca. She spends her day as a housewife and her nights as a model wife and mother. Like her neighbor, Mrs. Myrtle Webb is a wife and mother. What separates her is that she was once the second prettiest girl in the town. The women in the play, like their husbands, are interchangeable. They both reflect each other in the same ways. I?ve saved the most important character for last, the Stage Manager. Though he has a minor role in the flow of the story he has the most speeches, is always on stage and has the longest part in the play. Throughout the play the stage manager portrays God in several ways. He can move time and knows the future. Even though the audience can?t miss him the characters never seem to see him. 4. The life styles of the characters in the play are stereotypical of small town life. Everyday was perfect, the husbands go off to work and the wives send the kids off to school. Emily did regular little girl activities and was proud to be smart. George loved to throw around the baseball and play outside. Wilder kept the setting and stage clear and open to imagination to make clear the he is talking about everyone?s town, just as he is talking about universal feelings and emotions, about human life in general, rather than about a few specific lives.