Thornton Wilder wrote about how he thinks the character should be acting in the moment. There were many themes in Our Town, but the one that stood out to me the best would be carpe diem. Carpe diem would best be described as making the most of the present and not caring too much about the future. This theme is present in many of the acts. The narrator begins the play by talking about the families. He then sets up two tables with a couple of chairs at each table. The tables and chairs represent the two main families in the play, the Webb family and the Gibb family. Each family has a trellis in place of the back door. In the morning, we watch as each mother of the household wakes up and lights the stove. Both mothers then begin making breakfast for the family. As the mothers begin making breakfast, the Stage Manager tells the audience that Mr. and Mrs. Gibb’s have died in 1901. While the stage manager continues to talk, we see that the families are sitting in the kitchen. Mr. Gibbs is also known as Doctor Gibbs. By this time in the movie, we can see that all of the characters are living in the moment. The characters aren’t worrying about the Stage Manager. The characters worry only about them and are currently living “life” to the fullest. In Act One, Emily is on her way home from school. George also walks down the street, …show more content…
also on his way home from school. George and Emily meet up and George tells Emily just how well he thought she did on her speech in class that day. They then start talking about math and Emily promised she would help George on his homework. Emily’s mom then enters, saying hello to George and then George quickly leaves for the baseball field. By this time, we can make a connection. George is really into Emily, but Emily may not be into him. In Act Two, the stage manager told the audience that it is called “Love and Marriage.” While the stage is being set, we can all see what this upcoming act could potentially be about.
The Stage Manager tells the audience that three years have passed by and now George and Emily are getting married. The morning is very rainy, but nevertheless, perfect. A sudden flashback appears and we see that George and Emily are in high school together. THis flashback is of George carrying Emily’s books. Emily begins to cry because she offended George and now feels bad. George wants Emily to go to the local ice cream shop and have some ice cream with
him. The flashback is over and the stage is being set for the wedding. As George looks back on the days before him, he never realized that he would be getting married. It all started with flirting, and then dating, and finally getting married. George was living in the moment. George cared about his future, but that wasn’t always his main focus in life for him. After the wedding, George never takes anything for granted. Years have past since the wedding, and we find out that Emily had died. As the play goes on, we can see that everyone in the play doesn’t care about what the others are doing, but worrying about themselves. In Act Three, we see Emily Webb’s funeral service in the graveyard. Most of the local residents have attended the funeral and are currently mourning the loss of Emily. Emily sits by her neighbor, that too has passed. Both of the women are looking at all of the living that had attended the funeral service. Emily then says that she wants to go back for one day, and see how things are. She wants to be living, and be with her husband. Mrs. Webb tells Emily that she could go back for just one day, but it would be very painful.
The first half of the play concerns a celebration - twins Girlie Delaney and Dibs Hamilton are celebrating their 80th birthdays, and with the gathering of their families comes the eruption of simmering resentments and anxieties about the future of Dibs and Farley Hamilton's farm, Allandale. The second half starts with a funeral and portrays the shattering of the tenuous links that held the family together.
Thornton Wilder effectively demonstrates the importance of life’s repetition in Our Town through the cycle of life, George and Emily’s love, and the playing of “Blessed Be the Tie that Binds.” The cycle of life is shown repeating from birth to life to death and back to birth again. George and Emily’s love is repetitious and unending, even after the death of Emily, which demonstrates the importance of life. As “Blessed Be the Tie that Binds” is recurrently heard throughout the play, it serves as a bridge through a void of time or place, which is important in understanding the play. It is no wonder that Wilder achieved a Pulitzer Prize for his in-depth work of life.
He also greets and dismisses the audience at the beginning and end of each act. The stage manager interrupts daily conversation on the street. The Stage Manager enters and leaves the dialog. He is also giving the foresight of death in the play. His informality in dress, manners, and speech, connects the theme, universality, of the production to the audience.
The play’s major conflict is the loneliness experienced by the two elderly sisters, after outliving most of their relatives. The minor conflict is the sisters setting up a tea party for the newspaper boy who is supposed to collect his pay, but instead skips over their house. The sisters also have another minor conflict about the name of a ship from their father’s voyage. Because both sisters are elderly, they cannot exactly remember the ships name or exact details, and both sisters believe their version of the story is the right one. Although it is a short drama narration, Betty Keller depicts the two sisters in great detail, introduces a few conflicts, and with the use of dialogue,
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 you realize that almost everybody does not care enough for the little things as they should, instead they only worry about the future, incessantly worrying about things to come.
Every time the family comes to a confrontation someone retreats to the past and reflects on life as it was back then, not dealing with life as it is for them today. Tom, assuming the macho role of the man of the house, babies and shelters Laura from the outside world. His mother reminds him that he is to feel a responsibility for his sister. He carries this burden throughout the play. His mother knows if it were not for his sisters needs he would have been long gone. Laura must pickup on some of this, she is so sensitive she must sense Toms feeling of being trapped. Tom dreams of going away to learn of the world, Laura is aware of this and she is frightened of what may become of them if he were to leave.
The theme of the play has to do with the way that life is an endless cycle. You're born, you have some happy times, you have some bad times, and then you die. As the years pass by, everything seems to change. But all in all there is little change. The sun always rises in the early morning, and sets in the evening. The seasons always rotate like they always have. The birds are always chirping. And there is always somebody that has life a little bit worse than your own.
Wilder uses devices such as the lack of props and connecting us to the cast to enable us to better relate to the play, thus showing us that these lessons are true in our own lives. He then uses strong shifts in perspective on events in our lives to drive home what is truly important in life. Wilder shows us that while time passes, our lives stay relatively the same. Wilder uses these
B. The main story of the play is about a group of people all involved in the Christmas production in the small fictional town of Fayro, Texas. The characters were all connected in some way. Geneva was a lady who owned the BooKoo Bokay and had been the director of the Tabernacle of the Lamb's Christmas play for the past 27 years, but had been replaced this year by Honey Raye Futrelle. Honey Raye was one of the three Futrelle sisters and she was directing the Christmas play to redeem herself from her flirtatious past much to Geneva's dismay. She had two other sisters named Twink, who was in jail for accidently burning down some of a trailer park, and Frankie, who was very pregnant with twins even though she had grown children.
In Thornton Wilder’s Our Town , there are many themes that are prominent in the play. Once of which is, the smallest events in our lives have value beyond all price. Using flashback, metaphors, and symbolism Wilder is able to develop his theme throughout the play. In Act III, after Emily’s death, she requests to relive one of her happy days in life, her 12th birthday.
The notion of racism is a theme that is widely viewed, and explored throughout the play Walsh, by Sharon Pollock, and the novel The Loved and the Lost, by Morley Callaghan. In both works, those of Caucasian ethnicity neglect opposing races and believe them to be inferior. In turn, those of other ethnicities struggle to maintain a normal life in the world of white people, as the minorities are constantly being degraded. Yet, in each piece, there are characters – Walsh, and Peggy Sanderson – who will not allow race to define a person, and who do not succumb to the idea of inequality. These two Caucasian characters also empathize with individuals of diverse races, since they are able to see all of the hardships differing races must endure, simply
Parent and children relationships are the main point of a play in many literary works. Through their relationship the reader can understand the conflicts of the play, since the characters play different roles in each other’s lives. These people are usually connected in physical and emotional ways. They can be brother and sister, mother and daughter, or father and son. In “Death of A Salesman,” by Arthur Miller the interaction between Willy Loman and his sons, Biff and Happy, allow Miller to comment on the father-son relationship and conflicts that arise from them. In “ The Glass Menagerie,” by Tennessee Williams shows this in the interaction between Amanda and her children, Laura and Tim.
refuses to accept the loss of comfort her father gave her. Miss Emily keeps her father’s body in
A film about the Cuban revolution, The Lost City is a prime example of Latin American Humanities. Reasons so are: it is set in Havana, uses Cuban actors, was filmed in both Cuba and the Dominican Republic, and is a major point in Latin American history. The film is made for the U.S. audience, yet it still demonstrates a Latin American way of life. Other than that, the movie explores many themes associated with Latin America. The film paints a picture of both the everyday lives of an upper-class family in Havana as well the desperate acts of those looking for freedom within the same city.
The next day, George decides to buy a burial plot for himself and Judy, while also adding in an extra plot in case Judy remarries. George then decides that Judy needs to remarry after he dies, so he and Arnold try to find a new husband for her. One day they run into Judy’s old college boyfriend and decide that he is the perfect match. Trying to do a good deed before dying, George tells a woman about one of his friends that is just using her. She gives him a thank you kiss and Judy thinks that George is having an affair.