Our Town
Set in the early 20th century, spanning twelve years, Our Town by Thornton Wilder portrays the lives of those living in Grover's Corner, New Hampshire. This play gives insight into the inner workings of this society and the bonds that are formed within this particular community. Specifically delineated are the Gibbs and the Webbs, two families living here. As the play progresses, and the relationships between the two families evolve, Our Town presents other characters varying from a typical milkman to a drunken choir head. As opposed to having one central plot in this play, it rather examines the lives and the progression of the lives of the towns' inhabitants. Typical, mundane activities are described such as Mrs. Gibb's taking over some of her son, George's chores, and the love affair that transpire between George Gibbs and Emily Webb. While Our Town generally represents minor aspects of the lives of these people, some live-altering events do occur; Emily Webb, after the marriage to George Gibbs, dies during the birth of her second child. It is then, at this point, that the play begins to take on a more surreal quality. When Emily, after death, is reunited with her late mother of two or three years, she learns that rather
Soames, like many of the other deceased, warn her that it will only hurt to see events of her previous life. Wasn't it a lovely wedding! And I remember her reading the class poem at Graduation Exercises. Soames would have no negative opinions of Emily. " With words as favorable as these, it seems only logical that Mrs. than the deceased being the "dead" ones, it is the living beings are. Without her watching she would never have been as upset at the lifelessness in the living nor would she have experienced the blindness with which they live their lives. By observing the relationships between the characters of Our Town and by what is told within the narration, key points concerning the time period and historical context can be directly and indirectly deduced. Soames, looking favorably upon Emily, attempts to advise Emily in her decision whether or not to go back down to Earth following her death. Thus, by allowing the reader to connect with the characters and then stimulating the imagination, Our Town does not appear as too realistic, nor does it appear to be too far fetched. According to Emily's insight following her death and then her returning to earth to re-watch her twelfth birthday, she declares that the living are blind to the true events that transpire. With these strong family ties, it is also stated, that also as had been done early in history, marriage occurred at an earlier age. Although at this point it became harder to relate to the characters and their activities, Thornton Wilder had already established a connection between the reader and the characters enough so that this fantasy does not make it unrealistic, rather it creates a sympathetic and imaginative sense to Our Town. Reading of the Gibbs, Webbs, and those around them, in their daily activities one was able to see that they were not much different from many people living in society today.
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Acceptance Essays
