Our Town Essay Many might say they truly adore their life. While that may be true, it is likely they lack the eye to value the things life offers. Our Town, written by Thornton Wilder, utilizes a simple setting amid a small town, one that undergoes little change, to highlight the fact that the characters miss the opportunity to appreciate life while they are living it. The setting of Our Town is relatively simple, between the few props and characteristics of Grover’s Corners, yet even the beauty of simplicity is taken for granted by the characters. Once Emily had passed away and relived her 12th birthday, she says, “Good-by, Good-by, world. Goodbye, Grover's Corners. . . Mama and Papa. Good-bye to clocks ticking. . . and Mama's sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new ironed dresses and hot baths. …show more content…
The setting that Wilder has created is far from extravagant to the ordinary eyes of the living characters since they do not realize that even these seemingly insignificant items are treasures. Grover’s Corners can be considered a perfect archetype of a small town. With a small town comes picture perfect families, a slower pace of life, and ordinary people. Unfortunately, the characters in Our Town fail to ever break the archetype of ordinary, missing out on their potentially marvelous lives. In an interview with NPR, Penelope Niven says, “And Thornton was so concerned about expressing in his work and in his own life just the value of every moment of the most ordinary part of the most ordinary day. The idea that Tuesday can be a particularly ordinary day... that on that day or any other day of life at any moment, we simply need to experience, to treasure those things...” (NPR). Small town life is fairly typical, and the characters of Our Town are so caught up in that. They followed the routine of daily life mindlessly, leading Niven to say “we simply need to
Thornton Wilder’s play, Our Town, in three short acts encompasses the human experience of living. Each act represents a different stage of life as it follows the developing lives of Emily Webb and George Gibbs and ultimately describes an idyllic version of America in which it exemplifies a longed for simpler and more peaceful time. With this in mind, the setting itself, a congenial and peaceful Grover’s Corners, the characters, such as Emily and George lacking any flaws, and the overall fanciful
Our Town is a play that tells the seemingly insignificant story of all small town in New Hampshire called Grover’s Corners. The story focuses on two families of the town, the Gibbs and the Webbs, and how they live their lives. The writer of Our Town, Thornton Wilder, has said “The play is an attempt to find a value above all price for the smallest events in our daily life.” Wilder’s attempt is exceptionally successful and conveys an important message about the significance of the smallest events
On Wednesday, October 28, my class and I attended a play called “Our Town” written by Thornton Wilder. It was shown at the Northern Stage in White River Junction, VT. I think the main message of this play is that everything changes gradually. Throughout the play, we are reminded that nothing is permanent. At the beginning of each act, the stage manager reveals the subtle changes that take place over time. The population of Grover’s Corner grows. Cars become commonplace while horses are used less
The play, Our Town, written by author Thornton Wilder is certainly adept in terms of his literary techniques. The play commences as the audience in the theatre takes their seats and the play’s narrator, the Stage Manager, sets the stage with minimal props for the scenery. In Act One, the narrator delivers a vivid description of the town of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire and introduces the story about the relationship between the Gibbs family and the Webb family. In the beginning of the play, the
The play Our Town written by Thornton Wilder is considered a modern piece of literature. One way this is considered an unique piece of literature is by breaking the fourth wall. The breaking of the fourth wall is done by the stage manager in this play. The breaking of the fourth wall is someone from the play interacting with the audience. If just one character interacts in this way is considered breaking of the fourth wall. The stage manager interacts as if he is in the play, but yet he still talks
Our Town: Death Our Town by Thornton Wilder begins May 7, 1901 in Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire. In the first Act, Wilder shows the daily life of the town’s people, starting with the characters morning routine. During this portion of the play, Wilder introduces all of the main characters. The characters mainly consist of the Gibbs and Webb families. He then goes on to narrate the daily activities of the characters, more specifically Mrs. Gibbs and Mrs. Webb. During the first Act, Wilder makes
Time’s inevitable passage and the changes brought about by it is a theme epitomized by a little town in New Hampshire known as Grover’s Corners. In the play Our town by Thornton Wilder the above stated theme is demonstrated again and again. Whether it be through the subtle changes in characters, the way the play starts and ends, or simply the realizations that occur to the various characters in the town. All in all, this book highlights the theme repeatedly throughout all three acts of the play.
Our Town by Thornton Wilder The Stage Manager is a man of many roles. Usually a stage manager is part of the non-acting staff and in complete charge of the bodily aspects of the production. In Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, the Stage Manager goes well beyond his usual function in a play and undertakes a large role as a performer. In Our Town the Stage Manager is a narrator, moderator, philosopher, and an actor. Through these roles the Stage Manager is able to communicate the theme of universality
Life happens. We breathe and laugh, learn and love, hurt and cry, and one day we die. Thornton Wilder took a second to see humanity and did not like what he saw. He saw a herd of people wasting their lives, looking no further than themselves. In an attempt to change the world around him, Wilder used the theatrical elements, the main character, and the plot to his play “Our Town” to show people how much they miss when they look and think only about themselves. First, when one looks at theatrical
Ordinary actions piece together to form extraordinary lives. Written by Thornton Wilder in 1938, Our Town is a play acted with minimal scenery to give the viewer a greater opportunity to imagine their own town. Set in 1901 in Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, Our Town documents the lives and interactions of two families— the Gibbs and the Webbs. Acted in three parts that all describe the smallest actions that we complete everyday without noticing, the first act shows the “Daily Life,” the second
has times that they are looking forward to. The times such as childhood, schooling help lead us through our life. While this way of thinking has many positive side, we forget the appreciation of all details of the moments. We see the moments in Thornton Wilder's play “Our Town”. This play takes us to a small town in New England and we see how simple it is, to the point where we may get bored to our lives. After looking through the events in the play we might have see as big and important described as
The theme of Our Town is that people do not truly appreciate the little things in daily life. This theme is displayed throughout the entire play. It starts in the beginning with everybody just going through their daily life, occasionally just brushing stuff off or entirely not doing or appreciating most things. But as you progress through the story you begin to notice and squander on the thought that the people in the play do not care enough about what is truly important. By the end of this play
Strive not to be of success, but rather to be of value. Albert Einstein Truly appreciate life, and you’ll find that you have more of it. Ralph Marston Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman and Thornton Wilder’s Our Town both explore the fulfillment of life. Emily and Willy Loman fail to take advantage of their lives because they have the wrong priorities and do not take the time appreciate what they already have. Willy focuses solely on achieving his dreams of success as a salesman and helping Biff
Thornton Niven Wilder English classes in today's society have started to get away from its roots. Great American Authors are being overlooked for mediocre foreign authors more and more each day. This is a huge problem in classes today, and is truly a major reason for lack-luster efforts in reading and the decline in interest in today's students. One of these said overlooked authors is Thornton Niven Wilder. Wilder is an amazing author who should be taught in schools because of his wonderful teaching
Thornton Wilder Author Report The life of a person can greatly be influenced by early life experiences. Such was the case of Thornton Wilder as his early childhood experiences and his college life greatly impacted the development of his writing techniques in many of his novels and plays. It can be seen through his works, such as the play Our Town, that his unique and interesting style of writing truly reflects the influences he had during his lifetime. His experiences with his family and the inspiration