Literary Devices In Our Town

People should acknowledge the little things in life more often because when it's gone...it’s gone forever. In the play Our Town by Thornton Wilder, demonstrates life lessons that tend to go an unappreciative from generation to generation. This play takes place in a small fictional town called Grover's Corner, Massachusetts during the 1901-1913 time era. Our Town is a three act play that tells a story about how people live their lives using the same routine everyday. Thornton Wilder uses symbolism, dialogue, and manipulation of time to convey his theme, life is too short, therefore people should appreciate what they have now and people should take action to change lives.

One literary element Wilder uses to support his theme is symbolic

to the bank cornerstone, in other words, a time capsule. During Act I, the stage manager, who is the narrator of the play, interrupts the play so he could continue telling the audience about the town. The Stage Manager thinks it is the best time to tell the audience about the new bank that's being built, and he also wonders what should go into the time capsule. He suggests putting in items such as the Bible, Constitution, and Shakespeare plays. The Stage Manager says, “So---people a thousand years from now-----this is the way we were in the provinces north of New York at the beginning of the twentieth century.---This is the way we were: in our growing up and in our marrying and in our living and in our dying” (Wilder 33). In other words, the Stage Manager wants the future generation to know the past and how things have changed. This reference is an example of Wilder using symbolism to the time capsule. Such as remembrance of the original days in Grover’s Corner. The significance of the time capsule is to allow the future generation of Grover's Corner to be grateful and appreciate the everyday life of the people who once lived in that town. The items he suggested to go into the time capsule will allow the future generation, when they open it. to know what was valued most. The Bible will represent what the people in the town believed, the constitution will explain the natural born rights of citizens. Each item he suggested going into the time capsule has a meaning behind it. Without this information, readers would not understand what it looks like to appreciate the small things in life because they are completely washed away from Earth. Ultimately, Wilder uses symbolism to a time capsule because he wants the importance that mattered during his time to never be forgotten.
Another literary element Wilder uses to support his theme is dialogue to show how people can take action to change lives. During Act 1, Mrs. Gibbs, who is a housewife with great desire to travel, is having a conversation with Myrtle Webb,who is Emily’s mom, about wanting to take the trip of her life. Mrs. Gibbs was offered three hundred and fifty dollars. She was offered money for Grandmother Wentworth's highboy. Mrs. Gibbs is not sure if she wants to take the money, but she wants to use the money to fulfil her greatest dream but something is on her way. Mrs. Gibbs says, “ Well, if I could get the Doctor to take the money and go away someplace on a real trip, I’ll sell it like that---Y’know, Myrtle, it’s been the dream of my life to see Paris, France.---Oh, I don’t know. It sounds crazy, I suppose, but for years I’ve been promising myself that if we ever had the chance---” (Wilder 19). Here, Mrs. Gibbs is expressing her thirst to travel to Paris, something she dreamed of doing most of her life. This line reveals Mrs. Gibbs has the perfect opportunity to cherish her life and to answer her calling to live her life in the moment. She fails to realize how blessed she is to have such a great opportunity to live her dream. She is being offered the money, but that clearly is not enough for her to make her mind up. This is an example of not taking action to change lives. The people living in this small town do not get the chance to witness other things or places outside of Grover’s Corner. Mrs. Gibbs second guesses, rather she should take the money or not, too much. She does not appreciate the opportunity that God has blessed among her to change her idea of living life. She is taking this blessing for granted. The power to make her dreams come true were in her hands, but she lost that power by simply not realizing she was in control of her own happiness. Without this information, the reader would not understand the true meaning of knowing how to be appreciative and taking change in their life. As you can see, Wilder uses dialogue to express the fact that most people have the opportunity to take action in their life to make a change but they tend to take it for granted.
In addition, another literary element Wilder uses to support his theme is the manipulation of time to show that life is very important and should not be taken for granted.

During Act II, George and Emily, who are lovers, have a flashback to when Emily told George how she felt about him and how he has changed. The flashback takes place at Morgan’s drugstore. The two discuss their feelings toward each other while eating strawberry ice cream sodas. George also bring up the topic of him going away to agriculture college and he asks Emily to write to him when he is gone. Emily does not want him to leave Grover’s Corner because she knows it cause them to disconnect. George says, “I think that once you’ve found a person that you’re very fond of...I mean a person who’s fond of you, too, and likes you enough to be interested in your character…” (Wilder 71). What George is trying to say here is that he’s in love with Emily and he likes her for her. Later in Act III, Emily, who is now deceased, goes back to her 12th to say goodbye to all the things she left behind. She tried to tell her mom about what happened and how they used to be happy but her mom can not hear her because she is a spirit. Emily sadly says, “ I didn't realize. So all that was going on and we never noticed. Take me back---up the hill---to my grave. But first: Wait! One more look” (Wilder 108). Here, Emily is regretting living life without a purpose nor knowing the importance of appreciation of the simpler things in life. These references are examples of manipulation of time because they show how things should have been instead of how they actually were. Wilder uses Emily and George’s flashback at Morgan’s Drugstore to show the reader to never lose site of your true love and appreciate the fact that their willingness to be apart of your life. Wilder uses Emily going back to her 12th birthday as a device to convey the importance of life while she regrets not appreciating the small things in

life and taking them for granted. Emily took advantage of the world, her hometown, her parents,the ticking clocks, mama sunflowers, food/coffee, etc. All of which she said goodbye to when it was too late. Life is not a joke. It must be taken seriously because it will destroy a person for being oblivious to what matters most in life...Appreciation. The Stage manager asks, “ Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?----every, every minute?” (Wilder 108). Here, Wilder is asking the read directly if he or she know the importance of life. A question like this makes the reader can deeply and their answer will be no. Human beings do not realize life where they live because they do not take the time to sit and realize that life can be taken away from anybody at anytime of day. Ultimately, People should be appreciative of their life because when it’s gone...it’s gone forever.
In conclusion, being unappreciative of life will leave people soul’s regretting forever. People should not take what they have now for granted because they will never know the expiration date of anything. Wilder uses symbolism to the time capsule so the future generation of Grover’s Corner will know what was valued most to the people in the town during this time era. He uses dialogue to express the character’s thirst to do something in their life they never experienced before. He uses manipulation of time to get the reader thinking about what they will miss if their time expires and they did not get a chance to realize the importance of life. The overall importance or impact of this is to be grateful of what you have. The lessons of the play will influence readers because Wilder uses examples of different situations whereas the reader can reflect and think if he or she appreciates life. These lessons are important to today’s world because this generation are blinded by materialistic things and not the simple things. People think having high priced items are more important than everything else in this world. It’s sad that this generation is so ungrateful and majority of it do not think twice about the importance of life… they're just living blind to what matters the most. But when something tragic happens everybody wants to cry tears of regretment. As you can see, Wilder’s choices as an author highlights the play’s theme strongly.