Death is a stage in life that human beings are unable to avoid; it is a stage in which one’s life journey here on earth has come to an end. In Wilder’s play Our Town, readers are able to learn and realize that life is too short and that you are unable to predict its outcomes. For instance, Emily Webb’s death causes readers to realize that they should appreciate what life has given and continues to give them. Throughout the course of this analysis, readers will get the opportunity to learn that Our Town is a morbid play that speaks that truth about human beings and how they do not appreciate what life awards them.
Life is unpredictable—this makes life the greatest gift of all. For example, human beings often tend to complain about their life—instead
People who thinks of Thornton Wilder primarily in terms of his classic novella “Our Town,” The Bridge of San Luis Rey will seem like quite a switch. For one thing, he has switched countries; instead of middle America, he deals here with Peru. He has switched eras, moving from the twentieth century back to the eighteenth. He has also dealt with a much broader society than he did in “Our Town,” representing the lower classes and the aristocracy with equal ease. But despite these differences, his theme is much the same; life is short, our expectations can be snuffed out with the snap of a finger, and in the end all that remains of us is those we have loved.
Life is a series of experiences in which each one of us grows into the individual we are now. Every move, each word and thought shapes our person.
Have you ever loved a place as a child, but as you got older you realized how sugar coated it really was? Well, that is how Jacqueline Woodson felt about her mother’s hometown and where she went every summer for vacation. The story, When A Southern Town Broke A Heart, starts off with the author feeling as if Greenville is her home. But one year when she has 9 she saw it as the racist place it really is. This causes her to feel betrayed, but also as if she isn't the naive little girl she once was. By observing this change, you can conclude that the theme she is trying to convey is that as you get older, you also get wiser.
Thornton Wilder’s Our Town is a work of “sentimental fiction” because it connects all the people living in the small town of Grover’s Corners. In a small town like Grover’s Corners everybody knows each other within the town, so there is a deeper connection of companionship, friendship, and love within the town. The residents of Grover’s Corners constantly take time out of their days to connect with each other, whether through idle chat with the milkman or small talk with a neighbor. So when love and marriage or death happens in the town, it will affect the majority Grover’s Corners residents. The most prominent interpersonal relationship in the play is a romance—the courtship and marriage of George Gibbs and Emily Webb. Wilder suggests that
Laura, Clarissa, and Richard each struggle in some way to cope with their mundane existences. Death, both in a literal and metaphorical sense, becomes their method for liberating themselves from such a life. They hope that this death will either bring new life to them or to the people they love most dearly.
The play is haunted by mortality. Desire and death and loneliness are played off against each
Death is an unstoppable event that occurs in every individual’s life, and yet it is a very taboo topic as people rarely broach the subject because it causes incredible distress; it is certainly not a comical topic of conversation and one that is very seldom and rarely congratulated. Yet Oscar Wilde manages to deliver the ever present looming topic of death as if it held the same gravity as a bad hairdo in his comedic play, The Importance of Being Earnest. Instead of expressing support, sorrow and sympathy for the victims of Death and for the relatives, Wilde treats Death in comparison to a result of an impromptu action; no more serious than if a person was to walk into another, due to lack of observation in where they were going; The Importance of
In fact, most of us have seen the effect of death in our lives more than once. In 2010, my grandmother passed away from Lymphoma, and everyone in our family was devastated. My grandmother was such an amazing influence in my life, and she touched the hearts of everyone that she had ever interacted with. In the same way, the death of Emily Webb in Wilder’s Our Town was also influential on those who had interacted with her. She left a child and family behind, and the whole town is impacted by her death. As Emily watches her visitors leave, she observes how troubled the people are, saying, “Oh, Mother Gibbs, I never realized before how troubled and how… how in the dark live persons are. Look at him. I loved him so. From morning till night, that’s all they are-- troubled.” (Wilder, 97) This is important because death affects all of our lives at one point, and the death of a family member or friend can cause a large
In the play “everyman” death is depicted as something that is terribly feared as no one seemed ready for it, death is perceived as something that takes one away from the pleasures of this world.
In poetry, death is referred as the end of literature and it is associated with feeling of sorrows. However Emily Dickinson demonstrates that death is not the end of literature or feeling of sadness but death is a new element of inspiration in poetry and is the beginning of a new chapter in our life. In the poem ‘’Because I Could Not Stop for Death’, she discusses the encounter of a women with death, who passed away centuries ago. Dickenson uses metaphors and similes to show that the process of dying can be an enjoyable moment by appreciating the good moments in life, and by respecting death rather than fearing it. Also Dickinson portrays death in a humorous way as she compares it to man seducing her to go to her death as well, to childhood games that show the innocence of this encounter (Bloom). The poem is a reflection of how unpredictable death can be. Death is a scary process in life that should not be feared because it should be celebrate as new start.
“Many relate the play to existentialism…:God is dead, life is absurd, existence precedes essence, ennui is endemic to the human condition…In many ways, such a reading is an evasion of the play’s complexity, a way of putting to rest the uncertainty of one’s response to it” (Collins 33).
Notwithstanding happiness has long presented a conflict for the complex human condition. This is because the ideas we have about happiness are inherently paradoxical. If pleasure is what ultimately what brings us happiness than we are ignoring a crucial fact; in life pain and suffering are inevitable. Life can be described as a series of highs and lows. We are constantly apprehended by uncontrollable forces of nature. Unfortunately we can’t dismiss the fact that our human experience is rife with things like natural disasters, illness, and death.
In this play Everyman makes a point and big emphasis that death is inevitable to every human being. This play is simply in its morality and in its story. You shouldn’t be so keen on all the material things in life and forget the purpose of your life. Your personal pleasures are merely transitory, but the eternal truth of life is that death is imminent and is eternal. It is the bitter truth that everyone has to accept it. If you are born you will die one day. Science does not believe in religion. But one day Science will also end in Religion. Everyone should live their life fearful of God and accept Christ as their Savior.
Over the course of our lives, there are times where we are at a high point, where our lives are full of happiness and there is nothing for us to worry about. However, we often come to sit back and realize that our lives might not be exactly how we imagine it. There are problems and obstacles that we must choose to overcome. With the rate society is evolving at, we miss out on the little things like friends and family that makes our lives that much more special. Life can be filled with bliss no matter how bad things may seem and we can find true happiness from fixing these problems to make our lives blissful.
People don't truly accept life for what it is until they've actually tasted adversity and went through those misfortunes and suffering. We are put through many hardships in life, and we learn to understand and deal with those issues along the way. We find that life isn't just about finding one's self, but about creating and learning from our experiences and background. Adversity shapes what we are and who we become as individuals. Yann Martel's Life of Pi shows us that adverse situations help shape a person's identity and play a significant role in one's lief by determining one's capabilities and potential, shaping one's beliefs and values, and defining the importance and meaning of one's self.